Hannibal Rising

"It started with revenge."

2007 2h 1m EN

😐

6.3

MID

🥫

16%

ROTTEN

😬

METACRITIC

⭐

6.1

IMDB

★6.3TMDB · 2,483🥫16%Rotten Tomatoes●35Metacritic★6.1IMDB · 120,214

CrimeThrillerHorror

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

The story of the early, murderous roots of the cannibalistic killer, Hannibal Lecter – from his hard-scrabble Lithuanian childhood, where he witnesses the repulsive lengths to which hungry soldiers will go to satiate themselves, through his sojourn in France, where as a medical student he hones his appetite for the kill and learnt sword skills from his Japanese girlfriend, who happened to have similar fate

“It started with revenge.”

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Cast

Gaspard Ulliel
Hannibal Lecter
Aaran Thomas
Hannibal Lecter (young)
Gong Li
Lady Murasaki
Dominic West
Inspector Popil
Rhys Ifans
Vladis Grutas
Richard Brake
Enrikas Dortlich
Kevin McKidd
Petras Kolnas
Stephen Walters
Zigmas Milko

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Peter Webber
Writers: Thomas Harris
Languages: English, German, Russian
Countries: Czech Republic, France, Italy, United Kingdom

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Mid-budget at $75M — the now-extinct middle tier of Hollywood.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 19 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 3 languages: English, German, Russian.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 4 countries: Czech Republic, France, Italy, United Kingdom.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Peter Webber, shot by Ben Davis. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Shigeru Umebayashi. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Valerio Bonelli shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Gaspard Ulliel and Aaran Thomas and Gong Li carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Peter Webber directs. Ben Davis behind the camera. Shigeru Umebayashi scores. Valerio Bonelli cuts. Profitable at the box office. Produced in Czech Republic, France, Italy, United Kingdom. Dialogue in English, German, Russian.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Mid-budget at $75M — the now-extinct middle tier of Hollywood.
2Released 19 years ago.
3Dialogue crosses 3 languages: English, German, Russian.
4International production across 4 countries: Czech Republic, France, Italy, United Kingdom.
5Directed by Peter Webber, shot by Ben Davis. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by Shigeru Umebayashi. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor Valerio Bonelli shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Gaspard Ulliel and Aaran Thomas and Gong Li carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "It started with revenge.".
10IMDB entry: tt0367959 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
11Classified under 38 themes, including "mask", "based on novel or book", "winter", "psychopath".
12Released under 11 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Ben Davis
Original score: Shigeru Umebayashi
Editing: Valerio Bonelli
Production design: Allan Starski
Costume design: Anna B. Sheppard
Makeup / hair: Barrie Gower
Sound: Mike Prestwood Smith
Stunt coordinator: Lee Sheward
Runtime: 121 min · 2h 1m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $75,000,000
Box office: $82,169,884
Return: 110% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Hannibal Rising (2007)
Rotten Tomatoes: 16% 🥫 Rotten
Metacritic: 35/100
IMDB rating: 6.1/10 · 120,214 votes
MPAA: R

Awards

2 nominations total

Also by

Peter Webber

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

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Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

John Chard2015-11-01
★ 6/10
What made Hannibal the beast he was? Indeed, director Peter Webber and author Thomas Harris bring us Hannibal Lector (ne: Lecter) the formative years. Off the bat you have to say it's not overtly a horror film, something which has proved to have annoyed many who ventured in expecting something different. Which on one hand is a shame because it's a very effective thriller, ripe with literary smarts and boasting some very good acting performances. While there is horrors around, genuine ones that history has taught us as fact. On the other hand it is a disappointment to fans of the Hannibal series, and to horror fans in general. The marketing didn't help, it was sold to all and sundry along the lines as the cannibal begins in earnest, thus nobody was quite prepared for the fact Hannibal was a normal kid once, even human! Once the pic kicks into being a revenge killer thriller, it lacks an emotional wallop, with the screenplay shaking too many eggs in the basket and not coming up with a tasty fava bean based omelet. Smart tech credits help to still further keep this out of stinkerville and above average, but the heavy feeling of missed opportunities and poor writing hangs heavy as the end credits roll. 6/10
JPRetana2026-05-31
I’ve always equated Hannibal Lecter with the Shark from Jaws. Sure, the good doctor is a more entertaining host — until he gets peckish — but they both essentially kill to feed. That’s all the motivation they require. How silly would it be to give a shark a tragic origin story? About as silly as setting a film in Lithuania and France with French and Lithuanian characters and then having everybody speak English. Or assigning Hannibal (Gaspard Ulliel) a Japanese mentoress (played by a Chinese actress) who teaches him martial arts, which he must have tucked away in the attic of his Memory Palace and never bothered to dust off ever again. Or shooting a scene where Hannibal finds and wears a mask that must have belonged to a cannibalistic samurai. Hannibals puts it on and looks straight ahead, all but winking at the camera. Talk about determinism. The makers of Hannibal Rising (2007) were so pleased with this superfluous nod to their betters that they forgot to give Hannibal a mask of sanity, with Ulliel never not in Crispin Glover mode. Hannibal can easily fool a polygraph — never mind that polygraph tests mean very little — but when and how did he pick up this particular ability? I guess the implication is that he’s crazy like a fox or something. What is made explicit is that young Hannibal has a habit of standing up to “bullies.” This sort of aligns with his later policy of eating “the rude” — which is, of course, not a reason but a rationalization. There was a serial killer who believed his murders prevented earthquakes. Should we give him a posthumous medal? That the bullies Hannibal stands up to are often fascists — the ultimate historical and cinematic villains — positions Hannibal as a paladin of justice rather than a cold-blooded, psychopathic killer. Hannibal Rising expects us to forget that Lecter would later become a Mengele-like sadist who tricked Mason Verger into peeling his own face with pieces of a broken mirror and feeding it to dogs, and who also feeds Paul Krendler bits of his own sautéed brain. At the same time, whether defending his Chinese-Japanese aunt’s honor or avenging his little sister, Hannibal clearly enjoys the carnage he inflicts on others — meaning that the filmmakers couldn’t bear to entirely part with the cold-blooded, psychopathic killer thing after all.

Production companies