Gaspard Ulliel is an apt fit for the title role in "Hannibal Rising." The actor oozes a gaunt creepiness with every sideways glance.

Courtesy of the Weinstein company

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So this is how a cannibalistic serial killer is born. "Hannibal Rising" starts in Lithuania near the end of World War II, when a boy and girl shiver in their home after having just watched their parents die.

Scavengers storm into the house and hold the children hostage, then when they can't find food, decide to murder and eat the little girl. Shackled in the corner of a room as the horror unfolds stews young Hannibal Lecter, about to pull off the first of his legendary escapes.

In this movie, adapted from the Thomas Harris novel and screenplay, director Peter Webber tries to coast on the fumes generated by Anthony Hopkins' three stunning performances as the killer in middle age, most notably in his Oscar-winning turn in "The Silence of the Lambs" (1991).

The new thriller follows Hannibal (Gaspard Ulliel) under the microscope as he goes off on a killing spree to avenge the death of his sister, developing a taste for flesh and a refined sense of detachment along the way.

Webber's film reveals that Hannibal received samurai training and sexual attention from his long-lost aunt (Gong Li) and that the French medical school he attended quite unwisely placed him in charge of managing the dead bodies.

There's also a tormented investigator (Dominic West) who's always one step behind, confounded by the obscure clues Hannibal leaves.

Ulliel, who oozes gaunt creepiness with every sideways glance, is an apt fit for the role, and it's easy to imagine him replacing Hopkins as the face of Lecter in several prequel-sequels.

Webber adeptly sets up gruesome set pieces that fans of the Harris novels and the movie adaptations have come to expect.

Hannibal is always concocting elaborate ways to exact his maniacal crimes.

While it's fascinating to watch the killer evolve, the fact that he's always onscreen detracts from his mystique. Hannibal derives much of his intrigue from his mystery. He's far more frightening when he's somewhere in the shadows rather than right in our faces. He's more intimidating when he's locked up than when he's roaming free. He's more interesting when we're not quite sure what's motivating him or what tortures he must have faced to evolve into his sadistic state.

As he rises, "Hannibal" falls.