Movie fans are resurrecting their love for Oscar-winning thriller The Silence Of The Lambs following the death of director Jonathan Demme.

The American film-maker died aged 73 on Wednesday after a battle with oesophageal cancer.

Shortly after the sad announcement, fans flocked to Twitter to declare their evening dedicated to watching the film in his honour.

Others paid respect to the director’s five-decade career and the movie that made it.

Demme scored a best director Academy Award for the landmark movie that starred Anthony Hopkins as the murderous doctor Hannibal Lecter and Jodie Foster as officer Clarice Starling.

But he also became known for a range of hit titles, including Philadelphia (1993) with Tom Hanks, The Manchurian Candidate (2004) with Denzel Washington, and Rachel Getting Married (2008) with Anne Hathaway.