Top 10 Scariest Hannibal Moments

In both the 1999 novel and the 2001 film, Hannibal Lecter cuts open Deputy Assistant Attorney General Paul Krendler’s skull with a bone saw and feeds him his own brain. Will Graham almost suffers the same fate when, following a brief reconciliation, he finds himself at the wrong end of the dinner table. After incapacitating would-be-rescuer Jack, Hannibal proceeds with dinner preparations and starts to saw Will's skull open. It’s a shocking moment even for the most seasoned viewer, and Jack’s horrified screams say it all.

When a couple of kids discover multiple bodies in the woods, the FBI is called in to investigate the strange burial site. Will digs deeper and reveals that each victim was buried alive, kept in a catatonic state as a means to fertilize the killer’s mushroom garden. The thought alone is the stuff of nightmares, but when one of the victims - horribly disfigured by her treatment - is discovered to be very much alive the horror amps up to eleven. We’re thinking this killer wouldn’t be a very “FUN guy” to hang out with .... ahem. Moving on.

During an elaborate plan to capture Francis Dolarhyde by using Hannibal as bait, Will and the not-so-good doctor escape to Hannibal’s cabin. Hannibal is shot by a watchful Dolarhyde and begins to bleed out. At first, it seems uncertain how Will will react: enjoy the death or help? Throwing his lot in with Hannibal at last, Will pulls a knife. But in short order he’s stabbed in the face. A fight to the death ensues, with Hannibal joining the fray. Every man takes serious hits during the bloody conflict, keeping the audience on their toes in this stunning and intense conclusion to the series.

In an unforgettable season one episode, Will and Jack are on the trail of a serial killer who transforms people he thinks are demons into “angels” instead. This transformation is achieved by posing the victims in post-mortem prayer and giving them wings … but not the feathery kind. Each new scene - stark, uncomfortably visceral, and with little build up - gives the audience something new to deposit in their bank of recurring nightmares. It’s one of the series’ most terrifying and haunting crime scene tableaus.

Hannibal is such a sophisticated, charming, anti-hero, it’s sometimes easy to forget just how twisted and insane he is. While he likes to make art of his kills (and the culinary results are satisfyingly tongue and cheek) his pathology is so, SO dark. While investigating the damp cellars of Castle Lecter, Will discovers an emaciated man in rags, pleading for help and to be seen. He’s kept there, alone, not afforded a look or word from another human: his punishment for having allegedly eaten Hannibal’s sister Mischa. It’s a slow, torturous penalty, and a truly chilling scene - one that Will can’t live with. Ultimately though, his intervention doesn’t save the man.

It was a bold move to begin season two by showing the climactic final scene! In the prologue to this season, we see Hannibal preparing a meal with Jack Crawford observing. But the two are not the friends we knew them to be at the conclusion of season one, and in short order they’re trying to kill one another. It’s intense, incredibly choreographed, breathless action. When Jack's throat is slit and he becomes trapped in the wine closet with Hannibal breaking down the door ... the scene ends. It takes until the end of the season before the results are revealed. Now that's suspense; not your typical scary but it leaves you breathless all the same.

This cold-open feels like the set-up to an urban legend. A woman alone in her home investigates a drip in her attic, only to discover back in her bedroom that something is under her bed ... Later, Will, unaware that he’s losing time, discovers the body when he believes he’s flaying a fish - but is instead opening up the victim’s face into a bloody grin. A similar fate befalls the doctor Will later consults for his deteriorating mental state, at the hands of Dr. Lecter. Both scenes are sure to leave you not with a smile but a wince.

After saving Hannibal from Mason Verger and his thugs, Will returns home to find Mason feeding something to his dogs. Hannibal has drugged Mason, who’s completely out of his mind. In fact, it’s not a pocket full of Milk-Bones Mason’s got: he’s cutting off pieces of his own face. He even has a bite, declaring that he’s “full of himself.” Mason is perhaps the most despicable villain of the series, but there is very little audience schadenfreude here. It’s a shocking, bloody, and difficult to watch scene.

In the second half of season three, audiences are introduced to the final antagonist of the series: Francis Dolarhyde, aka The Red Dragon. Will, now married, semi-retired from the Bureau, and trying to start his life over again has been put on the case. After Hannibal finds a way to communicate Will’s home address to the Red Dragon, the disturbed killer goes after Will’s family. In a high-stakes game of cat and mouse, Molly must get her son to safety while out-maneuvering a seasoned and ruthless killer. It’s edge-of-your-seat suspense that never once feels safe.

Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.

Gideon Eats Himself
The Rude End Up on the Menu & Abel Gideon Has Disrespected the Real Chesapeake Ripper

The Death of Pazzi
Spill Your Guts About Hannibal & …Well …

Fire Tube
Oxygen & Sparks Make for a Horrifying Mix

Human Cello
This Killer Was Looking for an Encore

Beverly Katz
A Horrifying End to a Beloved Character.

While Will is locked up at the start of season two, the insane killers of the greater DC/Baltimore area are as active as ever. Teased at the close of the season two premiere, we get an eye-full of the human mural in the following episode. A man awakes from a death-like sleep to find his limbs stitched together and to the bodies of dozens of other people, his skin covered in a hard varnish, gluing him in place. He rips himself free and tries to escape the twisted tableau in the abandoned silo. Nightmarish and relentless, it is a scene no viewer will soon forget.