Anthony Hopkins as Dr. Hannibal Lecter

A simple question, but not so easy to answer. Scott – called in after Lambs' director Jonathan Demme passed on the project – has painstakingly prepared a frightfully delicious feast for ghoulish gourmets who've been waiting over a decade for their next serving from Hannibal Lecter's macabre menu. Ridley also had to do without the Oscar-winning talents of original Silence star Jodie Foster and screenwriter Ted Tally, both of whom excused themselves from the sequel based on dissatisfaction with writer Thomas Harris's critically crucified, but best-selling Lambs follow up, Hannibal.

Julianne Moore as Clarice Starling

Fortunately, Anthony Hopkins, who also scored an Oscar for Silence of the Lambs, was coerced (to the tune of $10 million) back to play "Hannibal the Cannibal," a psychotic psychiatrist who won't hesitate to put the "bite" on those who displease him. Hannibal without Hopkins would be as pointless as all those James Bond movies they keep making without Sean Connery. Julianne "Boogie Nights" Moore is capable and curvaceous in the coveted role of FBI agent Clarice Starling and saved Hannibal producer Dino De Laurentiis about $17 million compared to what Jodie Foster wanted to reprise her character. And that's no small potatoes. Come to think of it, Miss Moore's potatoes aren't too small either, especially when seen almost spilling out of her low-cut Gucci gown in Hannibal’s gleefully gruesome final scenes.

Though he appears unacknowledged and unrecognizable, Gary Oldman, the only actor to play both Sid Viscous and Beethoven with equal conviction, is outstanding as always as the mutilated millionaire Mason Verger, Hannibal's only living victim and no Mr. Congeniality himself. Reportedly, when Oldman couldn't get top billing, he preferred to be conspicuously absent from the film's credits. It's a good thing for the film, however, that Oldman didn't mind sitting still for the five-hour make-up sessions it took to turn him into the hideously scarred Verger.

For anyone who hasn't read about it yet in every magazine from TV Guide to Playboy, Hannibal is about Clarice and the FBI trying to recapture Lecter, who has spent the last ten years on the "lamb" in Buenos Aires and most recently, Italy. Hannibal has grown weary of the peaceful life of a museum curator and is lured out of retirement by Verger who has his own unique recipe for vengeance and plans to feed Hannibal feet first to his specially trained pack of man-eating pigs. That's right, killer pigs. I'd be committing a major sin of omission if I didn't warn you Hannibal has moments weird enough to make Silence of the Lambs seem like The Muppet Movie. In a nutshell (and nuts are what this movie has plenty of), the settings are sumptuous. There's plenty of popcorn-curling suspense and enough gore to satisfy connoisseurs of cult directors like Herschell Gordon Lewis and Dario Argento and sufficient sardonic asides to keep happy all but the most hardcore Hannibalhead.

Though Hannibal won't make you forget about Ridley Scott's greater achievements like Alien, Blade Runner, Thelma and Louise and Gladiator, if you go for this kind of thing, by all means dive right in. And afterwards, don't you dare reveal the last lid-flipping ten minutes, which are as hilarious as they are horrifying. The debauched Dr. Lecter might be more amusing than menacing these days, but to paraphrase Silence’s final line, there's nothing like having an old friend for dinner, or a fright night at the movies.