COPYCAT

Siigourney Weaver

COPYCAT (1995). Director: Jon Amiel.

Helen Hudson (Sigourney Weaver), a psychologist who specializes in serial killers, is attacked in a restroom after one of her lectures and nearly killed. Her assailant is Daryll Lee Cullum (Harry Connick, Jr.), who is arrested, but Helen turns into an agoraphobic who is unable to leave her home. In spite of this she assists two detectives -- Monahan (Holly Hunter) and Reuben (Dermot Mulroney) -- in tracking down a new serial killer, Peter (William McNamara), who is copying the crimes of famous monsters such as Son of Son, Jeffrey Dahmer and others. But will Helen survive when the killer comes after her with a plan to fatally reenact her near-death experience in the college restroom?

William McNamara

Copycat could be picked apart for plot holes and illogical moments but it improves as it goes along, building genuine suspense, despite the fact that the killer is revealed early on. Weaver [Prayers for Bobby] is quite good, and although Holly Hunter [The Burning] would hardly be my first choice for playing a homicide detective, she generally acquits herself nicely as well. Mulroney is perfect as her cocky and ill-fated partner; Connick is positively terrific as the slimy and gross Cullum; and McNamara [Dario Argento's Opera] certainly makes a positive impression as the diabolical and sadistic Peter. One of the best sequences in the film has to do with the unexpected death of a major character, and there is an admirable attempt to flesh out these characters as well. This was one of the big 90's films about serial killers that led to such programs as Criminal Minds. However, those programs look into the lives of the victims a lot more than this picture does.

Verdict: Flashy and slick and quite entertaining. ***.