boe_dye's slap happy review.

Rating: 10/10 (14 October 2007)

I saw this movie about 2 years ago from a friend who, in retrospect, to a certain degree patterned his life after patrick bateman.
The title is certainly misleading to some who might think this is a horror/slasher flick. and while it may have a bit of blood, it is more on the order of a socio/psychological character study on what happens to an elitist nobody trying to fit in, and never quite fitting in.
Now, i can't speak for the book that it is based on as i have not read it. however it does certainly stand on it's own two feet.
The cast is absolutely remarkable remaking the 80's yuppie scene. the music, the clothes, the attitudes of the young urban professional trust fund babies is so well done, that it is too good to be a caricature.
Movies like this that are so good rarely need to have long diatribes written about them as they will most certainly speak for themselves, so i will leave this review with two more points.
Point one, this movie should be taken somewhat introspectively. don't just watch it and then put it away on the shelf or return it to your choice of rental establishment. think about it. think about what happened, why it happened. it is an intelligent film. somewhat artsy at times, but nothing that is so esoteric that you have to be an initiate to understand what happened.
Point two. if you do enjoy this movie and you decide to learn more about it and the person who had written it, you will inevitably find out that he also wrote "rules of attraction" (in fact james van der beak played batemans younger brother in that movie, although it wasn't spoken about...). be forewarned that if you do enjoy this movie and go out of your way to see "rules of attraction", don't expect to see the same kind of depth. in fact, don't see it at all because it was a waste of time.
Now if you will excuse me, i have to go and return some video tapes...