“The Silence of the Lambs” made waves upon its release, winning five of its seven nominations at the Academy Awards in 1991. Based on the book of the same name by Thomas Harris, the movie follows FBI agent Clarice Starling’s (Jodie Foster) communications with a serial killer who cannibalized his victims as she tries to solve a difficult case. Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins), the cannibal in question, is nothing like she expects; everything about him is unnerving, from how he speaks to the way he never appears to blink.

Lecter and Clarice find themselves in a dynamic that relies entirely on the FBI agent being vulnerable while Lecter talks in riddles. Some of his words make sense, and they do help Starling in her search for a different killer, but not without causing her to think about her own life and past. As the films continue, Lecter’s life story plays out, showing audiences his work as a psychiatrist and his time in medical school.

What is the best way to watch the Hannibal Lecter movies in order? While you could watch them chronologically, watching the films in the order that they were released is the best way to go.

Watching the Hannibal Lecter movies in release order ensures you are learning about the details of Hannibal’s life in the intended sequence. The cannibalistic serial killer is one of those people who, in order to understand them, needs to be peeled back like the layers of an onion, slowly getting to the core of how he transformed into what he ultimately becomes. Thus, it works best when you’re introduced to him through Clarice Starling’s eyes and then watch the picture slowly expand as more perspective is added to it.

While we can jump in and start with his childhood by watching the movies in chronological order, the necessary context of the rest of his existence is missing, meaning that the key moments from his early life will make less of an impact when we see them. It’s a much better viewing experience and makes more sense to get to know the adult Lecter first, before seeing who he was as a child and young adult. Watching the story unfold in this manner makes what he becomes all the more sinister.

“The Silence of the Lambs” not only introduces audiences to Hannibal Lecter but also to the FBI agent that understands him best, Clarice Starling. While Starling is trying to solve a different case, she begins to interview Lecter in an attempt to understand the killer she’s after. What happens instead is a series of exchanges during which Starling divulges aspects of her personal history to Lecter, information he ultimately uses against her while providing cryptic clues about her case.

While “The Silence of the Lambs” takes place later in Hannibal’s life, after he’s already been incarcerated for his crimes, it’s the movie that gives us the best look into the mentality surrounding his decisions. He comes across as highly intelligent and calculated, especially in how he plans his escape in the film’s third act. Lecter is menacing in a subtle way, showing that the scariest of people aren’t those with a frightening appearance.

By watching the franchise in the films’ release order, you’re given the best foundation from which to understand the information revealed in the next three movies. Knowing the catalyst of Lecter’s childhood might be helpful before this, but it packs more of a punch learning about that after seeing what he’s become as an adult: a forensic psychiatrist who is also a serial killer, informing detectives on other serial killers.

“Hannibal” continues Hannibal Lecter and Clarice Starling’s story a decade after the events of “The Silence of the Lambs.” Starling, now played by Julianne Moore, has hit a career snag after a failed raid, and when she’s assigned to Lecter’s case again, he reappears in her life with a letter. All of this is an attempt by Mason Verger (Gary Oldman), the only surviving victim of the cannibalistic serial killer, to draw Lecter out in order to exact his own revenge. Verger uses his money to try and get his way, an attempt at vengeance that ultimately leads to what is easily one of the most audibly haunting scenes of the franchise.

Without the context of “The Silence of the Lambs,” “Hannibal” simply won’t make much sense. It builds on the first film’s narrative, giving audiences a different look into Lecter’s mind as he tries to impress Starling in the third act. It’s not an act of love 99% of people would appreciate, and Starling is among that group, but Lecter believes he’s giving her a gift. “Hannibal” shows the cracks of Lecter’s façade and ideology and lets the audience in on the fact that, while he is a highly intelligent man, Hannibal is also incredibly flawed in a way that even he doesn’t recognize. It’s not entirely new information, as it’s certainly covered in “The Silence of the Lambs,” but the first movie is a character study of Starling — this second is one for Lecter.

“Red Dragon” takes audiences back in time to before Hannibal Lecter was an at-large serial killer. Prior to the days of him becoming obsessed with Clarice Starling, there was another agent who tried to track him down: Will Graham (Edward Norton). The two worked together when Lecter was still a forensic psychiatrist, but when Graham realizes Lecter is the killer they’ve been after, it ends both their careers with the bureau. However, when an active serial killer tries to get Lecter’s attention, Graham finds himself roped into the investigation.

Seeing Lecter working a job and watching someone figure out his secret makes for a great next watch in the series. Because we already know where his story leads, “Red Dragon’s” goal is to help audiences understand how Lecter interacted with FBI agents before he was on the run or in prison. The film shows that his letters and interactions with Starling aren’t necessarily out of the norm for him, though he places Graham in a particularly awful position compared to how he treats Starling. It also, unfortunately, establishes his place in the hierarchy with other serial killers, reinforcing both that others look to him for advice and how evil Lecter is, both revelations that hit harder if audiences already know what happens next.

The film series continues to take audiences further back in time with “Hannibal Rising.” Much like the title alludes to, this movie follows Hannibal Lecter (now played by Gaspard Ulliel) as a child and the turning point of what causes him to go down the path he does. It shows his first experience with cannibalism, his first murder, and how he becomes one of the youngest students ever to attend medical school in France, an experience that gives him the skills he utilizes to commit his crimes later in life. “Hannibal Rising” is quite a bit darker and more gruesome than the previous installments, particularly because of Lecter’s chosen method to kill at this point in his career.

In going back to the beginning, the final piece of the puzzle of Lecter’s psyche becomes clear. The root of his ways dates back to a traumatic winter where he may have blocked out being a cannibal for the first time, the brutal life he lived after the death of his parents, and effect the spiritual loss of his only surviving family member, who seemingly supports his actions for a time, had on him. How he reacts to these things isn’t healthy in the slightest, but it does provide the context necessary to understand how he became a cannibalistic serial killer and sets in motion the events audiences already witnessed in the previous three films.

While watching the Hannibal Lecter movies in release order is the best way to experience them, you can also watch them in chronological order, especially on a rewatch. By watching the films like this, it takes you on the journey through Lecter’s life, starting with the turning point in his childhood. It allows you to watch his sinister nature take shape and become more nuanced as he settles into his signature “style.”

Watching in this order is best done during a rewatch rather than an initial one because then you already have the context you need to understand the impact of Lecter’s backstory. It also presents a way to watch the movies in a circle, of sorts. If you were to watch in release order, ending with “Hannibal Rising,” you can immediately start the chronological order by going back to “Red Dragon,” following up with “The Silence of the Lambs,” and ending with “Hannibal.” This way, Lecter’s story feels a bit more open-ended, in a sense.