October 27th brings us the 20th anniversary of the oft-forgotten thriller* Copycat, starring Sigourney Weaver, Holly Hunter, Dermot Mulroney and Harry Connick, Jr. Released in 1995 at the tail-end of copycats (sorry) of The Silence of the Lambs, Copycat tends to slip by in discussions of great serial killer thrillers, since Scream would come out a year later and overshadow most 90s slashers that came before it. Not that Copycat is necessarily a slasher, but you’re more likely to find someone who has never heard of Copycat over someone who has never heard of Scream of The Silence of the Lambs, and that’s just not right.
*Before you cry “But Copycat isn’t a horror film,” please allow me to direct you to Jonathan’s post right here. If The Silence of the Lambs can be considered horror, so can Copycat.
***SPOILERS of a 20-year-old film to follow***
In Copycat, an attack by serial killer Daryll Lee Cullum (Harry Connick, Jr.) renders renowned criminal psychologist Helen Hudson (Sigourney Weaver) an agoraphobic. Thirteen months after the attack, a different serial killer begins to copycat some of the most notorious serial killers of the century. With the help of Inspector M.J. Monahan (Holly Hunter) and her partner Reuben Goetz (Dermot Mulroney), they work together to track the copycat before he can kill more people.
What makes Copycat such a special film is that unlike so many other films in the genre, it avoids gender stereotypes. The women are the stars of the show and they are capable of taking care of themselves. Even Weaver’s character, who is relegated to her apartment for 90% of the film, is portrayed as a strong female, despite her handicap.
Copycat’s parallels with The Silence of the Lambs are apparent. In Copycat, Monahan but use the help of an incarcerated expert on criminals and psychopaths (Weaver) to help her solve a crime, just as Clarice Starling had to utilize the help of Hannibal Lecter. Copycat’s twist on this plot is to have the incarcerated intellectual be female and not a criminal. Monahan is also a seasoned police inspector compared to the rookie Clarice Starling. To my knowledge (and I could be wrong), this is the first film to feature two women law enforcement officers working together to take down the villain. Dermot Mulroney’s Goetz is the sidekick and rookie in this film, and he gets killed at the end of the second act by a random criminal in the police station.
The Silence of the Lambs isn’t the only film that influenced Copycat. Wait Until Dark, the 1967 Audrey Hepburn thriller in which she is confined to her apartment because of her blindness. Helen’s agoraphobia directly parallels Hepburn’s character’s vision impairment.
Copycat was a type of feminist movie that no one had ever seen before, which makes it unfathomable that it isn’t name-dropped in film discussions more often. Its influence can be seen even in films like The Heat. Hell, the film even has a gay character whose sexual orientationis barely mentioned, which isn’t even something that’s common in films that are released today.
While the feminist ideals and the chemistry between the two leads is a major selling point of Copycat, the film has so much more going for it. Directed by John Amiel (who would go on to direct critical darlings Entrapment and The Core), Copycat features stella performances from everyone in the cast. Connick, Jr. has never been creepier, Mulroney is great as the junior detective and even William McNamara plays a great villain you love to hate.
Part of the fun of Copycat is the crime scenes. Watching the film plays like a “Greatest Hits” edition of America’s most notorious serial killers. From The Boston Strangler to Son of Sam to Ted Bundy, Copycat hits all the major players. While it is very much a cop movie, the film features the psychological elements much more prominently, making it a more compelling film.
There are disturbing moments aplenty in the film (though nothing particularly gory), the primary one being the opening sequence of Connick’s attack on Weaver, but there are severed fingers left in books, ants set loose in a bed, a really creepy animated email video and the climactic showdown between Helen and the titular copycat. Twists and turns feature prominently in Copycat, but the fun comes from watching Helen and M.J. piece together the clues to determine the killer’s pattern (the reveal is particularly clever).
Of course, Copycat is not a perfect film. Despite the aforementioned twists and turns, the overall narrative arc is pretty predictable (Helen must eventually face her agoraphobia head-on) and the twist in the final scene, while creepy, isn’t wholly necessary (and is a tease for a sequel that never came to fruition).
That being said, Copycat is still one of the more underrated thrillers of the 90s that should find its way back into popular culture. It did moderately well at the box office, making $32 million on a $20 million budget, so clearly some people have seen it. Give it a re-watch (or watch it for the first time) this week to celebrate its 20th anniversary!
