DVD : Copycat [1996]

Rating: - Sigourney Weaver and Holly Hunter make this an enjoyable and gruesome excursion into serial killing
"Screams of the victim deaden his pain. The act of killing makes him feel intensely alive. What he feels next is not guilt but disappointment. It was not as wonderful as he'd hoped. Maybe next time it will be perfect." --Dr. Helen Hudson speaking on serial killers.

Copycat is a first-class psychological serial killer/diller/thriller nearly undone by a conventional slasher/thriller climax. The end works well enough, but once you've seen one jump-out-and-scare-us, spray-in-the-face, last-minute-save cliché you've seen them all. The only difference in the clichés is how close we get to the blade going in, the skull cap blasting off, and the last minute twist being irrelevant to the story.

What makes Copycat so superior to the others can be summed up in two names: Sigourney Weaver and Holly Hunter. Weaver plays Helen Hudson, an authority on serial killers, in demand for lectures, consulted by the police, and a smart woman. That all changes when she is attacked by a serial killer and barely survives. The guy winds up in prison for life. Hudson winds up a prisoner, too. Thirteen months later we can see that she's been so traumatized that she has turned her apartment into a fortress. She's too frightened to venture outside. She needs liquor to get through the hours and pills and paper bags to deal with the panic attacks. She trusts few others. She deals with life through her computer. She's still an authority on serial killers, but her life has become a wasteland. (She does have that terrific San Francisco apartment.} Then she discovers that there is a new killer at work, one who mimics the style of killing that other serial killers have used. When she tells the police that recent, horrible murders are being committed by one madman, that brings us to Holly Hunter, who plays police inspector M. J. Monahan.

Monahan is quick, smart, feisty, small and, yeah, kinda cute. She's also tough enough to make big, male cops nervous. She's friendly, she's liked, she's prickly and no one doubts who's in charge when she's on a case. Dead bodies don't bother her too much. Monahan is a pro. Between Hudson's knowledge of serial killers, as wracked out as she is, and Monahan's gritty persistence, it's not long before we...then Hunt...then Monahan...realize Hunt has become the target for the copycat killer's affections. Now we're in the middle of a stylish, murderous cat-and-mouse game. Monahan, working with the difficult, isolated Hudson, is determined to capture this man. And the serial killer is going to go after Hudson, locked away in her fortress of an apartment.

Copycat gives us every old favorite in the book...darkened hallways, closed shower curtains, empty bathrooms, cops tricked off their assignments, ingenious ways to kill...and they still work. In an added twist, the current killer seems somehow to be able to communicate to the man who attacked Hunter and who now is in a secured slammer.

The only real drawback, if one doesn't mind too much the standard scares at the end, is the movie's length...more than two hours. If the director had had the energy to lop off 20 minutes the way the serial killer lops off lives, the movie, in my view, would have been even better. Even so, Copycat is a fine, intelligent movie made special by Hunter and Weaver, and with effective performances by Will Patton, Dermot Mulroney and a really unpleasant Harry Connick, Jr. The score is low-key and evocative. There's even a song by Sting and Andy Summers that the killer seems particularly fond of:

It's murder by numbers, one, two, three
It's as easy to learn as your a b c
Murder by numbers, one, two, three
It's as easy to learn as your a b c

Now if you have a taste for this experience
And you're flushed with your very first success
Then you must try a twosome or a threesome
And you'll find your conscience bothers you much less

Because it's murder by numbers, one, two, three
It's as easy to learn as your a b c.

The DVD looks very good. There's a "making of" extra and a commentary by the director.

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Rating: - An entertaining and different crime thriller
Sigourney Weaver (Aliens) stars as psychologist Helen Hudson, who is asked to assist in a crime case involving a serial killer who is copying famous serial killers methods.

Copycat is a complex and exciting thriller from director Jon Amiel, a fast and sophisticated film about finding the truth, and dealing with the consequences along the way. The plot is well written, without over doing the action, and dealing with criminal masterminds on both sides of the law.

Copycat is different from other crime thrillers by being more technically accurate and less on the action and more on the psychology behind the crime case. The plot will require plenty of attention with plenty of twists and flashbacks encoded and come the end, you may be slightly lost but is definitely worth another viewing. The plot can get a bit muddled come the end but the action and suspense will keep you hooked right to the dramatic finale.

