Copycat (1995)

An academic specialist on serial killers (Sigourney Weaver) lives a life of agoraphobic terror after being attacked by a psycho 13 months previously. But she has to face her worst fears when two San Francisco cops (Holly Hunter and Dermot Mulroney) seek her help in tracking down a brutal “copycat” killer. 

It’s tense and dramatic, and there’s a fairly major twist about two thirds in that I certainly didn’t see coming.

Weaver and Hunter are both excellent, but the latter is particularly strong and brings real depth to the role.

Raising Arizona (1987)

Unusual comedy drama about a couple who kidnap a quintuplet.

Beneath the slapstick humour there’s a real tragedy about a desperate, childless pair and the lengths they will go to to make a family.

Nicolas Cage and Holly Hunter are superb in the key roles. You feel Hunter's longing and completely identify with her, despite the criminality of their actions. It’s just a shame that the usual Coen brothers grotesques appear (John Goodman features as an escaped convict), turning this into a sort of farcical black comedy and robbing it of poignancy.