The nineteen years old Catholic college girl Emily Rose (Jennifer Carpenter) dies a couple of days after being submitted to an exorcism carried out by her parish priest, Father Moore (Tom Wilkinson). Emily believed she was possessed by six demons, and although authorized by Emily and he parents, Father Moore is accused of negligent homicide, since he had suggested Emily to interrupt the use of medications for epilepsy. In order to avoid a scandal, the Archdiocese hires the successful, ambitious and agnostic lawyer Erin Bruner (Laura Linney), and the prosecution assigns the religious prosecutor Ethan Thomas (Campbell Scott). Along the days, there is a battle between science and religion in the court.

Retired FBI agent Will Graham (William L. Petersen) returns to action to hunt down a serial killer by using his ability to get inside the psychopath’s mind. However, it was this ability that drove him into retirement in the first place. The process of tracking and capturing the infamous Hannibal Lecter (Brian Cox) took a tremendous psychic toll on Graham, causing him to spent time in a mental hospital. With another madman on the loose, Graham has no choice but to return to duty, though he knows that it might cost him his family and his sanity.

To get the old mind-set back, Graham visits Hannibal Lecter in his high-security jail cell. However, the manipulative Lecter plays both sides and warns the new killer that Graham is on his trail, telling him to destroy Graham’s family to protect himself. In order to save his own family, Graham must risk everything to once again enter into the mind of the criminally insane.

With MANHUNTER, Mann raises the bar for serial killer films, imbuing his killer with an almost sympathetic quality while keeping him extremely menacing and clearly dangerous. Based on the Thomas Harris novel RED DRAGON, which serves as the prequel to THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, MANHUNTER is a masterpiece of gripping storytelling and psychological horror.