movie watch

Copycat

Pearl, 9.30pm

A well-paced psychological thriller that features Sigourney Weaver, Holly Hunter and a scary restroom scene. Helen Hudson (Weaver) is an agoraphobic psychiatrist who specialised in serial killers before a psycho named Daryll Lee Cullum (Harry Connick Jnr, above) scared her into seclusion. Hunter plays a sharp-shooting cop called MJ Monahan. The two are brought together when the San Francisco Bay area is terrorised by a serial killer who has set out to copy the work of all his heroes, from the Boston Strangler to Jeffrey Dahmer.

Monahan is in charge of the investigation and as the victims start to pile up, she receives a series of helpful anonymous calls, which she eventually traces back to the reclusive Hudson. While Hudson hasn't left her apartment since her run-in with Cullum a year ago, Monahan tries to coax her into assisting her investigation. Predictably, the Copycat Killer starts stalking Hudson.

OK, you may find yourself two steps ahead of every plot twist but the film is still enjoyable. Hunter is not quite convincing as a street-wise cop, but Weaver is more believable as Hudson, although the writers - Ann Biderman and David Madsen - don't give her anything to sink her teeth into; they don't even explain why Hudson is obsessed with serial killers. Also Dermot Mulroney's character (as Monahan's sharp-dressing sidekick) appears to be redundant. Connick, on the other hand, gives the film's most interesting performance as a white-trash Hannibal Lecter who spends most of the movie behind bars. The singer-actor is genuinely menacing and seems to be having a ball playing a psychopath. (1995)

The Pearl Report

Pearl, 8pm