Silence of the Graffiti

Here’s a little creepy treat for horror fans. Even though we’re all hunkered down these days, staying in place and self-isolating from the constant threat of the coronavirus, there are still chances for yours truly to exit the offices of ’Warp Central and wander the deserted streets of SWC’s home borough of Queens, New York.

On one such journey this past weekend, in the industrialized section of a neighborhood called Maspeth, I came across a piece of graffiti art that should get a chuckle from anyone familiar with 1991’s Silence of the Lambs, starring Jodie Foster as FBI agent Clarice Starling, Anthony Hopkins as notorious serial killer Hannibal Lecter, and Ted Levine as the film’s main serial killer, Buffalo Bill—a character made famous if only for a line he says to his kidnapped victims in order to make sure they moisturize:

“It rubs the lotion on its skin, or else it gets the hose again. It puts the lotion in the basket…”

A line now stylishly immortalized in spray paint. Well, “immortalized” until the next street artist or tagger comes along to paint over it, that is…