Sections

Slasher film cheats on formula in true 'Copycat' style

The funny thing about renting a movie on video is that you often remember the slimeball who was your date when you went to see the film four months ago. Yet, you can draw two conclusions here.

1. You can feel icky and say, "Wow, I was pretty stupid. What did I think it was, Scuzz Fest or something? I went out with THAT THING?"

2. You can feel good and say, "Wow, I was pretty stupid. Thank God I came to my senses and washed my hands of the filth before I caught a disease."

If you rent "Copycat" (new on video this week), though, you might not have to make the choice. Given the trippiness of this slasher film, you might not be thinking back to your date at all.

Yes, Sigourney Weaver has tangoed with the mother alien and slept with the gorillas in the mist, but now she has to face her greatest challenge yet ... Harry Connick Jr. You want to rent "Copycat" because you like Harry Connick Jr. and you think he's a great singer? Well, his character ain't trying to hear that. He's got a gun and a knife, baby, and he wants to rumble with that "Aliens" gal.

"Copycat," no matter how you slice it, shapes up as a straight-up "Silence of the Lambs" rip-off. You have the psycho who has all the good lines but is hardly on screen (Connick) locked away, you have the tough-girl cop whom everyone assumes will save the day (Holly Hunter) and you have the other psycho who's doing the hacking, holed up in a dark basement (some geek whom you've never heard of before).

Although it cheats, the film still has some butt-kicking, scary scenes; most of them, however, occur early on in the film, when Connick's character is on a rampage and attacks Ripley -- uhh, Weaver.

Some of the other good moments in the film, which make it worth renting, come when Ripley -- dammit, Weaver -- is a prisoner in her apartment. She's agoraphobic and the filmmakers exploit that gimmick all they can. It's interesting stuff, though, because we're so used to seeing Weaver as Ripley, the woman who torched the entire nest of aliens and yanked Newt up from the slimy cocoon in "Aliens."

If she's not portraying a strong character like Ripley (God, I love saying that name), then she's portraying a "bitch," as she did in "Working Girl." In "Copycat," though, Weaver's more or less a cripple, because if she steps outside her door, you know what happens?

We get groovy camera work that makes us feel like we're on speed, crack, heroin and pot all at the same time -- you know, like how you feel when trying to find your station in the Fishbowl.

"Copycat" has its fair share of shooting, knifing, de-gutting, mangling, rending, severing and strangling. But as a maniac-flick, most of the violence is tastefully done. Some lightning-quick editing during most of the murderous moments leaves you feeling scared, not grossed out.

The movie might lose some of its pizzazz at home -- formatting the original, wide-screen frame (as you'd see it in the theater) requires cutting some of the frame, or some of the images. The focus of the frame, then, becomes larger, blown-up: What we have, instead of a close-up shot of Harry Connick Jr., is a nostril-close-up shot of Harry Connick Jr. Hmmm, kind of puts a whole new spin on the term "horror film," doesn't it?

Also new on video:

"To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar" hits video stores this week. You know this film; it's the comedy where those dudes go cruisin', looking for love, right? Weeeell, it's not quite as simple as that. Wesley Snipes sheds his Rodman 'do and sings, "Work it, work it, work it, wuh-wuh-wuh-work it." John Leguizamo squeezes into a dress and defends himself: "This is not a weave, this is hair FUSION!"

Some people have said that we laugh at this film because, when the guys dress up like girls, we feel uncomfortable. They appear to have lost their gifts, so to speak, and that disturbs us. To release this disturbance, we laugh.

Please. We laugh because our girlfriends are jealous that that short guy actually looks better as a girl than they do.

Yes, some people have also said that this film is a rip-off of "Priscilla, Queen of the Desert." Por favor. As if you have ever seen, or will ever see, that film in your life -- because it doesn't have that short guy in heels from "Wong Foo" in it, right?

"Wong Foo," though, is just a bunch of fluff-crap. It has no substance. It has no backbone. It has no message (aside from the fact that that one short guy looks nice dressed as a girl). It just serves as a nice little career move for its tough-guy actors.