American Psycho

[Nate The Great]

How many of you have read the novel 'American Psycho' by Bret Easton Ellis? I'm not talking about simply watching the terrible movie version.

Does anybody have any thoughts on it? I think it is an AWESOME book. It has some of the most graphic and sickening scenes ever. That rat-up-the-vagina thing gets me every time. Battery cables attached to nipples . . . ahhhh.

 

[J.]

I only saw the movie.

rat-up-the-vagina huh? I need to read this book

 

[Nate The Great]

The book is MUCH more graphic, but it is also very well written. I actually had to read it for a class in college. Once you get through the strangeness of the first 1/3 of the book, it's an all out gorefest. HIGHLY recommended.

 

[xenophobe]

Hey, I thought the movie was great. I'm too lazy to read the book.

 

[Nate The Great]

A lot of movies do a great injustice to the book, but American Psycho should not have been made a movie. The book had so much going on psychologically that the movie couldn't even begin to portray this. BTW, do think the main character actually killed anybody? I forgot his name. I think the movie confuses that issue.

 

[xenophobe]

No, it seems like he was delusional.

 

[Nate The Great]

OK. I didn't know if people that had only seen the movie went away from it thinking he might not have actually killed anybody.

Did the movie leave out the part where he kills the little boy at the amusement park?

Patrick. . . that was the guys name. Wasn't it?

 

[xenophobe]

Patrick Bateman



Yeah, that part wasn't there. I had meant to read the book, but just forgot about it... it was really interesting to listen to the director's commentary on the DVD.

I think it's a great cult-type film.

 

[DotNoir]

I love the book... I've read it twice, the second time was for school, a book review... The first time I read the book was when I was about 15 and the second time I was 18... After I read the book second time, I was shuddering and feeling very weak... Don't know how, but the book affected my physical side too, so very powerful and well-written book... Saw the movie, didn't like it, because I had read the book... In fact I was quite much disappointed in the movie, but I can understand why it isn't comparable to the book... Hoolywood and the standards, if the movie was even close to the book, it would've been banned... I think I have to watch the film second time, then maybe I'll understand the movie, not just be looking after the story telling and colourfullness of the book...

 

[SculptedCold]

Man I love American Psycho! That book was making me come all over the place!

Hehe, only joking. (it probably would though )

A co-worker of mine in my last job mentioned it once though and said it was really good and that the film doesn't do it justice, but since then i haven't been able to locate it without paying. And for some reason I don't like buying books. I would very much like to read it.

I tell ya something though, almost all books are far superior to their movies (apart from the ones written after the movies, they're just a waste of time usually), but there is one pairing that has and will always surprise me. The Last Of The Mohicans. I saw the film first and I adored it. It's one of my favourite films ever; it is filled with wonder and adventure and an authentic feeling of grandness and desperation and loss, so I was very excited when I got my hands on the book, especially considering it's a literature classic. It was the first book i'd read by Fenimore, and hell, I was horribly disappointed. The book was almost nothing like the film, (or the other way around I suppose) it was totally unbelievable, both the storyline and the events that take place. The characters seemed lifeless.....damn, it just felt unrealised. And it's not that I don't like classic literature either; I can cope with the romanticism and the intricately flamboyant dialogue (I love Thomas Hardy's work and Edgar Allan Poe) but The Last Of The Mohicans was simply uninteresting. Sure, it's filled with epic language and description: colour and texture: romance and fatalism, but compared to the film, I was honest-to-goodness let down.

 

[chileanmetal]

I haven't red the book, but I can stop laughing when y see the movie. when he talks about genesis, and huey lewis... LMAO

 

[Jax]

So to someone who's experienced neither, which should I do first..read the book or see the movie?

 

[xenophobe]

See the movie first. Great cult classic B-Movie... I think the actor that plays the main character, Patrick Bateman is great!

See the Movie, then read the book.

That way you can enjoy them both... if you do it the other way, you probably won't enjoy the movie as much...

 

[Jax]

Okie doke..I'll go hunt the movie down then Thanks for the advice!

 

[xenophobe]

Oh, try to get the unrated version...

I dunno what's different about it... but it might have a little more fun stuff in it...

 

[Pedro]

Originally posted by xenophobe
Oh, try to get the unrated version...

I dunno what's different about it... but it might have a little more fun stuff in it...

Yeah, the sex scene is longer and that's about it.

I myself actually thought that the movie complemented the book quite well. it captured the 'essence' of the book, not the gore really, but the social commentary.

The part with the kid was definately omitted from the film. Some funny scenes have been put in though, like the nude chainsaw chase

Below is my interpretation of WTF was goin on in American Psycho;

SPOIILERS
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Aaight, Patrick Bateman was really doing all those nasty things to the people. I believe the author was trying to make a statement about the lack of individuality in Patrick's world. Notice how noone seems to really know who anyone is, people think Patrick's someone else, and vice-versa. Patrick killed that guy with the axe, though another guy had lunch with him after the murder supposedly happened...he had lunch with someone he THOUGHT was the guy, but who really wasn't.

 

[xenophobe]

Well, I seriously think that he was delusional...

When he said to the barmaid "I want to slice your throat and play around in your blood" and then she tured around, and just handed him a drink without looking freaked out....

And the phone call in the end makes it seem like he was delusional about the whole thing....

I dunno. I thought the movie was interesting. One of my favorites, that's for sure.

 

[Torgoth]

Those who liked "American Psycho" should check out "Baise-moi" by Virginie Despentes. Both book and movie, but movie first of course.

 

[Ultima Ibanez Overlord]

Originally posted by Pedro

Aaight, Patrick Bateman was really doing all those nasty things to the people. I believe the author was trying to make a statement about the lack of individuality in Patrick's world. Notice how noone seems to really know who anyone is, people think Patrick's someone else, and vice-versa. Patrick killed that guy with the axe, though another guy had lunch with him after the murder supposedly happened...he had lunch with someone he THOUGHT was the guy, but who really wasn't.

That's my interpreation of it, too. The story is satirising the 80's, and this was another mechanism for doing so.
Just as Patrick was mistaken for that other guy (don't remember the character's name), his lawyer was making the same mistakes. The lawyer wasn't looking beyond Patrick's surface; He saw a successful guy, with fine clothes and a good job; "How could he possibly be a mass murderer?", was his attitude.

The movie isn't a B-movie!!! It's a really expensive production, and it's really lavishly made. It's a really great movie, fantastically acted and the script is brilliant.
I read the book first on the recommendation of a friend. It's much more overt in it's pastiche of the 80's obsession with image, what with the huge descriptions of people's clothing and that insanely long monologue about his grooming routine.

Obviously they couldn't include certain things in the movie, like when he drills through that girl's teeth and burns her eyelids and eyeballs. But the film still captures the essence of the book very well. Some of the murder scenes are quite dark, like when he throws the chainsaw.

I love his excuse for getting away from people; "I have to return some video tapes"

The film is much more light-hearted (as much as it can be) than the book, though. And since the book is heavy going, I'd recommend seeing the film first, if you can read the book after without using all the imagery from the film instead of using the narrative's description. But the book is so well written that I couldn't see that being a problem.

 

[mourningstar]

i saw the movie and read a bit of the book; i have it on my hard drive, and it bothers me to read it that way (everytime i try i give up after 30 pages or so).

@Ultima Ibanez: do you still have that book? can you lend it to me?