American Psycho (2000) Review.

American Psycho. [9/10]

USA.

Directed by Mary Harron.

Written by Mary Harron and Guinevere Turner.

Starring Christian Bale, Cara Seymour, Chloë Sevigny, Reese Witherspoon, Jared Leto, Justin Theroux and Willem Dafoe.

American Psycho was controversial on release (though not near as controversial as the iconic Bret Easton Ellis novel it was based upon), however the direction Harron took the film in was very contradictory to those who protested its' release. Harron must have known that the graphic, angry nature of the novel is what made it 'unfilmable', and traded in detailed gore and the isolated ramblings of a sociopath for dark humour and witty social commentary. This was a huge risk for Harron to take; the film already had an audience, and she was at great risk of isolating her film from that audience by toning the film down the way she did, but in the end her decisions pay off and she delivered one of the smartest, funniest and most haunting horror films to surface in this decade.

The performances in the film were magnificent. Bale fits the lead role of serial killer/Wall Street tycoon Patrick Bateman like a glove, his intimidating presence both bone chilling and charismatic. Bale understood the complete shallowness of Bateman, and delivered his lines with vacant desperation that raises the bar for serial killer performances, and would arguably be the best since Michael Rooker's portrayal of Henry Lee Lucas in 1986's 'Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer'. The secondary cast members are perfectly cast, from Cara Seymour's heartfelt and angsty portrayal of a greedy, irresponsible street walker, to Reese Witherspoon's effortless transformation into an airhead socialite who is oblivious to Bateman's sinister side, as well as Justin Theroux as Bateman's cokehead workmate, Willem Dafoe as the suspicious detective, Jared Leto as the cocky colleague, and a plethora of other talented actors (most notably, after Bale, is Chloë Sevigny's wounded portrayal of Bateman's dowdy secretary Jan, the only character in the film with any redeemable qualities, and Sevigny is as magnificent as ever).

The film is not without flaws, while as good as it could have been it still doesn't pack the visceral punch the book does, and the ending is too ambiguous; it leaves the viewer with too many questions when the aim of the story is to leave them with none, but the book's a bitter (but important) pill to swallow, and the movie takes the books message and makes it more accessible to the mainstream, and proves that it's not always a bad thing.

9/10.

The Definitive Film List

I've compiled a list of the films I most love/respect/am effected by, and here it is. As this blog is added to, links to my reviews will be added to this master list of my favourite cinema, and as I see more movies this list will be added to.

~#~

28 Days Later... (2002, Danny Boyle, UK)

28 Weeks Later (2007, Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, UK)

3 Women (1977, Robert Altman, USA)

~A~

All the Boys Love Mandy Lane (2006, Jonathan Levine, USA)

American Psycho (2000, Mary Harron, USA)

Antichrist (2009, Lars von Trier, Denmark)

Anthropophagus (1980, Joe D'Amato, Italy)

Away from Her (2006, Sarah Polley, Canada)

~B~

Bad Boy Bubby (1993, Rolf De Heer, Australia)

Batman Returns (1992, Tim Burton, USA)

Battle Royale (2000, Kinji Fukasaku, Japan)

Beetle Juice (1988, Tim Burton, USA)

Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970, Russ Meyer, USA)

The Birds (1963, Alfred Hitchcock, USA)

Black Christmas (1974, Bob Clark, Canada)

The Blair Witch Project (1999, Daniel Myrick & Eduardo Sanchez, USA)

Bonnie and Clyde (1967, Arthur Penn, USA)

Boogie Nights (1997, Paul WS Anderson, USA)

Boys Don't Cry (1999, Kimberley Pearce, USA)

Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961, Blake Edwards, USA)

Breaking the Waves (1996, Lars von Trier, Denmark)

The Brood (1979, David Cronenberg, Canada)

Bubba Ho-Tep (2002, Don Coscarelli, USA)

~C~

Cabaret (1972, Bob Fosse, USA)

Cape Fear (1991, Martin Scorsese, USA)

Carrie (1976, Brian De Palma, USA)

