User Reviews

In San Francisco, the criminal psychologist Helen Hudson (Sigourney Weaver) is specialized in serial-killers. During a trial, the accused Daryll Lee Cullum (Harry Connick Jr.) kills a police officer and tries to kill her and she becomes agoraphobic. Now Helen lives a reclusive life with her gay friend Andy (John Rothman) that helps her. Sometime later, there is a wave of crimes and Detectives M.J. Monahan (Holly Hunter) and Reuben Goetz (Dermot Mulroney) are investigating the murder cases. Helen identifies that the murderer is copycatting notorious serial-killers and she anonymously contacts the Police Department. After fourteen phone calls, she is identified by the police. Detectives M.J. and Reuben visit her and Helen teams up with them and prepares the profile of the killer that wants to be famous. But soon the copycat killer Peter Foley (William McNamara) contacts and stalks Helen and M.J. and Reuben give protection to her. Will they be capable to stop Foley before the next murder?

"Copycat" is an effective thriller from the 90's and certainly among the best ones. The performances of Sigourney Weaver and Holly Hunter are great and Holly Hunter is a great surprise as a detective in a thriller. There are many movies about serial-killers and the great difference in "Copycat" is two women in the lead roles. The identity of the killer is disclosed too soon and could be kept as a mystery; but anyway the character is not connected to Helen, Andy, M.J. or Reuben and it would not be possible to have a twist or a major surprise if the mystery was kept. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Copycat - A Vida Imita a Morte" ("Copycat – The Life Imitates The Death")

"Copycat" is a surprising good serial-killer thriller, that perhaps is not the most original movie around but its definitely one of the better executed ones.

The movie is well written, with a solid story, main characters and a couple of nice twists. At the beginning you don't really know what the movie is going about and everything is build up in a good, non-forced or overdone way. In the beginning its still a mystery who's behind the killings and it even is subtly implied that the killers could be one of the cops, or one of the other characters in the movie. The movie however takes a twist when it fully shows the killer, his preparations and his actions. The movie is at times told completely from the killers point of view. This works surprisingly effective and it doesn't ruin the tension or mystery of the movie, in any way.

What makes the movie effective and also in a way distinctive is that the main characters of the movie are two female characters. They are being portrayed by about the two strongest female leading Hollywood ladies of the moment; Sigourney Weaver and Holly Hunter. They are two strong and independently, different from each other characters that know to carry the movie. The movie also has an excellent supporting cast with Harry Connick Jr. in a disturbing role, Will Patton and the fairly unknown William McNamara as the killer of the movie. The fact that he isn't as well known as an actor perhaps makes his character work out all the better.

I have yet to see a Jon Amiel movie that is original on its own. His movies always heavily 'borrow' from other movies in the same genre. He's a real 'copycat' himself you may say. "Copycat" is really no exception to this but it this case it didn't bothered me since the execution of it all was superb and effective.

The movie is basically good and tense from start till finish, due to a good pace, interesting well written and developed characters and a good overall build up. The movie perhaps at the end turns into a bit of a formulaic and simple one but it doesn't really downgrade the movie in any way. It all makes this movie one of the better genre movies of the last couple of years. The movie has basically everything in it that is needed to make a good thriller.

The movie is good looking with an overall nice visual style, some nice cinematography, nimble editing and a suiting musical score from composer Christopher Young.

A simply great genre movie, that deserves some more recognition and that holds up surprising well against other classic genre examples such as "Silence of the Lambs" and "Se7en".

8/10

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Back in the 1990s, it seemed that not a month went by when cinemas were not welcoming yet a new entry into the serial killer genre. After a while, the repetitiveness and predictability siphoned off the thrills, so there were attempts to add flourishes. None more so than Copycat, which was one of the few (perhaps the only?) film of the time to feature two leading ladies at the head of the action.

Copycat opens with an attack on OCD-afflicted psychologist Sigourney Weaver by serial killer Harry Connick, Jr. While she escapes, it is not unscathed. Now afflicted by severe agoraphobia, Weaver never leaves her apartment and relies solely on computers and her gay assistant to aid her in day to day life. When a separate serial killer (William McNamera) begins a killing spree emulating serial killers of the past, Weaver realizes the similarities and tries to alert the police anonymously, only to be pulled back into the fold by cops Holly Hunter and Dermot Mulroney.

