American Psycho is one of those movies I didn’t really want to watch. But was so glad I did.

American Psycho was released in 2000 and stars Christian Bale as Patrick Bateman. Patrick is a banker as well as a psychopath, but he keeps these two worlds apart. Everything has to be perfect to Patrick, even the face mask he peels off in the morning has to come off in one go. He’s crazy, but sane in his own mind as many psychopaths are. Slowly, over the course of the movie, Patrick’s ‘normal’ life and his alter life where he likes to torture and mutilate people merge together, even killing a co-worker. Things get crazier and crazier with more murder, madness and sex until the climax where things take a shocking turn.

Patrick believes he killed a man in an apartment and returns to the apartment to clean up the crime scene. When he gets there, however, the place is spotless and people are being shown around this beautiful apartment in the hope of buying the place. Of course Patrick is confused. The confusion gets even more frustrating when a man Patrick has apparently killed is also reported to still be alive by his co-workers. Was Patrick’s murderous rampage a figment of his imagination or did it really happen? Who knows.

I really enjoyed this movie because of the ending. The rest was ok but wasn’t completely engaging until the end. The thought that what we saw as an audience and what Patrick believed to be true may have been a figment of his imagination the whole time is so interesting. I even got into debates about this movie with others because they saw it as a clean-cut story with no underlying secrets where as I saw it as an invitation for further reading, because how can you say it’s a clean-cut story when a man we clearly saw was killed was apparently still alive? It just doesn’t make sense!

American Psycho is a great movie even if it is quite long. The story is good and the character of Patrick is so compelling you want to know more and more about him and the way his mind works. It’s one of those movies that you’ll watch and think ‘oh that was good’ and won’t think about again until it is bought up in conversation. Then once you hear one person talking about it you’ll want to talk and talk and talk about it and never stop.

If you haven’t seen American Psycho I definitely recommend it. Don’t let the idea of it being just about sex and blood put you off because it’s so much more than that. Believe me, you’ll be hooked.

What do you think of American Psycho?

Until next time.

Published by shonaharding

Media graduate with a passion for reviewing film and TV. View all posts by shonaharding