American Psycho [2000] [US Import] [Blu-ray] [Region A]

American Psycho follows the life of Patrick Bateman, an intelligent, handsome, wealthy businessman who wants for nothing. At night however, he quickly descends into madness as he is filled with a compulsive need to kill and maim. Bateman is the ultimate yuppie, judging everyone by what they are wearing and how they are wearing it, and becomes panicked and irrational if someone has anything better than what he has. His other side is a seriously disturbed and depraved lunatic who Bateman relishes in becoming. Some don't like it, claiming it is boring or not an accurate depiction of 90's society. However, I see the film as one that paints a disturbing picture of the people at the time. Selfish, arrogant, self-obsessed with delusions of grandeur; yet they rarely genuinely contribute to society and are all essentially copies of each other, some much so that mistaken identity is a key theme of the film. The ending is second to none, superbly set up and executed. The acting is generally excellent, Christian Bale able to portray both sides of Bateman flawlessly, with similar turns from Reese Witherspoon, Willem Defoe and Jared Leto. The film is adapted from a book of the same name by Bret Easton Ellis, and I would recommend that people watch the movie before the reading the book, due to the graphic nature of the written story. All in all, a surprising film which shows social irregularities and problems that afflicted a generation and how one man chooses to deal them.

Great dvd to watch

Odd yet brilliant

To be honest, I went into American Psycho expecting a banal bloodfest, not expecting this to be a film of any quality whatsoever but instead one of those films that you just watch and then carry on as if nothing has happened. Now yes, the film IS a bloodfest, I will tell you that straight away. The violence is in fact incredibly shocking so this is not for over sensitive people! However, once you past the violence this is actually a very sharp film, lots of black humour and satire, and it is in fact incredibly funny in places. Not only does it capture the looks and sounds of the 1980s perfectly, it also captures the "get-rich quick" mentality of the 1980s perfectly- and really takes it apart. 1980s Wall Street is portrayed as being fundamentally shallow, full of self-absorbed individuals aiming to make their own mark and based on looks and money- and consequently, it is the source of a lot of the biting satire. Of course, what is most amusing, you realise in watching the film 1980s Wall Street is not all that different to our modern society- society remains shallow, remains full of self-absorbed individuals, remains based on looks and money. And as for the Wall Street crew in the film, you still see them in the City of London, in Paris, in New York today. In this light, American Psycho becomes a good film. At the centre of this is Patrick Bateman, who looks and sounds the archetypal 1980s Wall Street slicker. Except of course that he is in fact a bloodthirsty psychopath. Yet he remains an attractive figure, whilst at the same time being inexplicably evil. In fact, probably what makes him attractive IS the fact that you do not ever understand what makes him evil-you just KNOW he is. There is indeed "no catharsis"- he does not change, he does not try and explain his actions, and therefore we do not get the satisfaction of working out what made him evil. Christian Bale's performance is very good, he comes across as seemingly normal in the day job and yet is obviously psychotic at night- the right portrayal for a madman. It HAD to be an OTT performance to capture this, and like Al Pacino in Scarface, I think Bale just about pulls this off- to the point that some of his actions as Bateman are, whilst obviously being against all moral norms; highly amusing. Certainly, "Hip to be Square" by Huey Lewis takes on a different light when you see Bateman killing with an axe during the song being played. As does "Greatest Love of All" by Whitney, given what follows! However, it is not amongst the best of films in terms of quality- but better than many I have seen. Overall I liked it because it gets across the message that we really do not know what unknown evils lurk in our society. Certainly Bateman is a respectable Vice-President of a Wall Street bank- who knows where another Bateman could be in our modern society? I kind of liked that subtle point. As I've said, I also liked the clever satirisation of modern individualism- people being concerned with shallow values and nothing else. Perhaps I'm just a critic of unbridled capitalism, but the way the film does it convinced me that this film was not your average bloodfest- but rather a satire of our times. Of not knowing what dangers are lurking in our society, of being overly concerned with looks and money. If you take this as being a satire of our times, believe me you will enjoy this as much as I did.

First things first - this was NOT a film of the book, although obviously that is where it started. Could the book have worked as a film? Hard to say. It would have been nasty, to say the least. Taking a more psychological approach and hiring a female director was the way the studio decided to approach the previously unnaproachable project and this is what they came up with. It's good, but it's a much more intellectual animal than the violent ketchup fest many may expect. Bale is simply flawless as the flawed psychopath viewers will love to watch and turns in a staggeringly accomplished performance. Heavily satirical and in places extremely funny this is one of those movies you will either love or hate and is about as far away from the typical "slasher" movie as you could get. In my opinion an essential purchase even if you only watch it once - you can always get extra value by holding your phone up to the tv and "leaving" Batemans crazed answerphone message on your friends machines....

