The dozen people in the audience for the 9 o'clock show at the Crown Majestic Theater on Wednesday night had paid to be frightened by Dr. Hannibal Lecter. Instead, they got Michael O'Niel.

Mr. O'Niel, 24, of Stamford, went berzerk just after the start of the hit horror movie "Hannibal" at the theater in downtown Stamford, the police said. Screaming, he attacked three men in the audience. No one was hurt, but alarmed patrons cleared the theater.

Police officers summoned by a 911 call found Mr. O'Niel standing in front of the movie screen bellowing angrily, said Lt. Brian McElligott, a spokesperson for the Stamford police. Mr. O'Niel fought the officers, Lieutenant McElligott said, but was subdued.

Lieutenant McElligott said officers did not know what had prompted Mr. O'Niel's behavior.

"Hannibal," the sequel to "The Silence of the Lambs," follows the gruesome adventures of Lecter, a suave psychopath and serial killer with a taste for human flesh.

Theater employees, citing company policy, said they could not discuss the outburst. But Chris Dugger, the director of operations for Crown Theaters, which owns the Majestic, said the theater manager had called 911 and police officers responded within a minute. He said customers were given rain checks.

Mr. Dugger said he had no idea what set off Mr. O'Niel, but he did not believe "Hannibal" had been on the screen long enough to spark the outburst.

"From what I understand, it wasn't far into the movie," he said. "I think it was strictly coincidence that it was that film."