American Psycho

Patrick Bateman, a picture-perfect and charismatic investment banking executive, leads a seemingly idyllic life in 1980s New York City. On the surface, Patrick is everything a high-society individual aspires to be: handsome, affluent, and well-educated, with a stunning fiancée, Evelyn; a beautiful mistress, Jean; and a group of acquaintances who hang on to his every word. However, beneath this façade of perfection lies a dark and sinister alter ego, which Patrick struggles to keep hidden from the world. As Patrick navigates the cutthroat world of finance, where manipulation and deception are the currencies of the trade, his inner turmoil grows more intense. He is a master of self-deception, concealing his true nature behind a mask of confidence and charm. His workday is a carefully choreographed dance, with each step meticulously planned to avoid revealing the monster lurking beneath. Patrick's fantasies, which he records in exquisite detail in his leather-bound journal, are a reflection of his darkest obsessions. He is a cannibalistic serial killer, driven by a lust for blood and a sadistic desire to inflict pain on those he perceives as enemies. His mind is a maze of illogical and gratuitous fantasias, where he orchestrates complex and disturbing scenarios, complete with vivid descriptions of the settings, clothes, and even the most minute of details. As the story unfolds, Patrick's grip on reality begins to slip. His inner voice becomes increasingly dominant, urging him to indulge in ever more extreme acts of brutality and violence. His relationships with those around him begin to fray, and his grip on his own sanity starts to falter. His fiancée, Evelyn, is oblivious to his true nature, while his colleagues are admirably dull and oblivious to the depths of his depravity. Patrick's world is one of relentless superficiality, where the material trappings of wealth are prized above all else. He is surrounded by 'buddies' who share his love of status symbols and share nothing more profound. His social calendar is filled with mind-numbing cocktail parties, to which he arrives fashionably late, decked out in the latest designer attire. His carefully crafted persona is a deliberate parody of the shallow and vapid crowd he surrounds himself with. One of Patrick's closest friends is Harold Carnes, a sly and nauseatingly obsequious Wall-Street mogul whose views and tastes are insufferable. Their hollow friendship revolves around gossip and back-stabbing, as they revel in each other's sycophancy. Their business networks intersect often, as they shamefully swindle their shareholders, their bond is strong not due to genuine affection but from their mutual agreement of how both will bolster their credibility as financial giants on the surface and absolute crooks in the shadows. As Patricia's demons reach a fever pitch, his dark fantasy world becomes increasingly intertwined with reality. His relationships with Evelyn and Jean become distorted, with Evelyn increasingly sensing that something is amiss and Jean fearing for her life. Patrick, trapped in a world of his own creation, struggles to maintain control over his impulses. The once-compressed line between his outer persona and inner reality blurs, until he finds himself questioning his own identity. As Patrick's downward spiral gains momentum, he descends into an abyss of torture, exploitation, and ultimately, butchery. His actions spiral into a macabre tapestry of crimes, each episode becoming more outlandish and gruesome than the last. The line between performance and truth dissolves, until it becomes impossible to discern whether Patric's killing spree is genuine fantasy or an act of calculated role-playing. American Psycho is a darkly satirical and wickedly humorous commentary on the shallow, superficial world of 1980s finance. With Patrick Bateman as the insidious protagonist, Martin McDonagh's adaptation turns the façade of high society into a canvas of gore and perversion. Led by Christian Bale, the movie paints a terrifying picture of a man who is hell-bent on corrupting himself, both morally and financially. At once, an onslaught of an existentialist view of despair resulting from self-importance, a laughable satire depicting the real fears of people trapped within its empty material landscape.