My name is Patrick Bateman. I’m 27 years old. I believe in taking care of myself, and a balanced diet and a rigorous exercise routine. In the morning, if my face is a little puffy, I’ll put on an ice pack while doing my stomach crunches. I can do a thousand now. After I remove the ice pack I use a deep pore cleanser lotion. In the shower I use a water activated gel cleanser, then a honey almond body scrub, and on the face an exfoliating gel scrub. Then I apply an herb-mint facial masque which I leave on for 10 minutes while I prepare the rest of my routine. I always use an after shave lotion with little or no alcohol, because alcohol dries your face out and makes you look older. Then moisturizer, then an anti-aging eye balm followed by a final moisturizing protective lotion. There is an idea of a Patrick Bateman. Some kind of abstraction. But there is no real me. Only an entity. Something illusory. And though I can hide my cold gaze, and you can shake my hand and feel flesh gripping yours, and maybe you can even sense our lifestyles are probably comparable, I simply am not there

Cuando vi American Psycho, me quedé impactada por lo desconcertante y provocadora que resulta la historia. La actuación de Christian Bale es simplemente fascinante; realmente logra capturar la dualidad de Patrick Bateman, alguien que puede parecer encantador y refinado, pero que por dentro es completamente despiadado y perturbador. No podía apartar la mirada de la pantalla, incluso cuando las escenas eran incómodas o grotescas. Lo que más me atrapó fue cómo la película se burla de la superficialidad de la sociedad de los años 80, especialmente entre los ricos de Wall Street. Todo está tan obsesionado con las apariencias: la ropa, los restaurantes, las tarjetas de presentación. Es como si los personajes no tuvieran alma, lo cual hace que el comportamiento extremo de Bateman se sienta casi... ¿inevitable? La dirección de Mary Harron es brillante al equilibrar el humor negro con el terror psicológico. Hay momentos en los que te ríes, y justo después te das cuenta de lo horrible que es lo que acaba de pasar. Ese cambio de tono es lo que hace que la película se quede contigo. Eso sí, la película no es para todos. Es violenta, confusa y, a veces, surrealista. Hacia el final, no estás seguro de qué es real y qué está en la mente de Bateman. Pero creo que eso es lo que la hace tan memorable; te deja con preguntas que sigues pensando días después. En resumen, American Psycho es perturbadora y genial al mismo tiempo. Es una película que te hará sentir incómodo, pero no puedes dejar de apreciarla por lo que es: una crítica feroz y una exploración inquietante de la psique humana.

Un film che non potevo non tenere nella mia libreria, che dire ottimo film, ottimo prezzo ed ottima gestione della spedizione come sempre

Movie is great, preffer the uncut version way more than the original. A lot of confusing elements in the movie are answered with this one

"Do you like Huey Lewis and The News? Their early work was a little too new wave for my tastes, but when Sports came out in '83, I think they really came into their own, commercially and artistically. The whole album has a clear, crisp sound, and a new sheen of consummate professionalism that really gives the songs a big boost. He's been compared to Elvis Costello, but I think Huey has a far more bitter, cynical sense of humor. In '87, Huey released this, Fore, their most accomplished album. I think their undisputed masterpiece is "Hip to be Square", a song so catchy, most people probably don't listen to the lyrics. But they should, because it's not just about the pleasures of conformity, and the importance of trends, it's also a personal statement about the band itself."

Taking place in the late 1980s in New York City, American Psycho follows Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale), a 27-year-old wealthy Wall Street yuppie who lives a second life as a psychotic serial killer. The film follows a few months of his life as he keeps up his appearance of success by dining at fancy restaurants and paying for prostitutes while getting a sick enjoyment out of murdering innocent people. The film is meant to be a satirical and horrific look at the 1980s culture surrounding the "yuppies," or young people at the time setting out to get rich quick. It also satirizes masculinity itself as Bateman is a character that tries to exude a certain manliness, but also acts in a rather feminized fashion. Easily the most outstanding aspect of this film is the performance of Christian Bale as the main character. Bale did an excellent job of portraying Bateman as the psychopath he is. In some scenes, he comes off as truly despicable and terrifying, but he also does a superb job of creating the satirical side of the character and many parts of the movie and the lines he says come off as hilarious in a way to mock his narcissistic demeanor. There are many other great performances in the film as well such as Bateman's colleagues (including Jared Leto, Bill Sage, and Justin Theroux) who portray self-centered and elitist men, Willem Dafoe's portrayal of detective Donald Kimball investigating a murder that he suspects Bateman is involved in, and Chloë Sevigny as Bateman's secretary who has an unrequited crush on Bateman. The story and writing itself are another strong point of this movie. As stated above, it is mostly a satirical look at the yuppie culture taken to an extreme through a psychotic killer character. It is quite an entertaining look at the world through Bateman's otherwise empty and unfulfilling life. There is also a certain amount of surrealness to it as well as later scenes have such exaggerated levels of violence and destruction that there is a question if the crimes are real or if they are just in Bateman's imagination. The Blu-ray itself contains a few bonus features. This includes a commentary track from director Mary Harron, another commentary track by writer Guinevere Turner, deleted scenes, and a short documentary on the seedier aspects of life in 1980s New York City. Overall, I enjoyed this film. With a superb and entertaining performance by lead Christian Bale and an intelligent satire, I would recommend this movie to those that enjoy horror or satire films with a dark and comedic twist.