The film get you thinking about what happens in a criminal's mind, with their desire to get what they want and how they approach each decision, a thought provoking ideology that at frequent moments will chill you to the bone.

Dermot Mulroney (About Schmidt) gives a good performance and provides some healthy humour to the film and is one of his finest onscreen performances.

With the lack of action, the film can lack at points, but the concept and the unknown identity of the criminal will keep you hooked, not to mention the shadow the serial killer casts over the central character Hudson.

The narrative is helped along by two particular good lead performances from Weaver and Holly Hunter (The Piano) and having two central female leads is a rare and wonderful thing in the crime genre, and both do justice as the psychologist and detective respectively.

The settings are well established, really diving deep into the mind of past serial killers and putting them into current society, which was shocking.

Copycat is an entertaining crime thriller, different from others in its genre and with two really good leads to captivate the mood and tension of the narrative

8/10

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Rating: - A MASTERPIECE
It all starts with Dr. Helen Hudson(Weaver) giving a lecture on serial killers, little knowing that she's about to have an encounter with one. After her lecture is over she visits the restroom, and is attacked by one Daryll Lee Cullum(Connick). Flash forward 13 months. We see Hudson yet again, but this time she's confined to her apartment. You see, she's now an agoraphobic, having retired after that fateful day. At the local police precinct detectives M.J. Monahan(Hunter) and Ruben Goetz(Mulroney) are tracking a killer of their own, played by William McNamara. He appears to be mimicing the MO's of various famous serial killers. Hudson hears about this over the radio and calls the precinct with some information. She speaks to Monahan, who thinks it's a crank call. Monahan and Goetz pay a little visit to Hudson's residence, carrying with them photographs of the recent crime scenes. Hudson determines the killer is indeed copying other serial killers. A while later, an unseen visitor breaks into her apartment, leaving the dress she was wearing the day she was attacked by Cullum neatly spread out on her bed. Her home is no longer safe. Monahan and Goetz have dragged her back into the world she tried to leave behind. Now Hudson must help the detectives catch the copycat before she becomes the next victim.

Realistic in just about every aspect, Copycat is right up there with Silence of the Lambs. Comparisons to Seven are not unwarrented, but the plot here is more believable. A very good cast, with Weaver giving one of the best perfomances of her career. Hunter and Mulroney are also excellent. The film is provided a very tense and terrifying atmosphere, thanks to director Jon Amiel. It doesn't need to wallow in needless violence and gore, because it has what every great Thriller needs: suspense on an epic scale. The violence is kept to a minimum, but what it contains can be a bit unsettling, if for no other reason than because we get to know how the killer thinks. Along the same lines, Weaver's portrayal of an agoraphobic is perfect. You don't have to imagine what Weaver is feeling when she steps out of her apartment, or what the killer is feeling while he murders his victims. You feel every bit of it, which is why this film succeeds so masterfully.

Copycat is that rare film that comes along every other year or so that has the ability to pull you into it. It takes you on a most terrifying journey into the mind of a serial killer and the doctor that understands him. I can't say anything more, except that I love this film. Hitchcock would've been proud.

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Rating: - more of the same please
Saw this on tv one night and thoroughly enjoyed it. Probably the only flaw is the length of the movie as i found myself wishing they would get on with it towards the last 15 minutes or so.
Otherwise the storyline was interesting and gripping with a good dose of adrenaline pumping scenes too. The acting was extremely good, notably Ms Weaver as a criminal psychologist haunted by a previous attempt on her life who gets embroiled in helping the police hunt for a serial killer.

As i mentioned the main plot is the hunt for a serial killer where there is so little evidence that the cops turn to a psychologist for help. Unfortunately for them she has her own demons to deal with leading her to never leave her home, drink to excess and pop pills. Never the less she is still very intelligent and gives them lots of leads to work on. Soon the killer seems to take an interest in her raising the tension and the stakes.

A good film, one worth watching.

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Rating: - Copy That!!!
Ive seen this film a hundred times, yet the originality of it still astounds me. It takes real events and makes them up to date, every detail. Sigourney weaver is excellent as Helen Hudson, and what a character Darryl Lee Cullum is. Great script, great acting, great movie. . Buy it!!