Silence of the Lambs Production Art

I have no idea if any of this stuff is easily available out here in the internets, but inspired by my friends over at The Scandy Factory, and The Manchester Morgue, I decided I'll share some of the fun stuff I have stashed away in my old issues of splatter mags. Just look for the label "Ephemera".

Anyway, back when I was working in comic book stores I would buy (or steal from the total asshole of an owner) back issues of Fangoria (when it covered the movies I like, which was when they were coming out) and Gore Zone (before it went under) mostly, but occasionally Cinefantastique as well. I managed to get some really good ones over the years, but I haven't bought one in almost a decade.

Although I was too young to appreciate it when it was released in 1991, once I actually saw Silence of the Lambs I liked it. Not because of the violence which is actually a little too realistic to be fun per-se, but because of the drama. It is after all a Jonathan Demme picture, and he cut his teeth under the tutelage of Roger Corman (who has a cameo in Silence) so, well, you figure it out.

These illustrations were done for Silence of the Lambs by the production design team led by Kristi Zea and depict possible ideas for the mutilation of Hannibal Lecter's guards. Ultimately you didn't get to see much in the film, but that's probably good, it wasn't that kind of movie.
These originally appeared in Cinefantastique, Volume 22, Number 4 February 1992.









And here's a sketch and a photo of the corpse in the tub from Gumb's basement.

And a map of his house in order to choreograph the final scene of the movie.