History Film / Manhunter

* TechicallyASmile: Before attacking Lounds, Dolarhyde snorts poppers (amyl nitrate), and wears a dissonent happy smile before going in for what seems like a KissOfDeath (when he's about to bite off Lounds' nose as it cuts away.)

** Lecktor was only specified to have been attacking college girls and there is no mention of the fact he is a cannibal. In some ways he's more of a minor character here to give some history to Will Graham- which is how he was intended to be, but is given much less focus than in the novel.

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Dollarhyde gives one to Lounds:

* NothingIsScarier: Used quite heavily here: most of the violence occurs entirely off-screen, with probably the bloodiest scene in the movie being the shootout at Dollarhyde's house. As a result, the quick cuts to the graphic crime scene photos and [[spoiler:Lounds' flaming body]] have a much greater impact than if the film were more lenient with its violence. The film ''establishes'' itself with a VillainPOV stalking the family in their own house as he ascends to their bedroom, cutting to the credits just as the wife wakes up.

* NothingIsScarier: Used quite heavily here: most of the violence occurs entirely off-screen, with probably the bloodiest scene in the movie being the shootout at Dollarhyde's house. As a result, the quick cuts to the graphic crime scene photos and [[spoiler:Lounds' flaming body]] have a much greater impact than if the film were more lenient with its violence. The film ''establishes'' itself with a VillainousPOV stalking the family in their own house as he ascends to their bedroom, cutting to the credits just as the wife wakes up.

* NothingIsScarier: Used quite heavily here: most of the violence occurs entirely off-screen, with probably the bloodiest scene in the movie being the shootout at Dollarhyde's house. As a result, the quick cuts to the graphic crime scene photos and [[spoiler:Lounds' flaming body]] have a much greater impact than if the film were more lenient with its violence.

* AdaptationalAttractiveness: The novel describes Freddy Lounds as a lumpy, ugly guy with buck teeth. Here, he's played the handsome Creator/StephenLang.

[[quoteright:275:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/manhunter-williaml.petersen.jpg]]

* ColorMotif: Cool blue tones were used for the scenes shared between Will Graham and his wife Molly, and unsettling greens and magentas were used for the scenes with Francis Dollarhyde.

* FreudianExcuse: Deconstructed. During his EurekaMoment, Graham acknowledges that Dolarhyde must have been abused and states that he pities the child Dolarhyde used to be. However, in the same monologue, Graham states that he feels absolutely no sympathy for Dolarhyde as an adult and states that Dolarhyde is a selfish, utterly-disgusting human being who deserves to die violently.

* LighterAndSofter: The ending is changed completely from the book's ending to one where Graham gets to fight and kill Dolarhyde before he ever gets the chance to invade his home and attack his family. As a result, his psychological troubles are now set at ease so that he can go back to retiring in peace.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Compared to the 1991 film adaptation of ''Literature/TheSilenceOfTheLambs'' and its successors, ''Manhunter'' takes a far different approach, to the point where one could easily forget it's part of the same greater franchise. Among other things, it lacks the Gothic overtones of later films, opting instead for a more stylized approach making heavy use of saturated color to invoke mood, as well as lacking much of the more explicit violence of later films in favor of exploiting NothingIsScarier and the GoryDiscretionShot, which makes the few instances of explicit violence that much heavier-hitting. Probably the most microcosmic aspect of ''Manhunter'' is Hannibal "Lecktor": his prison is a sterile white mental hospital, with the mad doctor confined to a tight cell, far removed from the large, dungeonlike design seen in later films.

* BulletsDoNotWorkThatWay: Glaser Safety Slugs are not the OneHitKill DepletedPhlebotinumShells portrayed in the novel. The movie also makes an error by having the rounds go through Dolarhyde; the Glaser is specifically designed to avoid this.

* OnePhoneCall: Hannibal Lektor pulls a similar stunt when he's given a phone to call his lawyer — he instead rewires the phone (it has no dial) so he can make another call to find out where Will lives.

* AGodAmI: [[spoiler: Lektor's justification of why he and any SerialKiller commits murder- it makes you feel like you are God.]] He tells Will to look forward to that feeling.

* ShoutOut: When Freddy Lounds first sees Graham, he says to him, "[[Film/WhiteHeat Whaddya hear, whaddya say]]?"

* ManInWhite: Lektor's prison clothes are all white, as is his cell and seemingly the whole mental facility.

* AdaptationalHeroism: Chilton is more competent and less intrusive than in ''Red Dragon'' and later adaptations of the ''Lecter'' mythos.

* AdvertisedExtra: The film was broadcast on TV immediately after the phenomenal success of ''The Silence of the Lambs'' but the title was changed to ''Red Dragon: The Pursuit of Hannibal Lector''. Of course, anyone who saw the movie in 1986 or read the book would realize that Lector had about eight minutes of screen time and being that the story is set prior to ''Silence of the Lambs'', Lector is still behind bars for the entire film. The character being pursued was a serial killer called The Tooth Fairy real name is Francis Dolarhyde. Lector's influence is marginal and is mostly part of the main character's backstory. The name change and subtitle was just an attempt to capitalize on the popularity of the recent 1991 blockbuster by broadcasting a little remembered film that was based on the previous book in the series.

* TheEighties: In ''spades''.

* [[EvilisHammy Evil is Hammy]]: Largely averted with Brian Cox's cold and understated portrayal of Lecktor (in contrast to Creator/AnthonyHopkins in ''Film/TheSilenceOfTheLambs''). Tom Noonan as Dolarhyde plays it more straight in his debut scene, although all things considered there really isn't any other way to play that moment ''but'' hammy.

* {{God Is Evil}}: Lektor insists this is the case, along with AGodAmI.

* HeWhoFightsMonsters: TheMovie. It's Will's defining trait.

* ManOnFire: The ultimate fate of [[spoiler: Freddy Lounds]].

* RecycledSoundtrack: The music that plays when Graham visits Lecktor in his cell ("Freeze" by Music/KlausSchulze) originally appeared in the 1983 Austrian film ''Film/{{Angst|1983}}''.

** Kevin is Will's son, not his stepson. In the book, when Will tells Kevin about what he has to do to catch people like Lecter or Dolarhyde, he feels ashamed for having to defend himself to his stepson. In the film, it becomes a [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoment bonding moment for father and son.]]