Orion Pictures, marketer and producer of “Silence Of The Lambs,” was a bankruptcy victim a few years ago. MGM Films, which has domestic distribution rights, is marketing “Hannibal” and has solvency problems as well. I knew that MGM needed a big hit in the worst kind of way, but I never dreamed they would try to create a “Nightmare On Elm Street” or “Friday the 13th” franchise out of the characters created by novelist Thomas Harris.

The movie opens with FBI agent Clarise Starling (Julianne Moore) leading a drug bust that goes seriously awry when a Washington D.C. cop starts shooting at the bad guys prematurely. Starling is forced to enter the fray and winds up having to kill a terrorist who uses her baby as a shield. The media has a field day dissecting Starling and the FBI as her flunky supervisor, Paul Krendler (Ray Liotta), delights in watching her suffer.

The slimy Krendler is also on the payroll of Mason Verger (Gary Oldman), the sole heir to a large fortune and inhabitant of a North Carolina mansion. Verger is the only person to have survived an encounter with the evil Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins), but he is so disfigured that he resembles the cryptkeeper from “Tales From The Crypt.” Verger vows that he will capture Dr. Lecter and bring him back to his home for the pleasure of torturing and devouring him. Verger lets Krendler know that he wants to use Starling to draw Lecter out of hiding.

The film then shifts to Florence, Italy where Lecter is working as a curator in a museum under the name of Dr. Fell. All credibility of this film is lost immediately, since we are supposed to believe that one of the world’s most notorious murderers is living unrecognized in a major European city. Lecter doesn’t even try to change his low-key, hypnotic voice or his appearance.

A Florence detective named Inspector Pazzi (Giancarlo Giannini) finally begins to put 2 and 2 together and seeks to capture Lecter to collect all of Verger’s reward money. Needless to say, he is no match for Lecter, who then takes advantage of his conquest to lecture the audience about the evils of avarice.

After about ninety minutes of a virtual travelogue of Florence, accompanied by loud annoying choral music, Lecter flees to the United States -- apparently clearing customs with no problem. Finally, we get the promised showdown between Starling and Lecter. Letdown doesn’t even capture it. What made “Silence Of The Lambs” so memorable was the psychological interplay between Anthony Hopkins’ and Jodie Foster’s characters. Unfortunately, Hopkins and Julianne Moore do not sizzle on the screen the same way. In fact, it’s not even close. Worse yet, we are supposed to swallow the notion that Lecter can turn himself into a ghost as he and Starling play a game of tag in Washington’s Union Station.

Yes, the film is gory, but that wasn’t what was offensive. In fact, Hopkins can at least squeeze a good one-liner in the more squeamish scenes. What is offensive was the contempt for the audience that director Ridley Scott and the screenwriters, led by famed playwright David Mamet, displayed.

Even if you were a fan of the original, don’t let “Hannibal” devour your hard-earned money.