American Psycho (UK)

When it comes to American Psycho, there are two types of people: those who've read it and those who've heard of it. If you've read it then you'll know that the novel by Bret Easton Ellis is at heart a social commentary and dark comedy about the greed and ostentation during the nineteen-eighties as personified by those chaps on Wall Street. Those people who have heard of it will probably know that there's a nail gun involved.

The 1987 Oliver Stone film "Wall Street" starring Michael Douglas and Charlie Sheen had already covered something of this with it's "Greed is Good" tagline. Greed it seems, along with disgust are the only two emotions that Patrick Bateman (the main character - sorry I can't bring myself to call him an anti-hero) feels with any real passion. A life of power lunches, Armani suits and Oliver Peoples spectacles (with non-prescription lenses) has caused Bateman's already damaged mind to slip further into insanity. By day he is a power hungry vice-president of Pierce and Pierce in mergers and acquisitions (or murders and executions as he tells it to an uncomprehending bimbo), but by night his bloodlust takes over. When he's not trying to get reservations at New Yorks trendiest restaurants, watching "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" or working out, he exercises his homicidal leanings on a variety of beggars, colleagues, prostitutes and models. Patrick, it seems is an equal-opportunities killer.

There is only one real character in this film: Patrick Bateman, brilliantly played by Christian Bale. With a Jack Nicholson style enthusiasm for mania, Bale attacks this role and brings real life to the evil in Batemans mind. Reece Witherspoon plays his vacuous girlfriend, Evelyn, who seems so devoid of personality while still filling the screen beautifully. Samantha Mathis (Pump up the Volume, Jack and Sarah) shows up as his "other woman", who spends most of her time drugged up to the eyeballs on legal prescription anti-depressants.

Willem Dafoe plays a really strange private investigator hired to investigate the disappearance of one of the victims (despatched by an axe to the tune of "Hip to be Square"). In increasingly bizarre interviews with Bateman we are left at a loss to how much the PI knows.

The region 2 DVD has a very nice and clear anamorphic transfer which shows the details very well. The opening sequence with it's blood-red colouring on a white background really looks good. The soundtrack is an adequate Dolby 5.1 mix (hard to really stretch the capabilities of the medium with this type of film) which uses the rear channels nicely when Bateman is shooting a gun or when he and his friends are in a nightclub.

As with the region 1 version, this disk is a bit light on the extras. Trailers, cast and crew interviews (usual stuff) and deleted scenes (and you can see why they were deleted because they add nothing to the story) are here but none of them will hold your interest. A directors commentary would have been great.

So, did I like it? Yup. As a fan of the book, I was wondering how Mary Harron would approach this difficult project, and she's acquitted herself wonderfully. She has managed to remove the material that obviously would not make it to the screen (did I mention the nail gun?) and concentrate on what most people agree is the star of the story: the dark humour.

this is no horror film an unfunny black comedy perhaps but this is just yuppie wishful thinking.to see bateman play a real bad guy wait for shaft.this is a turkey.

An absurdly silly movie

`American Psycho` is a film that you either love or hate. I fall into the former camp. Mary Harron has adapted Bret Easton Ellis` tale of greed, decadence, murder and business cards extremely well. Every scene has been adapted faithfully from the book. I think people don`t like it because they don`t see the extra surfaces. They also criticise the ending. This argument carries weight since the ending plays off a certain angle in the book, so you need to have read it to understand.
However, this film is still worth your hard earned cash. Go out and buy this film and the book as well.

P.S= This is not a horror movie,this is not a horror movie. Please remember that.

As others have mentioned, "American Psyhco" is not a horror film it`s more of a horror spoof or black comedy. In a way the film is kind of a "hoax" in that it was marketed as a horror and gives you the impression it is, but is infact the opposite. The film is one of my favorites mainly because of its originality and it has some genuinely funny moments. The picture quality and sound are very good although it`s rather light on the special features front.

American Psycho is one of my favourite movies of 2000 along with Gladiator. I really like the black comedy element which comes out a treat in Christian Bale`s performance. The movie as a whole is a bit short at 98 minutes, but is highly entertaining all the same. American Psycho is the sort of movie that (to me) you find more enjoyable after reading the novel it was based on by Bret Easton Ellis. The director has really done a great job with translating the best and most important parts of the book to the silver screen. The supporting actors are well cast too. Even if you don`t usually like this sort of movie, American Psycho is well worth a look.

The anamorphic picture and 6 track dolby sound are great and added to my enjoyment of the film. I had previously only seen a copied VHs tape, so the difference was really noticable.

The extras are good but not great. There are interviews with cast and crew members, a short feature called `Killer Looks`, the theatrical trailer, and 5 interesting deleted scenes. That about does it. The only other things I could ask for would be a feature length documentary and a director`s commentary.