American Psycho is a 2000 horror film based of the 1991 book by author Bret Easton Ellis starring Dark Knight star Christian Bale as the fictional serial killer Patrick Bateman, in the film Patrick Bateman is a 27 year old Wall Street investment banker and due to his anxiety, low self esteem and feeling of inadequacy he goes on a killing spree killing fellow co workers, homeless people, prostitutes and lovers.
Controversy:
When the film first came out in 2000 it was under a large amount of controversy. This controversy was due to the film's explicit and stylized insanity of violence, exploration of the protagonist's psychopathic nature as well as the portrayal of misogyny. The controversy surrounding American Psycho has since died down, but is still happening in small quantities to this day. Ever since the movie was released it has been praised by many horror fans for creating an accurate interpretation of a mentally unstable serial killer.
Positives of The Film:
The positive feedback from this film differs from fan to fan, me a very recent horror fan in fact. American Psycho was the first real horror movie I ever saw. This film shows one of the best representation of a serial killer seen on the silver screen.
The way Christian Bale acts in this film is downright phenomenal as well as the acting of Willem Dafoe as Detective Donald Kimball. These two really make this film the eerie, disturbing film that it is, also with the way this film was shot was just amazing. The film also has a pretty wide soundtrack with including Bands Like Huey Lewis and The News, Whitney Houstan Kimberely Rew etc. The film's representation of violence is also really smart. In the first half of the film there is barely any violence, until Patrick's second and most impactful on screen murder. From this point, the film becomes more disturbing and concerning as Patrick's mind spirals into the murderous serial killer he becomes later in the film.
Negatives of The Film:
Although there are a lot of positives in this film there a few negatives for some viewers. Yes, this film does contain a decent amount of blood and gore so if you have a weak stomach I recommend staying clear from this film for the time being. Whilst I was watching this film I even contemplated turning the movie off at one point, but I managed to get through it and actually really enjoyed it. This film also contains a few nude scenes in the films 2nd or 3rd act.
The film also may be a bit confusing at times especially the ending, and as I mentioned in the controversy segment the film does display some scenes that may in some minds seem like they’re objectifying women. And as mentioned, the film does show a very accurate iteration of a unstable murderer so that may be off putting to some audiences.
Overall opinion and Recommendation
Before watching the film just to remind you, it is for mature audiences so some audiences may be disturbed by the imagery in this film, and its MA 15+ rating, so keep this film away from young children. If you are reading this and have children, I recommend waiting till they are mature (Id say a minimum of 14 years if they've seen gory films before) enough to watch the film. My overall opinion of this film is it was really entertaining and interesting, the blend of violence and story is really well done. American Psycho maybe wasn't the best film to start my horror movie journey but it was sure a great start.
Rating of the film: 8.5/10
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