Copycat combines suspenseful thriller with reality-based horror.
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The result of the genre-bending of Copycat is a great movie that will appeal to Horror Freaks and non-Horror-Freaks alike. Ronnie Angel explains how perhaps a new horror genre is necessary.
Review by: BHM Contributor Ronnie Angel
November 12, 2006
Release: 1995
Directed by: Jon Amiel
Written by: Ann Biderman and David Madsen
Starring:
Sigourney Weaver as Helen Hudson
Holly Hunter as M.J. Monahan
Dermot Mulroney as Reuben Goetz
William McNamara as Peter Foley
Harry Connick Jr. as Daryll Lee Cullum
The movie genre called "horror" is quite vast. There are Slasher movies, Psychological Horror, Horror/Thrillers and the list just goes on and on. Even mainstream television events such as Bravo’s 100 Scariest Movie Moments illustrate that the scariest scenes are not always found in movies that one automatically thinks of as “horror”.
All of this set up is
to defend my decision to add Copycat to the
Best-Horror-Movies.com list of horror movie reviews. Some of the very
best horror movies are of the psychological type, such as Seven,
Silence of the Lambs, Kiss the Girls and of course Copycat.
Copycat borrows elements from the classic Thriller genre, and puts them together to create highly original and interesting psychological horror.
The film begins by showing criminal psychologist Helen Hudson (Sigourney Weaver) giving a lecture on serial killers at a University. Unbeknownst to her at the time, among the lecture attendees is an ominous character lurking in the crowd, Daryll Lee Cullum (Harry Connick Jr.).
Daryll Lee, we find out, is himself an at-large serial killer who is known for carefully planning his crimes and creating “centerfold scenes” after killing his victims. After the lecture, Miss Hudson is brutally attacked by Daryll in the University restroom and is nearly made into a new "centerfold victim". She is saved however, and Daryll is jailed.
Years later Helen continues to suffer from post traumatic stress disorder and agoraphobia due to the horrific incident. She cannot leave her apartment without a debilitating event of vertigo and has installed a high tech security system so that she can view her surroundings. Helen continues her research, however, and discovers that a new serial killer whom the city homicide department is tracking is copying some of the most famous murders of the last century i.e. Dahlmer, the Hillside Strangler, the Boston Strangler, etc. When the murderers plot to copy Bundy is foiled by Helen and the detectives hot on his trail, he turns to another famous murderer - Daryll Lee Cullum. His new mission? Finish the job that Daryll attempted years ago.
Copycat may be deserving of a new horror sub-genre – Realistic Horror. Realistic Horror depicts a scenario that could be happening at any time and place in reality, and in fact probably is. The psychological horror elements work so well because of the intense realism. If you were to spend the night in a funeral home or a dark medieval castle, which are more stereotypical horror settings, you could tell yourself that the scary things running through your mind “only happen in the movies”. But just by watching the evening news one can immediately tell that psychos like the villains in Copycat are roaming the streets every day, possibly right next door - and isn't that the scariest thing of all?
Copycat is a truly exciting and suspenseful movie and an all around great movie to watch, and I highly recommend it for horror fans and thriller fans alike. Questions or Comments about Copycat? Contact us!
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