This 90s thriller pays tribute to the most notorious real-life serial killers in history

Serial killer movies follow a typical approach. Furnishing gruesome murders executed in cold blood, they try to depict sociopaths as those who just can’t help themselves when presented with an opportunity. To make matters even more horrific, these slayings are often committed without any remorse. Luckily, these crazed killers usually have an eye for a particular kind of victim which eventually helps narrow down their profile. But there are films where these serial killers don’t stick to a definite MO and their victims don’t share a common profile either. And for fans of such serial killer movies, today’s Lost and Found is dedicated to the 1995 thriller Copycat.

The film introduces us to San Francisco PD detective MJ Monahan (played by Holly Hunter). Mohanan is a straight shooter who manages to hold her ground in a room full of male detectives. Her sharp sense of picking up clues and innate detection skills make her the chief’s favourite even though he would rather she plays it by the rules. When she’s pulled in to investigate a series of seemingly unrelated gruesome murders of women with little in common, she’s flummoxed. While the MO seems to differ with each case, the concerned killer seems to be mimicking how infamous serial killers in history claimed their victims. Most notable re-enactments include the killings executed by The Boston Strangler, Son of Sam and The Hillside Strangler. Based on newspaper reports, this mysterious killer executes these assassinations in the same peculiar style, staging his victims in precisely the same manner even if the circumstances may vary.

Monahan seeks help from criminal psychologist and author Helen Hudson (played to perfection by Sigourney Weaver). Hudson has a resume of putting more than a dozen sociopaths behind bars with her diagnosis of their damaged mental faculties. And to complicate matters, she’s also an agorophobic who was once attacked by one such serial killer who sought vengeance for being convicted by her testimony. Monahan does the ground work while Hudson helps join the dots but closing in to this predator seems an ordeal as his methodical manner ensures he doesn’t leave any clues at the crime scene. Without giving away any spoilers, we’ll just say that cracking open this case will require more than just relying on evidence and perhaps, pertains to Hudson’s own past.

Just a smidge over two hours, Copycat may sometimes struggle to keep you consistently tense. There’s hardly much held back in terms of the identity of the killer in question and the film also relies on various tropes synonymous with such films. Scenes including a woman in the shower, the perp killing the lights and the phone line before going on to incapacitate his victims and so on. But the unpredictable manner in which events unfold and the precarious position that characters find themselves in, is what makes Copycat a truly rewarding watch for fans of slashers and police procedurals.

Copycat is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video.

Well that's all we got for today's episode of Lost and Found, until the next episode it's your host Nikhil signing out.

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Written by Kunal Guha