Cecil B. DeMented (2000, John Waters, USA)

The Center of the World (2001, Wayne Wang, USA)

Chinatown (1974, Roman Polanski, USA) 

Chopper (2000, Andrew Dominik, Australia)

A Clockwork Orange (1971, Stanley Kubrick, UK)

Combat Shock (1986, Buddy Giovanazzo, USA)

The Cook the Thief His Wife & Her Lover (1989, Peter Greenaway, UK)

~D~

Dancer in the Dark (2000, Lars von Trier, Denmark)

Dawn of the Dead (2004, Zack Snyder, USA)

Day of the Dead (1985, George A Romero, USA)

The Departed (2006, Martin Scorses, USA)

Desperate Living (1977, John Waters, USA)

The Devil's Rejects (2005, Rob Zombie, USA)

A Dirty Shame (2004, John Waters, USA)

Dogville (2003, Lars von Trier, Denmark)

Donkey Punch (2008, Oliver Blackburn, UK)

Donnie Darko (2001, Richard Kelly, USA)

Drag Me to Hell (2009, Sam Raimi, USA)

Dumplings (2004, Fruit Chan, Hong Kong)

~E~

Eden Lake (2008, James Watkins, UK)

Election (1999, Alexander Payne, USA)

Elegy (2008, Isabelle Coixet, USA)

The Evil Dead (1981, Sam Raimi, USA)

The Exorcist (1973, WIlliam Friedkin, USA)

Eyes Wide Shut (1999, Stanely Kubrick, UK)

~F~

Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (1965, Russ Meyer, USA)

Female Trouble (1974, John Waters, USA)

The Fly (1986, David Cronenberg, USA)  

Freaks (1932, Tod Browning, USA)

Freeway (1996, Matthew Bright, USA)

From Dusk Till Dawn (1996, Robert Rodriguez, USA)

Funny Games (1997, Michael Haneke, Austria)

~G~

Ghosts... of the Civil Dead (1988, John Hillcoat, Australia)

The Graduate (1967, Mike Nichols, USA) 

Gremlins (1984, Joe Dante, USA)

Gummo (1997, Harmony Korine, USA)

~H~

Hairspray (1988, John Waters, USA)

Happiness (1998, Todd Solondz, USA)

Heathers (1989, Michael Lehhmann, USA)

Hellraiser (1987, Clive Barker, USA)

Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986, John McNaughton, USA)

High Tension (2003, Alexandre Aja, France)

The Hills Have Eyes (1977, Wes Craven, USA)

The Horde (2009, Yannick Dahan & Benjamin Rocher, France)

Hotel Rwanda (2004, Terry George, USA)

House of 1000 Corpses (2003, Rob Zombie, USA)

Husbands and Wives (1992, Woody Allen, USA)

~I~

I Heart Huckabees (2004, David O. Russell, USA)

I Stand Alone (1998, Gaspar Noe, France)

Inferno (1980, Dario Argento, Italy)

Inland Empire (2006, David Lynch, USA)

Inside (2007, Alexandre Bustillo & Julien Maury, France)

Irreversible (2002, Gaspar Noe, France)

~J~

Jackie Brown (1997, Quentin Tarantino, USA)

Jindabyne (2006, Ray Lawrence, Australia)

~K~

Kids (1995, Larry Clark, USA)

~L~

The Last House on the Left (1972, Wes Craven, USA)

Lilya 4-ever (2002, Lukas Moodysson, Sweden)

Little Shop of Horrors (1986, Frank Oz, USA)

Lolita (1962, Stanley Kubrick, UK)

Long Weekend (1978, Colin Eggleston, Australia)

Look Both Ways (2005, Sarah Watt, Australia)

Lost Highway (1997, David Lynch, USA)

Lust Caution (2007, Ang Lee, Hong Kong)

~M~

Manhattan (1979, Woody Allen, USA)

Mars Attacks! (1996, Tim Burton, USA)

Martin (1977, George A Romero, USA)

Martyrs (2008, Pascal Laugier, France)

May (2003, Lucky McKee, USA)

