Manhunter, the serial killer thriller by Michael Mann, is streaming for free on both Pluto TV here and on Prime Video here, and it will be moving to Tubi on March 31. Fans of the thriller genre know that this is not only one of the best thrillers of the ’80s, but of all time, and introduced many people to the iconic character, Hannibal ‘The Cannibal’ Lecter. Other titles arriving on Tubi at the end of the month include the Michael Shannon masterpiece Take Shelter, Sarah Polley’s recent acclaimed drama Women Talking, and the Best Picture winner The Hurt Locker, among others.
Manhunter follows Will Graham, a retired FBI agent who used to work as a criminal profiler before having a mental breakdown during his pursuit and arrest of Dr. Hannibal Lecktor (yes, his name is spelled differently in Manhunter). Graham’s former boss, Jack Crawford, seeks the profiler’s help when the Tooth Fairy, a new serial killer on the rise, starts murdering entire families. Graham has no other option but to seek the help of the incarcerated Lecktor to expand the killer’s profile and capture him. Graham goes too deep when studying the work of the Tooth Fairy, also known as Francis Dollarhyde, and ends up jeopardizing the safety of his family.
Written and directed by Mann, Manhunter is based on the novel Red Dragon by Thomas Harris. It is the first movie to portray the characters that eventually became icons of the horror thriller genre once The Silence of the Lambs (1991) was released and became one of only three films to sweep all five major Academy Awards (Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, and Script). Future Hannibal Lecter films include Ridley Scott’s underrated Hannibal (2001), Brett Ratner’s Red Dragon (2002), and Peter Webber’s Hannibal Rising (2007). Nevertheless, Mann’s adaptation is acclaimed and considered the best of the bunch by some, and second only to Jonathan Demme’s The Silence of the Lambs to most.
Manhunter stars William Petersen as Graham, Tom Noonan as Francis Dollarhyde, and Succession‘s Brian Cox as Hannibal Lecktor. The supporting cast includes Dennis Farina, Joan Allen, Stephen Lang, and Kim Greist. The cinematography, one of the most discussed aspects of the film, is by Dante Spinotti, who would go on to work as cinematographer on Red Dragon. Despite that, and the fact that both films are adapted from the same book, Manhunter and Red Dragon are completely different from each other visually and in narrative beats.
The Most Underrated Adaptation of the Thomas Harris Books
Manhunter was a major box office flop. It only made over $8 million at the box office from a $15 million production budget. There were issues with the film’s release overseas, which didn’t exactly help the movie make more money in international markets, and eventually, the thriller vanished from the spotlight. Today, it has a cult following and critics have reevaluated it, and it has a score of 94% on Rotten Tomatoes (just beneath the 95% of The Silence of the Lambs).
There weren’t many blockbuster thrillers in 1986, unless you count Aliens. Instead, the most profitable movies of the year included Top Gun, Crocodile Dunee, The Karate Kid Part II, Back to School, The Color Purple, Ruthless People, Out of Africa, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.
Manhunter was an artsy thriller that looked great but failed to make an impact with audiences hungry for a pure serial killer movie. All that changed years later with The Silence of the Lambs, but by that point, audiences had forgotten Mann’s adaptation. Jonathan Demme’s groundbreaking horror thriller was foremost an adaptation of the book sequel and a faithful take that capitalized on the gritty undertones of Lecter’s journey. It was a complete change from what Mann had made years prior.
Still, Manhunter remains the most underrated of them all, a bold and risky serial killer film that is more of an audiovisual experience. Duality, darkness, and the possibility of closure are explored in epic ways, with the film presenting maybe more than one disturbed man’s descent into hell. You can watch it now on Pluto TV and Prime Video through the links above, and on Tubi beginning March 31.
