Copycat (1995 film)

Copycat is a 1995 American psychological thriller film directed by Jon Amiel and starring Sigourney Weaver, Holly Hunter, and Dermot Mulroney. The score was composed by Christopher Young.
== Plot ==
After giving a guest lecture on criminal psychology at a local university, Dr. Helen Hudson, a respected field expert on serial killers, is cornered in the lecture hall's restroom by one of her previous subjects, Daryll Lee Cullum, who has escaped from prison. He kills a police officer and brutally attacks Helen. Another cop subdues Cullum and he is returned to prison. After the attack, Hudson becomes severely agoraphobic, sealing herself inside an expensive hi-tech apartment, conducting her entire life from behind a computer screen, and assisted by her friend, Andy.
When a wave of murders spreads fear and panic across San Francisco, homicide detective M.J. Monahan and her partner, Reuben Goetz, 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 that the elusive assailant draws inspiration from notorious serial killers, including Albert DeSalvo, The Hillside Strangler, David Berkowitz, Jeffrey Dahmer, John Wayne Gacy, and Ted Bundy. When the murderer begins contacting and even stalking Helen, she and M.J. realize that he is after them; they then enlist aid from Cullum, who says he knows about the killer.
Helen soon realizes that the copycat killer has been following the list of serial killers in the same order that she presented them in her university lecture the night she was attacked. The two work to figure out where and when he will strike next. Reuben is held hostage and killed in an unrelated shooting incident at the police station, leaving M.J. – now questioning herself after her targeting the shooter’s brachial nerve area failed and he was still able to stand up and fatally shoot Reuben– to continue searching for the serial killer alone.
After Andy is killed in a manner reminiscent of Jeffrey Dahmer, M.J. deduces that the killer is a man named Peter Foley, who has been corresponding with Cullum. After a failed attempt to capture him at his house, M.J. reaches Helen's residence. M.J. discovers Peter has kidnapped Helen and left a video asking M.J. to guess where he has taken Helen. M.J. returns to where Cullum previously attempted to kill her – the lecture hall restroom. Upon arriving, M.J. finds Helen bound, hanged, and gagged in the same manner Cullum previously did. Foley ambushes M.J., rendering her unconscious. As Foley prepares to kill M.J., Helen desperately attempts to save her by sabotaging Foley's carefully replicated crime scene the only way she can: by attempting to hang herself. Foley panics and cuts Helen down, which allows her to escape to the building's roof. Her agoraphobia overtakes her, 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 until killing him with a headshot.
Some time later, Cullum writes to another serial killer, instructing him on how to kill Helen, and revealing that he had been aiding Foley all along. Cullum wishes, "happy huntin', partner" to his new proxy in the mission to kill Helen.
== Cast ==
* Sigourney Weaver as Dr. Helen Hudson
* Holly Hunter as Inspector Mary Jane "M.J." Monahan
* Dermot Mulroney as Inspector Reuben Goetz
* Harry Connick Jr. as Daryll Lee Cullum
* William McNamara as Peter Foley
** John Morris as Young Peter Foley (scenes cut)
* J.E. Freeman as Lieutenant Thomas Quinn
* Will Patton as Inspector Nicoletti
* John Rothman as Andy
* Shannon O'Hurley as Susan Schiffer
* Bob Greene as Pachulski
* Tony Haney as Kerby
* Danny Kovacs as Kostas
* Tahmus Rounds as Landis
* David Michael Silverman as Mike
* Diane Amos as "Gigi"
* Richard Conti as Harvey
* Nick Scoggin as Conrad
* Bert Kinyon as Burt
* Kenny Kwong as Chinese Kid
* Rebecca Klinger as Peter's Wife
* Kathleen Stefano as Peter's Mother
* Hansford Prince as Fred
* Keith Phillips as Felix Mendoza
* Ron Kaell as Mac
* Kelvin Han Yee as Chinese Inspector
* James Cunningham as Hal
* Russ Christoff as Commissioner Petrillo
* Jeni Chua as Michelle
* Thomas J. Fieweger as Officer Bodger
* Floyd Gale Holland as L. Bottemy
* Stuart W. Yee as Thug
Category:1995 films