Psychiatric Hospital Fined for Showing Child Patients ‘The Silence of the Lambs’

A Moscow psychiatric hospital has been fined for showing child patients the 1991 horror-thriller The Silence of the Lambs.

According to the Moscow Times, a Russian court found Psychiatric Hospital No. 15 had violated the law on “distributing information to children that is harmful to their health” when it showed the notoriously scary film to its underage patients.

The psychiatric facility was reportedly ordered to pay an unspecified fine.

“A precedent has been set for an institution being found guilty of committing a violation of the law by showing unsuitable content to minors with severe psychiatric disorders,” Yulia Sergeyeva, a spokeswoman for Russia’s children’s rights ombudsman, told the Interfax news agency.

This is not the first time Psychiatric Hospital No. 15 has come under fire for its questionable treatment of child patients; last month, photos taken at the facility and posted online showed children being strapped to their beds. During the investigation of that incident, investigators reportedly discovered the hospital had shown the The Silence of the Lambs to the children.

The film, starring Anthony Hopkins as cannibalistic, serial killer-catching Dr. Hannibal Lecter, is generally considered one of the scariest of all time and regularly appears on “Top Ten Scariest Movie” lists. It is also the only horror film to win the Oscar for Best Picture, and one of only three films to win all five top Oscars (Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director and Best Screenplay).