Mulholland Dr. (2001, David Lynch, USA)

Multiple Maniacs (1970, John Waters, USA)

My Summer of Love (2004, Pawel Pawlikowski, UK)

~N~

Naked (1993, Mike Leigh, UK)

Natural Born Killers (1994, Oliver Stone, USA)

Network (1976, Sydney Lumet, USA)

A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984, Wes Craven, USA)

~O~

Once Were Warriors (1994, Lee Tamahori, New Zealand)

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975, Milos Forman, USA)

One Missed Call (2004, Takashi Miike, Japan)

The Others (2001, Alejandro Amenebar, USA)

~P~

The Painted Veil (2006, John Curran, UK)

Pecker (1998, John Waters, USA)

Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985, Tim Burton, USA)

Phantasm (1979, Don Coscarelli, USA)

Phenomena (1985, Dario Argento, USA)

Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975, Peter Weir, Australia)

Pink Flamingos (1972, John Waters, USA)

Pleasantville (1998, Frank Oz, USA)

Pretty Baby (1978, Louis Malle, USA)

The Proposition (2005, John Hillcoat, Australia)

Psycho (1960, Alfred Hitchcock, USA)

~R~

Rabid (1977, David Cronenberg, Canada)

Rachel Getting Married (2008, Jonathan Demme, USA)

Repulsion (1965, Roman Polanski, UK)

Rope (1948, Alfred Hitchcock, USA)

Rosemary's Baby (1968, Roman Polanski, USA)

~S~

Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Italy)

Scarface (1983, Brian De Palma, USA)

Scary Movie (2000, Keenan Ivory Wayans, USA)

Secrets & Lies (1996, Mike Leigh, UK)

Serial Mom (1994, John Waters, USA)

A Serbian Film (2010, Srdjan Spasojevic, Serbia)

Series 7: The Contenders (2001, Daniel Minahan, USA)

Severance (2006, Christopher Smith, UK)

The Shining (1980, Stanley Kubrick, USA)

Shivers (1975, David Cronenberg, Canada)

Shortbus (2006, John Cameron Mitchell, USA)

The Silence of the Lambs (1991, Jonathan Demme, USA)

Sleepaway Camp (1983, Robert Hiltzik, USA)

Smiley Face (2007, Gregg Araki, USA)  

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937, David Hand, USA)

Somersault (2004, Cate Shortland, Autralia)

South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut (1999, Trey Parker & Matt Stone, USA)

The Stendhal Syndrome (1996, Dario Argento, Italy)

The Stepford Wives (1975, Bryan Forbes, USA)

Strange Days (1995, Kathryn Bigelow, USA)

Stuck (2007, Stuart Gordon, USA)

Suburban Mayhem (2006, Paul Goldman, Australia)

Suspiria (1977, Dario Argento, Italy)

~T~

A Tale of Two Sisters (2003, Ji-Woon Kim, South Korea)

Tenebre (1982, Dario Argento, Italy)

The Terminator (1984, James Cameron, USA)  

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991, James Cameron, USA)

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974, Tobe Hooper, USA)

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986, Tobe Hooper, USA)

They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969, Sydney Pollack, USA)

Three Kings (1999, David O. Russell, USA)

To Die For (1995, Gus van Sant, USA)

Total Recall (1990, Paul Verhoeven)

Trainspotting (1996, Danny Boyle, UK)

True Romance (1993, Tony Scott, USA)

Turkey Shoot (1982, Brian Trenchard Smith, Australia)

Two Hands (1999, Gregor Jordan, Australia)

~V~

Velvet Goldmine (1998, Todd Haynes, USA)

Videodrome (1983, David Cronenberg, Canada)

The Virgin Suicides (1999, Sophia Coppola, USA)

Volver (2006, Pedro Almovadar, Spain)

~W~

What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962, Robert Aldrich, USA)

The Wicker Man (1973, Robin Hardy, UK)

Wild at Heart (1990, David Lynch, USA)

~Y~

Y Tu Mama Tambien (2001, Alfonso, Cuaron, Mexico)