Copycat (film)
Encyclopedia
Copycat is an American psychological thriller
, starring Sigourney Weaver
and Holly Hunter
. The film was directed by Jon Amiel
, with a score composed by Christopher Young
.
), a respected field expert on serial killer
s, is cornered in a lavatory by one of her previous subjects, Daryll Lee Cullum (Harry Connick, Jr.
), who kills a police officer and brutally attacks her. Helen becomes severely agoraphobic
as a result, sealing herself inside an expensive hi-tech apartment, conducting her entire life from behind a computer screen and assisted by a friend, Andy (John Rothman
).
When a new series of murders spread fear and panic across her home city of San Francisco, detective M.J. Monahan (Hunter
) and her partner Reuben Goetz (Dermot Mulroney
) solicit Helen's expertise. Initially reluctant, Helen soon finds herself drawn into the warped perpetrator's game of wits.
As the murders continue Helen realizes the elusive assailant draws inspiration from notorious serial killers including Albert DeSalvo
, The Hillside Strangler
, David Berkowitz
, Peter Kürten
, Ted Bundy
, Edmund Kemper
and Jeffrey Dahmer
. When the murderer begins contacting - and even stalking - Helen, she and M.J. realize that he is after them, and they enlist the aid of Cullum, who tells them what he knows about the killer. Helen soon realizes that the Copycat killer has been following the list of serial killers in the same order she'd presented at the university the night of her attack, and the two work to figure out where and when he will strike next.
After Andy is killed in a manner reminiscent of Jeffrey Dahmer, M.J. deduces the killer's identity as Peter Foley (William McNamara
). After leading a failed attempt to catch Foley at his house, M.J. discovers that he has kidnapped Helen and taken her back to the scene of Daryll Lee's attempt at killing her - the restroom of the lecture hall. Once she gets there, M.J. finds Helen bound and gagged in the same manner that Cullum did before, but she is ambushed and shot by Foley, rendering her unconscious. As Foley prepares to kill M.J., Helen desperately attempts to save her by ruining Foley's carefully replicated crime scene the only way she can - by attempting to hang herself. Foley panics and cuts Helen down, and Helen is able to get away and escape to the building's roof. Her agoraphobia kicks in again, and Helen finds herself cornered. Accepting her fate, she turns to face Foley. However, just as he is about to kill her, M.J. shoots him in the brachial nerve
, giving him one last chance to surrender. When he pulls his gun back on her, however, she shoots him dead.
Some time later, Daryll Lee writes a letter to another serial killer, instructing him on how to kill Helen, revealing that he had been aiding Foley all along.
, making it "fresh."
Noted film critic Roger Ebert
of the Chicago Sun-Times
awarded it three-and-a-half stars out of a possible four, and a thumbs up on Siskel & Ebert, citing Holly Hunter's character as one of the year's most complex and engaging film creations.
Psychological thriller
Psychological thriller is a specific sub-genre of the broad ranged thriller with heavy focus on characters. However, it often incorporates elements from the mystery and drama genre, along with the typical traits of the thriller genre...
, starring Sigourney Weaver
Sigourney Weaver
Sigourney Weaver is an American actress. She is best known for her critically acclaimed role of Ellen Ripley in the four Alien films: Alien, Aliens, Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection, for which she has received worldwide recognition .Other notable roles include Dana...
and Holly Hunter
Holly Hunter
Holly Hunter is an American actress. Hunter starred in The Piano for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress. She has also been nominated for Oscars for her roles in Broadcast News, The Firm, and Thirteen...
. The film was directed by Jon Amiel
Jon Amiel
Jon Amiel is an English film director who has since the early 1980s worked in film and television in both the UK and the US.-Early life:...
, with a score composed by Christopher Young
Christopher Young
Christopher Young is an American music composer for both film and television.Many of his music compositions are for horror films, including Hellraiser, Tales from the Hood, A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge, Urban Legend, and Drag Me to Hell...
.
Plot
After giving a guest lecture on criminal psychology at a local university, Dr. Helen Hudson (WeaverSigourney Weaver
Sigourney Weaver is an American actress. She is best known for her critically acclaimed role of Ellen Ripley in the four Alien films: Alien, Aliens, Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection, for which she has received worldwide recognition .Other notable roles include Dana...
), a respected field expert on serial killer
Serial killer
A serial killer, as typically defined, is an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is usually based on psychological gratification...
s, is cornered in a lavatory by one of her previous subjects, Daryll Lee Cullum (Harry Connick, Jr.
Harry Connick, Jr.
Joseph Harry Fowler Connick, Jr. is an American singer, big-band leader/conductor, pianist, actor, and composer. He has sold over 25 million albums worldwide. Connick is ranked among the top 60 best-selling male artists in the United States by the Recording Industry Association of America, with...
