Raunchy, IR-rated Horror Classic Succeeds By Completely Ignoring The Book
By Chris Snellgrove | Published
Whenever we get a new movie based on a book, fans out there all have the same question: how accurate will the movie be? After all, these lovers of the text have spent many hours thinking about these issues, and it has become difficult for fans to accept actors who look different than the actors they thought about. If the director deviates too much from the source material, those fans may even boycott the film. That's why the Lord of the Rings films remain the gold standard for literary adaptations: it's not just the characters completebut each frame was there dripping for Peter Jackson's love of JRR Tolkien.
However, there are exceptions to every rule. One year before Elijah Wood suited up as Frodo Baggins, we got a horror, R-rated movie that became the stuff of pop culture legend. To this day, it inspires memes shared by everyone from Gen X to Gen Alpha. The movie, of course, American Psycho. Did it succeed because love, 1:1 taken for this book? No: actually, writer/director Mary Harron has changed big features of the work, including adding a lot of dark humor. The result is the greatest horror comedy ever Shout outand the film (with my apologies to writer Bret Easton Ellis). a lot better than a book.
Killing Has Never Been So Cool
The foundation of American Psycho simple and bloody. We follow the adventures of Patrick Bateman (played by Christian Bale), a banker by day and an assassin by night. After killing a colleague (played by Jared Leto), he ends up on the radar of a silent detective (played by Willem Dafoe). Over the course of the film, his mind slowly opens up, confusing everyone from his secretary (played by Chloë Sevigny) to his fiancee (played by Reese Witherspoon). Soon, it becomes clear that New York City will never be the same, for Bateman or the victims whose bodies litter his apartment.
If you have a dark enough sense of humor, Bret Easton Ellis can be a funny writer; go check it out Laws of Attraction if you don't believe me. As already mentioned, his American Psycho the novel is not very funny, nor is it intended to be. The book actually opens with an epigraph from Fyodor Dostoevsky's Notes from the Underground. “Both the writers of these words and the Notes themselves are legends. However, people like the composer of these notes not only exist in our society, but they really should exist.” The message is clear: there it should be Patrick Batemans in real life, which you do American Psycho a cautionary tale.
The Deadly Critic
Ellis was giving us a warning, which seems strange in a post-Epstein world. Namely, that rich people do a lot of obscene things that we don't know about, using their wealth and fame to protect themselves from any accusations. While that was a valid and very appropriate warning when the book was published, the truth is that the script as written would have made for a film that alternated between boring and shocking. Fortunately, American Psycho i the movie it always embraces a wry sense of humor, something that adds comfort to even the worst of times.
Here's an example: Patrick Bateman of books is straightforward fascinated and some celebrities, leading to some weird moments like him cracking wood while staring at Bono during a concert (no, really!). I American Psycho the movie condenses this into a simple hyperfocus on modern music, setting the scene for Paul Allen's murder. With newspapers to protect the floor and sheets of plastic to protect his suit, Bateman looks like he's channeling his inner Dexter. It all looks very sinister, but it's hard to take anything seriously because our on-screen killer gives a smarmy, A fork-Review of Huey Lewis' creepy style before he starts swinging his axe.
The mask comes off
While i American Psycho The movie arguably softens Patrick Bateman in some ways, doing it to fit the tone of the dark comedy. For example, the murderer in the book extremely homophobia, something that doesn't seem to be in the movie. I say “seems” because instead, we have Bateman giving a lofty speech about ending racism, feeding the homeless, promoting civil rights, fighting for women's rights, and returning to “traditional morals.” It is clear in this scene that he is completely full of sh*t and saying what people want to hear. This is part of his mask, which allows him to hide the monster lurking right underneath.
Perhaps the most significant change from page to page was the removal of Patrick Bateman's reasons for murder. In the book, we find plausible explanations for why he kills people, but these explanations are vague and often contradictory. While that makes sense in a “anyone can justify anything” kind of way, i American Psycho the movie cleverly pulls this off until the audience or Bateman himself understands his need to kill. Leaving this up to interpretation has delighted fans decadesall while emphasizing the dark themes of this book. Bateman is a symbol of our country and not the disease itself, and that is the scariest thing of all.
American Psycho it's almost a great horror movie, which showcased Christian Bale's chops before he became The Dark Knight. The film combines strong themes about nihilism, violence, blasphemy, and bro culture, delivering an unforgettable murder with one bloody hand and unforgettable laughs with the other. If you would like to revisit this wonderful film, you don't need to spend any money, so there is no need to feed the cat at the nearest ATM. All you have to do is stream American Psycho free on Tubi!
