It’s Wednesday my Dudes- American Psycho (2000)

Welcome to the latest recurring segment on my blog! On (some) Wednesdays I will be releasing my thoughts on ‘weird films’. What qualifies for a weird film you ask? I don’t know, whatever I feel like. Once again, feel free to leave a comment, if you must. Anyway, this segment will be called ‘it’s Wednesday my dudes,’ after this vine.

Let’s get started! This blogpost will contain spoilers for American Psycho, a film which is exactly 20 years old. If you have failed to watch this film at this point, you either don’t care for it or you don’t want to watch it. So just keep reading, I guess.

American Psycho is based on the novel by Brett Easton Ellis, with the same name. It’s as outrageous as it is gruesome. This film is the quintessential black comedy, that many unfathomably take at face value. The themes of American Psycho are in keeping with its source material. Its central theme is the narcissism of 1980s society.

We follow a group of young professionals, mostly at play, rather than at work. Our lead is Patrick Bateman. His beauty routine is on the same tier as a YouTube beauty guru. He gets very mad if other people have better business cards, or better apartments, than him. I guess it’s all a comment on our consumerist society. American Psycho posits that those of us at the height of privilege will never be satisfied.

Bateman is also a murderer, just one symptom of his psychopathy. In Bateman, we see all the signs of a classic narcissist. He is extremely charming, and on the surface very likable. He uses his powers of manipulation to lure people into his home to satisfy his nefarious intentions. Throughout the film we are introduced to many of his potential victims, including his secretary played by Chloe Sevigny, the poor and unsuspecting Jean.

Yet, part way through the film the viewers sense of clarity is taken away, the murders become increasingly ridiculous and even Bateman loses his sense of what’s reality and what’s the result of fantasy.

Fantasy is the tendency of a violent person. Bateman shows a fascination with famous serial killers. A common interest of copycat killers and basic white women alike. No shade, I just speak the truth. If I had a dollar for every time a woman recommended the podcast My Favourite Murder, well, I could live like Patrick Bateman and his chums.

This film builds to a compelling climax, which sees Bateman in increasingly unrealistic scenarios. Perhaps, you can buy Bateman killing a coworker in his apartment, while wearing a rain jacket and using a chainsaw. But, can you sustain your suspended disbelief when Bateman kills a sex worker by throwing said chainsaw down the stairwell, hitting her perfectly with a fatal blow? Stored bodies disappear, ostensibly dead men are found to be alive, and Bateman reflects the audience’s disbelief at these revelations. American Psycho’s ambiguous ending leaves the viewer sifting through the increasingly ridiculous events of the film’s runtime and we come up with few clear answers.

From my observations, some of Bateman’s criminal acts must be real, while others certainly never happened. A man couldn’t go on a killing spree, including shooting down a couple of officers, and suffer no consequences. But the scene where Jean looks through his many sketches, portraying various ways to torture and kill her, rings true. Bateman at least incessantly fantasised about the murders portrayed on screen. Bateman’s desires certainly exist outside the realm of acceptable human behaviour.

I think the twist ending is just one aspects of this film’s appeal. The film’s eccentricities rely on campy performances right from the outset, and it's just plain weird. It may have been 20 years since its initial release, but it still endears to the viewer.

It’s a real feat that a story that is essentially reliant on violence against women has so much merit. I think this is in part due to the violence often taking place out of frame. Rather, we focus on Bateman and his reactions. 

American Psycho a special piece of art which brought us such iconic moments as Bateman passionately explaining the career trajectories of his favourite musical artists, just before he brutally murdering his victims. We also see Bateman trying to murder a kitten at the command of an ATM. This film also brought us one of the best, albeit also the most brutal, break up lines of all time in Bateman’s, ‘you’re just not that important to me’. This film is nasty, but god damn it if it isn’t wonderfully entertaining.

I watched American Psycho on Netflix. I would recommend it to you if you have a particularly dark sense of humour. This film is stylish, often disturbing and deserving of its place as a modern classic. If you have an aversion to gore, as always, choose something else.