Where to begin. I could lament the utter tastelessness of utilizing real-life serial killings as a basis for the murders in this film, but why bother? I will argue about the misleading trailers, which seemed to indicate that Connick was the main protagonist, when in fact he has little more than a glorified cameo here. This is a point of contention because Connick is actually creepy and menacing in his time on screen, while McNamera barely registers, which is a problem when your villain fades into the background.

While I commend producers/writers for giving us two actresses in the leads, it sounds better on paper than in practice here. Weaver, an actress I normally love, is uncharacteristically hammy here. Her psychologist heroine feels less like a real person than a grocery store list of tics and neuroses. The scene where she thinks her apartment has been invaded, but her agoraphobia forbids her from leaving is too laughably over the top. By contrast, Hunter is almost disastrously miscast. With her annoyingly lilting Texas twang and designer cop duds, Hunter feels less like professional police officer at the top of her game and more like a little girl playing dress up in mommy's work clothes. She does not convince you for one moment. Even worse, she has no camaraderie or chemistry with either Weaver or Mulroney, her romantic interest/partner in the film.

Plus the film's predictability is off the charts. Given this is set in the notoriously less PC 1990s, we know pretty much by rote the moment Weaver's effeminate gay assistant is introduced that he is dead meat and the film has little sympathy for him. Truthfully, the film has little sympathy for any of the victims. Even more repellent is the entire subplot surrounding Mulroney that the film telegraphs way too early. We open with Hunter's character wounding a suspect and her providing rather persuasive reasoning as to why she disarms rather than kills suspects. Mulroney is introduced as her partner/lover (because in TV and films obviously no man and woman could conceivably ever be partners without being lovers, unless one of them is gay, old or ugly), but the relationship seems like an afterthought and the film holds it like its a contrivance. In a completely unrelated moment later, Mulroney is taken hostage at the police station and Hunter wounds/disarms the suspect, only to have said suspect a moment later grab a firearm and blow Mulroney away in front of her. This sets up a bunch of contrived soul-searching as to why she did not just kill the culprit when she had the chance leading to some badly thought out unbelievable psycho-babble dialog between Weaver and Hunter; when truthfully we know this is just setting up for that pivotal climactic moment when Weaver is taken hostage and Hunter will know just how to handle his hash.

If any of this sounds exciting, then it must be my wording because the film is nearly devoid of suspense after its opening moments. Director Amiel seems more at home in dramas than thrillers, and it shows here in spades. If you are in to these types of films, there are worse, but there are also far better. You would do well to seek the betters ones out.

Definitely a film that will have you on the edge of your seat, if not hugging it as closely as possible. Copycat tells the story of a serial killer psychologist(wonderfully played by Sigourney Weaver), slowly working her way from phobias due to an attack from a serial killer, working with the law(serviceably played by a cute Holly Hunter) in search of a serial killer that kills in the previous styles of former serial killers. The murderer uses old photos and the books of Weaver to recapture the "essence" of each brutal killing. Murders are done ala Albert DeSalvo, Son of Sam, Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, and others. The film is very fascinating and yet very twisted too. The killer is played with such conviction by William McNamara. Another killer in prison(the one that attacked Weaver) is played with unusual repulsivenes by Harry Connick Jr. The real star here is the script which has unusual intelligence for such subject matter. There is a good deal of violence, yet a subtle humour pervades much of the discussion between the cops and even Weaver and Hunter in a few scenes. But the thrill aspect of the film...the raw suspense...steers the picture from beginning to end. Hunter and Weaver(particularly) do incredible jobs in their roles, and I was impressed with the film as a whole.

Dr Helen Hudson is an expert in serial killers and lectured on the subject until one day she nearly became a victim herself. Thirteen months later and she is agoraphobic; never leaving her home in San Francisco. Now another serial killer is operating in the city and M.J. Monahan and her partner Reuben Goetz are leading the investigation to catch him. Hudson contacts the police anonymously because she believes the killer is imitating the crimes of the Boston Strangler. Monahan quickly figures out who contacted them and soon Hudson is pulled, somewhat unwillingly, into the investigation. The killer sends a video clip to Hudson which she believes is his next victim; sure enough there is another murder but the MO is completely different. This should indicate a different killer as serial killers don't change their methods but something is different here; the killer has just copied a different killer, or in this case pair of killers. The killings continue, with other killers being copied until ultimately Hudson is targeted in a recreation of the previous attempt on her life.

