Every Halloween season I try to watch a series of something: some years it's one I've seen before, others it's new-to-me. Last year I watched the Terrifier movies. The year before that it was Child's Play movies and show. A few years ago I finally watched all of the Halloween movies (I hadn't seen many of the later ones). Some time before that I caught up with Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm St, and so on.

I started this year thinking I'd explore many Stephen King offerings (and I have), but then I got sucked into the Hannibal TV show and watched all three seasons before I realized that of course I was going to continue with the Hannibal movies. Most of these were not new to me; I have read the books (except Hannibal Rising) and seen the four main movies (Manhunter, Red Dragon, Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal) many, many times. I watched the Clarice TV series but it's been a while so I don't remember it.

Watching the TV series was a whole different experience, though. It's something I've been putting off because I'd seen reviews about how different it was, and I felt too emotionally close to the story and characters. I like how artistic and romantic it was. It enhanced the tone and style of what Hannibal as a character and world had to offer.

All Hannibal offerings vary from procedural, to operatic, romantic, dreamlike, and psychological. They are elegant. As a character, Hannibal always strikes you: You never forget the monster that he is, but his civility is unsettling. He's magnetic, brilliant, and manipulative, but the ending of the books is very different from the movies. Love saves him and dooms Clarice as they disappear with each other off into the sunset, an ambiguous love story that leaves you uncomfy. The show supplements a possibility incredibly well with Dr. Bedelia du Maurier, who travels with him, helps (or observes) as he feeds, and ultimately learns she's being fed like Roman cattle were fed to make them taste better.

Film Clarice would never. She is incorruptible, which is part of what fascinates Hannibal about her. Clarice shows up in the Hannibal TV show in a mesh of characters that replaced her. In Manhunter (1986), Hannibal is clinical; the character had not yet risen in the public's nightmares. He's just a guy laying in bed talking on the phone. It's creepy in its normativity, how he can persuade people in small ways to ultimately construct the universe of his desire. Everyone he talks to, he manipulates. Hopkins' Lecter hunts in the shadows and Mikkelsen's paints with them.

I didn't like Hannibal Rising (2007). It wasn't necessary to try to explain his origins. Clearly, something happened between the events of Hannibal Rising and Manhunter/Red Dragon (2002) where Hannibal grew a fucking brain. There's no subtext in that movie which strays too far from what Hannibal media should offer.

Clarice is okay, but I always liked Will Graham. Red Dragon is my favorite of the books and movies. The TV show omitting Clarice and focusing on Will, creating a narrative around him as a central character, was a gift. The way they brought us to a similar ending with Will/Hannibal entangled as Clarice/Hannibal were in the books brought me joy.

In both books and movies, Hannibal spends the majority in a cell. In the show, he's free; he hosts dinner parties, helps the FBI track down murderers, fucks therapists, and fucks with Will Graham. He invites love into his life. He makes a family, or at least, he makes some version of what a family might be. Manhunter Will Graham is messy, but TV show Will Graham is supernatural; his empathy transcends psychology and enters ritual.

One of my favorite scenes across all is Will's realization that the "Tooth Fairy" Francis Dolarhyde took off his gloves and touched Mrs. Leeds. I like to recite with it, but I also notice the difference in tone. This Tumblr post gives a gif of each (Manhunter on the left, Red Dragon on the right) with the quote from the book underneath.

In the series, Will is not just a guy who's good at empathy, he becomes the person he seeks. Instead of yelling in anger, or realization, he notices the talc powder and stands in front of the bed. "I have to touch her..." In the books and movies, this is a moment of anger, rage, clarity, as Will feels the depths of his empathy consolidating this new realization. In the TV show, the clarity is connection: the mirrors are more than just story pulled from the book.

Within each book, movie, or season, Hannibal changes shape and morphs from something recognizable to something terrifying, playing with shadows and manipulating the light to his needs. His shape changes, but his hunger doesn't - what all of them illustrate well is the drive to consume. Hannibal rearranges the boundaries of the conversation and invites others to inhabit his world, rather than arranging himself to fit in ours. In all of this (even including the Hannibal Rising attempt to provide an origin), his hunger drives ours. Having rewatched the (almost) full offering of Hannibals, I still yearn to understand more.

I kind of want to reread the books, not just to watch Hannibal shape-shift, but also because I don't remember much about book Will Graham. I think there was more panic involved in the relationship between Will and Hannibal, as their conversations unfolded in search of the Tooth Fairy. Understanding that dynamic is so essential to understanding Hannibal and navigating each version of him.

I don't know if you know this, but the movie poster for Manhunter (1986) says "It's just you and me now, sport..." on it.

Thank you for coming to my Hannibal reflection post.