TheRetroCritic

Strangely underrated adaptation of Brett Easton Ellis' grim and gory novel, American Psycho is a stylish black comedy with a welcome touch of twisted madness. Christian Bale has never been better than as Patrick Bateman: the smooth yet rotten and, ultimately, criminally demented Wall Street Genesis fan is a complex character to pull off but he does so effortlessly. The film itself looks super-slick and feels just as classy and wicked as its main protagonist. Bateman's restrained fits of jealousy and meticulous approach to serial killing, not to mention his interactions with fellow yuppies being highlights. More of a black comedy with blood than a straight-up slasher film, American Psycho is still an unpleasant enough tale to qualify as a horror. Even if the film is considerably less gruesome than the novel, the right atmosphere and overall spirit of the book is brilliantly captured here. All in all, well worth seeing if only to see Christian Bale's tour d