Red Dragon is a 2002 psychological thriller film based on the 1981 novel by Thomas Harris. It was directed by Brett Ratner and written by Ted Tally. A prequel to The Silence of the Lambs (1991), it sees FBI agent Will Graham (Edward Norton) enlisting the help of serial killer Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) to catch another killer, Francis Dolarhyde (Ralph Fiennes). Harvey Keitel, Emily Watson, Mary-Louise Parker, and Philip Seymour Hoffman also star.

The novel was previously adapted into the film Manhunter (1986). Both films feature the same cinematographer, Dante Spinotti. After turning down the Silence of the Lambs sequel, Hannibal (2001), Silence of the Lambs screenwriter Ted Tally returned to write Red Dragon.

DETAILED PLOT

In 1980, FBI agent Will Graham visits forensic psychiatrist Hannibal Lecter to discuss a case. Graham has been working with Lecter on a psychological profile of a serial killer who removes edible body parts from his victims; Graham says he has realized the killer is a cannibal. Realizing Graham is close to discovering he is the killer, Lecter stabs him, but Graham fights back, stabbing and shooting Lecter before they both fall unconscious. Lecter is imprisoned in an institution for the criminally insane, and Graham, traumatized, retires to Florida with his family.

Years later, another serial killer, nicknamed the Tooth Fairy, has killed two families — the Jacobis and The Leedses — during full moons. With another full moon approaching, special agent Jack Crawford persuades Graham to help develop the killer's profile. After visiting the crime scenes in Atlanta, Georgia, and Birmingham, Alabama, and speaking with Crawford, Graham concludes that he must consult Lecter. Lecter taunts Graham, but agrees to help.

The Tooth Fairy is Francis Dolarhyde, who kills as directed by his alternate personality, which he calls the Great Red Dragon, named after the William Blake painting The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed in Sun, which he has tattooed on his back. He believes that each victim brings him closer to becoming the Dragon, as his psychopathology originates from his childhood abuse by his grandmother.

Freddy Lounds, a tabloid reporter for the National Tattler who hounded Graham after Lecter's capture, pursues Graham for leads on the Tooth Fairy. A letter from the Tooth Fairy is discovered hidden in Lecter's cell, expressing admiration for Lecter and an interest in Graham, and suggesting that Lecter reply through the personals section of the Tattler, which he does with Graham's home address, forcing Graham's wife Molly and son Josh to relocate. While in hiding, Graham teaches Molly how to properly fire a handgun

Hoping to lure out the Tooth Fairy, Graham gives an interview to Lounds, in which Graham disparages the killer as an impotent homosexual. An enraged Dolarhyde kidnaps Lounds, glues him to an antique wheelchair, and reveals himself as the Great Red Dragon before showing Lounds first-person pictures he has taken of his victims before and after he murdered them. Dollarhyde then forces Lounds to recant his allegations on tape and then bites off his lips. Dollarhyde then sets Lounds and the wheelchair on fire and sends him rolling and crash into a company sign outside the Tattler offices.

At his job in a St. Louis photo lab, Dolarhyde gives Reba McClane, a blind co-worker, a ride to her home and they begin a relationship. However, his alternate personality demands that he kill her. Desperate to stop the Dragon's control over him, Dolarhyde goes to the Brooklyn Museum, tears apart the Blake painting, and eats it.

Graham realizes that the Tooth Fairy knew the layout of his victims' houses from their home videos. He deduces that he works for the company that edits the home movies and transfers them to video. He visits the company processing plant to ask for information, and is spotted by Dolarhyde as he returns from Brooklyn.

In a panic, Dolarhyde goes to Reba's house. She has spent the evening with a co-worker, Ralph Mandy. After Reba enters her home, Dolarhyde kills Ralph, kidnaps Reba, takes her to his house, and sets it ablaze. Unable to shoot her, Dolarhyde apparently shoots himself. Reba escapes as the police arrive.

After an autopsy is performed on the corpse, it is revealed that Dolarhyde used Ralph's body to stage his death. Dollarhyde later infiltrates Graham's home in Florida and takes Josh hostage, threatening to kill him. To save Josh, Graham loudly insults him, reminding Dolarhyde of his grandmother's abuse and provoking him to furiously attack Graham. Both are severely wounded in a shootout, which ends when Molly kills Dolarhyde.

Graham survives and receives a letter from Lecter praising his work and bidding him well. Lecter's jailer, Dr. Frederick Chilton, tells him that he has a visitor, a young woman from the FBI.