), who kills a police officer and brutally attacks her. Helen becomes severely agoraphobic
Agoraphobia
Agoraphobia is an anxiety disorder defined as a morbid fear of having a panic attack or panic-like symptoms in a situation from which it is perceived to be difficult to escape. These situations can include, but are not limited to, wide-open spaces, crowds, or uncontrolled social conditions...
as a result, sealing herself inside an expensive hi-tech apartment, conducting her entire life from behind a computer screen and assisted by a friend, Andy (John Rothman
John Rothman
John Mahr Rothman is an American film, television, and stage actor.Rothman was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of Elizabeth D. and Donald N. Rothman, a lawyer. He is the brother of film executive Tom Rothman. Rothman is a graduate of Wesleyan University and the Yale School of Drama...
).
When a new series of murders spread fear and panic across her home city of San Francisco, detective M.J. Monahan (Hunter
Holly Hunter
Holly Hunter is an American actress. Hunter starred in The Piano for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress. She has also been nominated for Oscars for her roles in Broadcast News, The Firm, and Thirteen...
) and her partner Reuben Goetz (Dermot Mulroney
Dermot Mulroney
-Early life:Mulroney was born in Alexandria, Virginia, the son of Ellen, a housewife and amateur actress originally from Manchester, Iowa, and Michael Mulroney, a law professor at Villanova University School of Law, originally from Elkader, Iowa. He has a sister, Moira, and three brothers, Conor,...
) solicit Helen's expertise. Initially reluctant, Helen soon finds herself drawn into the warped perpetrator's game of wits.
As the murders continue Helen realizes the elusive assailant draws inspiration from notorious serial killers including Albert DeSalvo
Albert DeSalvo
Albert Henry DeSalvo was a criminal in Boston, Massachusetts who confessed to being the "Boston Strangler", the murderer of 13 women in the Boston area. DeSalvo was not imprisoned for these murders, however, but for a series of rapes...
, The Hillside Strangler
Hillside Strangler
The Hillside Strangler is the media epithet for two men, cousins Kenneth Bianchi and Angelo Buono, who were convicted of kidnapping, raping, torturing, and killing girls and women ranging in age from 12 to 28 years old during a four-month period from late 1977 to early 1978...
, David Berkowitz
David Berkowitz
David Richard Berkowitz , also known as Son of Sam and the .44 Caliber Killer, is an American serial killer and arsonist whose crimes terrorized New York City from July 1976 until his arrest in August 1977.Shortly after his arrest in August 1977, Berkowitz confessed to killing six people and...
, Peter Kürten
Peter Kürten
Peter Kürten was a German serial killer dubbed The Vampire of Düsseldorf by the contemporary media. He committed a series of sex crimes, assaults and murders against adults and children, most notoriously from February to November 1929 in Düsseldorf.-Early life:Kürten was born into a...
, Ted Bundy
Ted Bundy
Theodore Robert "Ted" Bundy was an American serial killer, rapist, kidnapper, and necrophile who assaulted and murdered numerous young women during the 1970s, and possibly earlier...
, Edmund Kemper
Edmund Kemper
Edmund Emil "Big Ed" Kemper III , also known as "The Co-ed Killer", is an American serial killer who was active in California in the early 1970s. He started his criminal life by shooting both his grandparents when he was 15 years old. Kemper later killed and dismembered six female hitchhikers in...
and Jeffrey Dahmer
Jeffrey Dahmer
Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer was an American serial killer and sex offender. Dahmer murdered 17 men and boys between 1978 and 1991, with the majority of the murders occurring between 1987 and 1991. His murders involved rape, dismemberment, necrophilia and cannibalism...
. When the murderer begins contacting - and even stalking - Helen, she and M.J. realize that he is after them, and they enlist the aid of Cullum, who tells them what he knows about the killer. Helen soon realizes that the Copycat killer has been following the list of serial killers in the same order she'd presented at the university the night of her attack, and the two work to figure out where and when he will strike next.
After Andy is killed in a manner reminiscent of Jeffrey Dahmer, M.J. deduces the killer's identity as Peter Foley (William McNamara
William McNamara
William West McNamara is an American actor.-Early life:Born in Dallas, Texas, McNamara is the son of a professional race car driver for the Ford Motor Company and an interior designer. He attended Columbia University and studied at the Lee Strasberg Institute...