After 'The Silence of the Lambs' serial killer films were the flavour of the moment. This is a solid enough example of the genre; not one of the best but certainly not one of the worst. The story gets off to a good start and having a main killer who copies others was interesting. Unfortunately the sense of mystery is somewhat reduced as we are shown the killer fairly early on; once we've seen his face it is just a question of who he will copy him next and how the cops will ultimately stop him. Apart from Monahan the police are depicted as fairly incompetent; the officer posted outside Hudson's door is easily lured away and another leaves his gun in an unlocked drawer near a suspect with tragic consequences. Solid lead performances from Sigourney Weaver and Holly Hunter raise the quality of the production from something fairly routine to make it well worth watching if you are a fan of the genre.

Copycat is set in San Francisco where a serial killer is at large, homicide inspector's M.J. Monahan (Holly Hunter) & her partner Reuben Geotz (Dermot Mulroney) are on the case but are going nowhere fast. A serial killer profiler named Helen Hudson (Sigourney Weaver) who suffers from agoraphobia & has been housebound for thirteen months after a serial killer named Daryll Lee Cullum (Harry Connick Jr.) tried to kill her agrees to help the police catch the killer using her expertise. Helen quickly realises that the killer is copying other serial killers from the past in the way he kills his victims, the killer also contacts Helen & taunts her as he intends to finish the job Daryll Lee Cullum started & kill her in the way Callum wanted...

Directed by Jon Amiel I am actually amazed at how many positive comments this strictly average killer thriller has, for me it's a poor mans Se7en (1995) or even The Silence of the Lambs (1991). The script by Ann Bidderman & David Madsen takes itself very seriously, is far too long, deviates from the main action too often & doesn't make the most of it's good aspects. There are some good ideas in Copycat including the idea of a serial killer copying other serial killers & the profiler suffering from agoraphobia but little is made of them & I thought Copycat was a throughly routine & disappointingly predictable thriller. For start the killer is identified too early, there's no mystery surrounding who they are at all & he isn't given any sort of motive other than 'I'm a killer & that's what I do' which is about all the motive a character like Jason Voorhees from the Friday the 13th slasher flicks is given which I didn't like at all & then there's the extremely predictable & clichéd ending where you just know Helen will have to find strength within herself & overcome her agoraphobia in order to defeat the killer, you can just see it coming from the moment we learn she's a agoraphobic. I wasn't keen on the killers characterisation either, why at the end does he save Helen from hanging? Wasn't that his plan? To recreate & finish Daryll Lee's plan? Why save her & then instantly want to killer her again? He runs after her with a knife so why not let her hang? Surely that's what he wanted? For someone who is portrayed as so intelligent & cunning he suddenly becomes a nervous wreck & if you think about it Helen owes the killer for saving her life as much as she owes Monahan. Also why did the killer kill his wife? What serial killer was he copying then eh?

Director Amiel turns in a throughly standard looking cop thriller, it has absolutely no style like Se7en did, it's not scary, most of the kills are off screen & there's no atmosphere which Se7en manage to generate so well. The gore & violence isn't that excessive, there's a couple of slit throats otherwise all the kills are off screen. The computer terminology used in Copycat is also severely questionable & basically total nonsense. What on earth was that terrible ending all about as well? It's awful & seemed more suited to a cheap horror flick that wanted to spawn a sequel. As a big fan of the telly series Quincy M.E. (1976 - 1983) I wonder if they named Hunter's character Monahan after a similar homicide detective in Quincy? I doubt it but you never know as it's not a common name.

With a supposed budget of about $20,000,000 Copycat is well made but throughly bland & forgettable. There's no style here at all, shot on location in San Francisco & Los Angeles. I thought Sigourney Weaver was pretty good in this but I also thought Holly Hunter was awful, really, really bad.

Copycat is an average killer thriller, it doesn't have the scares, the atmosphere or the mysterious intrigue the likes of Se7en & The Silence of the Lambs excel at & which are both far superior to this. A thriller that's not very thrilling, generally disappointing & I thought it was average at best.