Manhunter

Michael Mann returned to scenes of crime with his third film, Manhunter. This adaptation of the Thomas Harris best-seller Red Dragon has gained a cult rep as the better of the two films that feature the character of Hannibal Lecter. It shouldn't be oversold, though: It's creepier but less flashy than Jonathan Demme's The Silence of the Lambs. William L. Petersen plays another terse Mann's man, an ex-detective with a knack for thinking like a serial killer, but it's Tom Noonan who burns up the frame as Petersen's primary prey, one of the freakiest madmen Hollywood has ever given us. Still, Mann's aural/visual aesthetic rules the movie; you'll never listen to ''In-a-Gadda-da-Vida'' without locking the doors again. B+