). After leading a failed attempt to catch Foley at his house, M.J. discovers that he has kidnapped Helen and taken her back to the scene of Daryll Lee's attempt at killing her - the restroom of the lecture hall. Once she gets there, M.J. finds Helen bound and gagged in the same manner that Cullum did before, but she is ambushed and shot by Foley, rendering her unconscious. As Foley prepares to kill M.J., Helen desperately attempts to save her by ruining Foley's carefully replicated crime scene the only way she can - by attempting to hang herself. Foley panics and cuts Helen down, and Helen is able to get away and escape to the building's roof. Her agoraphobia kicks in again, and Helen finds herself cornered. Accepting her fate, she turns to face Foley. However, just as he is about to kill her, M.J. shoots him in the brachial nerve
Brachial plexus
The brachial plexus is a network of nerve fibers, running from the spine, formed by the ventral rami of the lower four cervical and first thoracic nerve roots...
, giving him one last chance to surrender. When he pulls his gun back on her, however, she shoots him dead.
Some time later, Daryll Lee writes a letter to another serial killer, instructing him on how to kill Helen, revealing that he had been aiding Foley all along.
Cast
- Holly HunterHolly HunterHolly Hunter is an American actress. Hunter starred in The Piano for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress. She has also been nominated for Oscars for her roles in Broadcast News, The Firm, and Thirteen...
- Inspector M.J. Monahan - Sigourney WeaverSigourney WeaverSigourney Weaver is an American actress. She is best known for her critically acclaimed role of Ellen Ripley in the four Alien films: Alien, Aliens, Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection, for which she has received worldwide recognition .Other notable roles include Dana...
- Helen Hudson - Harry Connick, Jr.Harry Connick, Jr.Joseph Harry Fowler Connick, Jr. is an American singer, big-band leader/conductor, pianist, actor, and composer. He has sold over 25 million albums worldwide. Connick is ranked among the top 60 best-selling male artists in the United States by the Recording Industry Association of America, with...
- Daryll Lee Cullum - Dermot MulroneyDermot Mulroney-Early life:Mulroney was born in Alexandria, Virginia, the son of Ellen, a housewife and amateur actress originally from Manchester, Iowa, and Michael Mulroney, a law professor at Villanova University School of Law, originally from Elkader, Iowa. He has a sister, Moira, and three brothers, Conor,...
- Inspector Reuben Goetz - William McNamaraWilliam McNamaraWilliam West McNamara is an American actor.-Early life:Born in Dallas, Texas, McNamara is the son of a professional race car driver for the Ford Motor Company and an interior designer. He attended Columbia University and studied at the Lee Strasberg Institute...
- Peter Foley - J. E. FreemanJ. E. FreemanJ.E. Freeman is an American actor, often cast in tough guy roles.His first movie appearance was in the early 80s actioner An Eye for an Eye in which he plays a tow truck driver who minces words with Chuck Norris....
- Lt. Thomas Quinn - Will PattonWill PattonWilliam Rankin "Will" Patton is an American actor.-Life and career:Patton was born in Charleston, South Carolina, the eldest of three children. His father is Bill Patton, a playwright and acting/directing instructor who was a Lutheran minister and served as a chaplain at Duke University...
- Det. Nicoletti - John RothmanJohn RothmanJohn Mahr Rothman is an American film, television, and stage actor.Rothman was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of Elizabeth D. and Donald N. Rothman, a lawyer. He is the brother of film executive Tom Rothman. Rothman is a graduate of Wesleyan University and the Yale School of Drama...
- Andy - Shannon O'HurleyShannon O'HurleyShannon O'Hurley is an American actress who attended the Boston Conservatory of Music majoring in Musical Theatre. She has guest starred in TV shows on The Closer, Boston Legal, Desperate Housewives, The West Wing, and NYPD Blue....
- Susan Schiffer
Reception
The film received a 75% rating on Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
, making it "fresh."
Noted film critic Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
of the Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
awarded it three-and-a-half stars out of a possible four, and a thumbs up on Siskel & Ebert, citing Holly Hunter's character as one of the year's most complex and engaging film creations.
Soundtrack
- "Get Up To This” - New World Beat
- "Carabu Party” - Steven Ray
- "Techno Boy” - SilkskiSilkskiJerome Albert Evans Jr., better known as Silkski is a Brooklyn, New York native. He is a PYN, Wutang Mgmt., Da Gutta Ent., Bungalo, Street Scholar, Universal Music Group artist, of ODB’s Brooklyn Zu, Wu-family.-Biography:...
(Jerome Evans) - Main Title From 'Copycat'
- Stick Him Or Shoot Him
- Housebound
- Silent Screams
- Murder's An Art
- In Darkness
- Take A Life
- Next To The Devil
- Pastoral Horror
- Silhouette
- Gallows
- Butchers and Bakers
- Panic
- Who's Afraid
- Lay Me Down
- The Barber Of Seville: Largo Al Factotum - Roberto Servile/Failoni Chamber Orchestra/Will Humburg
- Tosca: Vissi D'arte - Gabriela Benackova/The Czech Philharmonic Orchestra/Bohumil Gregor