Copycat (1995)

Director:

Jon Amiel

Writers (WGA):

Ann Biderman (written by) and
David Madsen (written by)

Release Date:

27 October 1995 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Horror | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

One man is copying the most notorious killers in history one at a time. Together, two women must stop him from killing again. Or they're next.

Plot:

An agoraphobic psychologist (Weaver) and a female detective (Hunter) must work together to take down a serial killer who copies serial killers from the past.

Plot Keywords:

Bathroom Stall | Naked Dead Woman | Tense | Visceral | Paranoid

Awards:

2 wins & 1 nomination

US TV Schedule:

Sat. July 26	6:00 AM	TNT
Fri. Aug. 1	4:00 AM	TNT

Cast

Sigourney Weaver	...	Helen Hudson
Holly Hunter	...	M.J. Monahan
Dermot Mulroney	...	Reuben Goetz
William McNamara	...	Peter Foley
Harry Connick Jr.	...	Daryll Lee Cullum
J.E. Freeman	...	Lt. Thomas Quinn
Will Patton	...	Nicoletti
John Rothman	...	Andy
Shannon O'Hurley	...	Susan Schiffer
Bob Greene	...	Pachulski
Tony Haney	...	Kerby
Danny Kovacs	...	Kostas
Tahmus Rounds	...	Landis
Scott DeVenney	...	Cop #1
David Michael Silverman	...	Mike

MPAA:

Rated R for violence and language.

Runtime:

123 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Australia:M (TV rating) | New Zealand:R18 | USA:R (certificate #34118) | Philippines:R-18 | Finland:K-18 (uncut) | Iceland:16 | Finland:K-16 (cut) | Argentina:16 | Australia:MA | Chile:18 | Denmark:16 | Germany:16 | Norway:18 | Portugal:M/16 | Singapore:PG | South Korea:18 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | France:-12

Filming Locations:

Hollywood Center Studios - 1040 N. Las Palmas Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Regency Enterprises

Trivia:

The climactic bathroom scene took 8 days to film.

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: When Susan Schiffer is being stopped by the police, she says to the officer 'excuse me! I am a member of the press!' but her mouth is not moving.

Quotes:

Peter: Don't you ever get tired... Of being a day late and a dollar short?

Movie Connections:

Featured in Shooting the Police: Cops on Film (2006) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Murder by Numbers

Best Thriller ever?

Copycat is one of the best suspense thrillers I have ever seen. It really is an outstanding movie because it sort of creeps up on you and suddenly you realize that this movie is way better than almost any other thriller that you have ever seen. Sigourney Weaver does her best acting in this movie since ALIENS. She is excellent when she is vulnerable and yet tough at the same time. In other movies she is just tough, cranky, whiny, or mean. But here she is so tender and vulnerable, and yet she is the Woman of Steel! Holly Hunter, who can be anywhere from boring to pathetic to outstanding does a good job here mostly because she sticks to her character and does not inject too much of her personality into it. To a great degree, Holly Hunter plays the straight man to Sigourney Weaver, who is really the one emoting the most. The DRAGNET-style approach of Holly Hunter as a Detective makes Weaver's Skitzo-Paranoia problems seem more realistic. Weaver and Hunter are both outstanding in this movie (but Weaver is "In The Zone")

Will Patton is in this movie, and like his role in most movies, you have to wonder why he was in the movie at all. For some reason, he usually gets roles that could have been left out and would not have affected the movie in any way. In this case, he plays a Detective who is out of step and not paying attention to what is going on, and somebody else pays the price thanks to Will Patton being one step slower than everybody else. But what was the point? Just to add some action to a slow-paced psychological thriller?? It seems like the Director had to include a shoot-out, and he could not figure out where to put it, so it went into the middle of the movie with the most expendable supporting characters involved.

The only other negative is that the Serial Killer Copycat (William McNamara) looks like a cute underwear model for a JC Penney's Catalog (he is not quite Calvin Klein material). There is also a "Silence of The Lambs" type of connection to Harry Connick, Jr. who is the Original Serial Killer. The idea being that Connick is the inspiration and mentor for the new Copycat killer. That whole plot line is a bit dubious because Harry Connick, Jr. plays his role as if he were mentally retarded, unlike Anthony Hopkins, who plays psychopaths very well.

Additionally, I do not think prisons have prisoner e-mail and internet accounts. However, that myth has been around since "Silence of The Lambs" where Anthony Hopkins/Hannibal seemed to have ways of getting internet access and he also had secure (unchecked) postal mail service that allowed him to be sending and receiving letters to and from other lunatics (and Hopkins was also placing classified ads in newspapers to communicate with the other killer). Aside from those little details, COPYCAT is going to leave you in suspense until the last second. Weaver's excellent performance makes you care for her, and she also makes the villains believable and terrifying.