Summaries

Synopsis

Mary Kelly (Melissa Roxburgh) is assigned a case of a serial killer called a copycat killer, who repeats his peculiar method of killing his victims. The senior detective Jake Doyle (Martin Lawrence) is just as puzzled as her while looking at the first victim inside a church. A woman is tied to the cross with wings on her back, which makes her look like an angel. Upon asking the priest, he notes that he has never seen that woman before. A few more cases are discovered in the city where random women are killed in an identical manner. It makes them consider this person as a 'copycat killer.'

The elaborate and detailed way of killing raises suspicion of him using some communication to carry forward these heinous acts. So, it raises suspicion that a serial killer called 'The Artist' aka Arnaud Lefevre (John Malkovich) is behind it, who is serving jail time for his similar way of abduction and murder of six women in the past, all of whom were sex workers. They were killed and poisoned, preserved, and then decorated in lifelike poses using metal frames, which Arnaud called his masterpieces. Jake shares a history with this killer since he was one of the able detectives who tracked him down in the past. So, he gets worried when Mary takes the initiative to question Arnaud due to his past experiences with this man.

Upon meeting him in jail, Mary decides to use her knowledge from her psychology education to break his ego and gain insight into the case. However, he does not budge as easily. Soon after, the police find a few more similar corpses, and upon speaking about the first corpse with Arnaud, he asks whether the wings were clipped. She goes to find it on the body and notices a nail polish of a particular color that is out of production, but the one that Mary used to use when she was a child. They notice random clues attached to each dead body, whereas, on another one, they find an arrow from a compass.

Jake then recalls the past he shares with Arnaud in regard to his ex's death. His partner at the time - Zeke, killed herself after her contact with Arnaud, and a compass was the only thing that he could not retrieve from her stuff in their apartment. During this time, Mary learns that Jake was in therapy for a while after this incident, which shook him to the core. Meanwhile, there is a constant conflict between Mary and Arnaud in regard to their staunch beliefs in religion vs. science. He brings up the subject of the afterlife and tries to notice her lack of faith and a strong belief that her major in psychology will help her instead.

Upon asking about the needle missing from a compass, Mary deduces it to be a metaphor for disorientation, while he considers it a lost soul struggling to find its way. She then returns home and has dinner with her partner - Dale. That is when a homeless man breaks into their house and escapes before she can get hold of him. The next day, they find another corpse, which now has Zeke's compass next to it. When they place the earlier needle into it, it points towards a painting behind which something is written in Dutch, which translates to 'The Inferno Landscape.' They learn that it is an out-of-print art book.

While going through it, Mary recalls the archangel Samael's name mentioned by Arnaud. Jake then takes her to a meeting that tries to explain the phenomena of possession, and she does not like the unscientific claims. Meanwhile, with another victim, Mary deduces that Arnaud is trying to prove himself as a master against the psychiatric institute that admitted him in the past. She speaks to him about this encounter when he opens up about his childhood of living with his mother, who was a sex worker.

Arnaud then mentions that the copycat killer is a forger of Renaissance paintings and a shop where his counterfeits are often kept in the showcase. She reaches there with Jake, and while taking away one of the paintings, the homeless person from before attacks her again and ends up killing himself. This man named Salazar was bipolar and is considered to be the guy being communicated with by the artist. Then they trace a woman connected with the earlier painting, who used to work as a prostitute. Upon reaching that place, they understand it is Arnaud's house from his childhood, where he lived with his mother. They also find a corpse of hers.

Mary confronts him about it, and he opens up about his mother not wanting to draw religious objects but other drawings like a normal kid. Thus, he considered her immoral and killed her. He then mentions archangel Samael's voice speaking with him while he started his artistic journey. She keeps asking him about the copycat while he asks her to sit for a sculpture of hers in exchange for the copycat's address. While he is engaged in that activity, he makes her recall the difficult past with her father. She notes that she was not abused or harassed.

However, Arnaud makes her confess her horrifying memories of when she saw her father burning his own hand into flames, and the memory of that incident still scars her and gives her nightmares. That is why she stopped believing in God and in hell. He then mentions her partner - Dale, who was their father, without her having shared any detail about it. After torturing her, he then gives her the sculpture and the address. However, the police who reach there find nothing suspicious, and then she realizes that Arnaud used it as a decoy. According to his talk, she opens up the head of her sculpture to find an address written on it.

Mary and Jake go to this house and find an entire wall filled with Kelly's photos and personal details. Jake leaves to make a phone call to bring other police officers to the scene. Meanwhile, Mary hears Lt. Diaz's voice and goes to save him. He notes that the killer is still in the house. When she goes to find him, she realizes that the killer is, in fact, Jake. Through their conversation, she is made to realize that Jake is possessed by Arnaud, who is making him do all these elaborate murders as some sort of retribution for not cooperating with Arnaud's wishes regarding Zeke in the past. Arnaud learned that he has the power of possession over someone else's body when he was a kid.

Soon after, it is claimed later that Jake was suffering from an identity-type psychosis that was triggered by the first incident involving Zeke's death. So, since then, he thought he was 'The Artist'. While everyone gets back to their lives, Mary has a conversation with Dr. Losech while Arnaud has possessed his body. This artist claims her to be his next victim. But by then, she had seen his habit of chewing the back of his pencil. So, she fills his pencils with the same poison he used to kill all the women. As a result, he loses control over his body and dies in no time. In this twisted thriller tale, the artist does not survive getting tricked by someone, and he is considered worthless. (thanks to highonfilms)