Wednesday, May 4, 2011

American Psycho

It's not very every day we see a film adapted from a novel that is based in the horror genre. Thankfully, one of the most controversial books, of the same title, in recent history was translated into the beautiful film that is American Psycho. We start out by being plunged head first into the life of Patrick Bateman. A man who is already well on his way into insanity. Constantly striving for perfection, he only has one thing that is his release...brutally murdering people.

During the day he wears a mask of sanity, pretending to be normal, but that mask begins to slip. His sinister urges are becoming harder and harder to control and as we follow him into this drug and blood fueled darkness, we become less and less sure of where reality ends and his insanity begins.

Personally, I think this film is quite brilliant. It's really different, funny, sick and freaky as shit. Nothing like a naked lunatic covered in blood chasing you through an apartment building laughing and revving a chainsaw. It gets downright insane, and I very much enjoyed that.

Surprisingly enough, there isn't very much gore in this film, but that makes sense. It's not about the gore, it's about the acts and the man behind them. One of the parts that I love the most about this is one aspect that really sets it apart. It gets to the point where he recognizes that things have gotten way out of control, even for a serial killer, and tries to confess to the killings. But no one will believe him. He wants to get caught, but everyone thinks it's just a joke. It's such a beautiful twist that each time I watch it I can't help but get goosebumps during his closing monologue. The idea of straight up telling someone how you want to kill them, in detail, to their face and having them just ignore it. Its unlike anything I've seen.

This film is a perfect addition to a horror fan's collection. It's not the most shocking thing I've seen, but it is shocking nonetheless.

Shock or not? Shock

Film: 4/5
Shock: 3/5

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