Copycat Killer (Netflix series, 2023)
Copycat Killer is a Taiwanese serial killer thriller series about a tenacious prosecutor who must catch a serial murderer who turns his killings into media events.
Copycat Killer was adapted by Miyuki Miyabe from her own novel and is directed by Henri Chang and Jung-chi Chang.
It stars Kang Ren Wu (also known as Chris Wu) as the protagonist and with his flair and acting capabilities it’s easy to see why he is such a household name in Asia.
Copycat Killer plays like a cross between the Saw movies and a Scandi Noir series like The Bridge, which also had a killer who played his deadly games through the media - the first episode even ends with an overhead shot of a car crossing a bridge over (troubled) water, in the same way The Bridge often did.
The killer, by the way, is called Noh, and he is a sadist, who likes to execute his victims like it is a game, that the public can be a part of.
Meanwhile, the families of the victims want answers and justice, but not based on speculation and imagination, but on solid proof.
So there is a lot at stake for this ambitious prosecutor Kuo Hsiao-chi (Kang Ren Wu), who gets help from police officers like Shang-Yong Lin (Tsung-Hua Tou), and becomes more and more obsessive about the case.
There is also the story of news reporter Yen-Jhen Lu (Cammy Chiang), whose best friend was murdered in a way that seems to serve as inspiration for the Copycat Killer.
From the prologue of the series, we already know that Koh thinks that everyone can be a killer, including Kui Hsiao-chi, which is reminiscent of the way the killer in S7ven played with Brad Pitt’s mind.
The first couple of episodes don’t offer much we haven’t seen before, but the series has a way of growing on you. Also, because it is filmed like an arthouse drama, it takes some patience to get into it.
But the 1990’s setting gives it an old-school edge, the actors are fine, and the mood is appropriately dark and gloomy.
If you’re a fan of the serial killer thriller genre you should really give it a try.