Copycat
- IMDb link: 0112722
- IMDb rating: 6.6 (85,514 votes)
- Genres: Thriller, Drama, Mystery
- Director: Dermot Mulroney, Jon Amiel
- Cast: Sigourney Weaver, Holly Hunter, William McNamara and others
- Release date: 27 Oct 1995
- Release year: 1995
- Runtime: 123 minutes
- Country: United States
- Keywords: agoraphobia, serial killer, detective, murder, copycat killer, female protagonist, fear, psychopath, psychopathic killer, subjective camera
Plot:
After giving a lecture at a university in her area of expertise, serial killers, Dr. Helen Hudson, a criminal psychologist, is attacked in the ladies room by escaped serial killer Daryll Lee Cullum, who is apprehended before he is able to kill her. The experience has left her with a severe case of agoraphobia, she not having left her luxurious and high tech San Francisco apartment since. Just over a year later, SFPD Inspectors, partners MJ Monahan and Ruben Goetz, who are methodical and reactive, respectively, in they way they work, are leading the investigation into what appears to be a serial murder case, they who have no expertise in the psychology of such crimes. Despite being ostensibly retired because of what happened at the university, Helen feels oddly compelled yet repulsed by the thought to lend her services to the pair, that service which proves to be invaluable. What proves to be confusing is that while the killer is mimicking the modus operandi of past serial killers, it is the fact that he is changing from killer to killer. They not only have to figure out why he is constantly changing, not typical to serial killers, but which killer he will copy next. What they have some suspicion about is that Helen is integral to his plan, as she knows that he has had access to her apartment, which if he is able to corner her in such which would be problematic for her in not being able emotionally to escape to the outside world.