As a boy living through the final days of the Second World War, Hannibal Lecter witnesses the massacre of his family at the hands of a group of soldiers. The incident has a life-changing impact on the innocent youngster, who develops a disturbing interest in the mechanics of death - as well as a taste for human flesh. Horror prequel, starring Gaspard Ulliel, Gong Li and Rhys Ifans.

The story of the early, murderous roots of the cannibalistic killer, Hannibal Lecter – from his hard-scrabble Lithuanian childhood, where he witnesses the repulsive lengths to which hungry soldiers will go to satiate themselves, through his sojourn in France, where as a medical student he hones his appetite for the kill and learnt sword skills from his Japanese girlfriend, who happened to have similar fate