 An alternate ending: Here, Starling doesnt handcuff Lecter, and he runs his   tongue over her lips after they kiss. Starling gets her hair free from the   refrigerator, gets her gun, and runs out to the woods after Lecter. She   finds the boat drifting and draws her gun on it, but its empty and she   smirks for a moment before shes surrounded by police who have her drop her   weapon. A spotlight hits Starling and she yells "Clarice Starling! FBI!" The   scene then cuts to Starling watching the fireworks over the lake, as in the   original. Here, though, instead of cutting to the plane, we see Lecter   walking up to a gas station and getting into a van. He waves at some kids   and their mothers waving sparklers, and drives off. This goes to a wideshot   of the plane cabin, showing most of the passengers and waitresses to be   Oriental (implying Lecter is headed to Japan, Korea, China, etc.) The wide   shot cuts to the young boy coming out of the bathroom and finding Lecter   with his food. They have the same conversation as in the finished version,   but only up until the boy asks for food. Here, Lecter asks the boy if his   mother ever warned him about taking food from strangers. The boy says she   has, but Lecter smiles and says that it doesnt matter since the boys   mother is asleep. Lecter then feeds several forkfulls of the brains to the   boy before the screen freezes, with the back of the boys head superimposed   over half of Lecters face. Commentary by the director says that the scene   as it is viewed here was meant to be symbolic, showing Lecter corrupting the   boy.