Bret Easton Elis, author of American Psycho, speaking at Queen Elizabeth Hall on Thursday 2nd February 2023.

Liv Thomson

Satirical, horrifying and completely insane, American Psycho is a classic. If you haven’t seen it, you’ve probably at least heard of it. So surely, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it?

American Psycho

American Psycho (2000) follows Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale, Batman): an investment banker by day, deranged serial killer by night. The film was directed by Mary Harron, who co-wrote the screenplay alongside Guinevere Turner.

A refreshing thing about the original film is the women behind it. In the 1991 novel the film is adapted from, Bret Easton Ellis paints a tale of excess sexual depravity and graphicness, fostering his own belief that it could never be adapted for the screen.

However, Harron and Turner can pull it off. The female perspective on extreme male psychology makes Bateman not only charmingly unhinged, but layers him far more intricately than could have perhaps been achieved by a male viewpoint. Their vision has made the black comedy flick beloved among fans and cemented Bateman as a truly iconic character.

However, Hollywood is seemingly rearing its head once again. Lionsgate has reportedly expressed interest in plans for a “modern re-make” of American Psycho, and fans are far from happy.

The Meaning of Modern

This calls into question just where the line between ‘old’ and ‘modern’ actually is. What isn’t modern about American Psycho? It only came out in 2000. It became a firm Internet meme only a few years ago. How, then, could a production company or director make it more modern? Is Patrick Bateman going to be an influencer?

This discourse also begs the question of why re-makes are necessary in the first place. The message of American Psycho is still socially relevant today, if not more so. So if it’s an issue of revamping the film, just with all the added advancements in film and camera technology of the past twenty years, then why not simply remaster the original into 4K quality?

The logistics of a re-make in the current climate are less than ideal. Set amidst the backdrop of 1980s New York City, Bateman’s wealth and work see him among the decadence of Wall Street and the elite dining scene. The same descriptors just don’t ring true of Wall Street as it is today.

The Death of Originality

The film landscape is awash with live-action re-makes, reboots, revivals, and sequels. American Psycho even has a sequel: American Psycho 2 (2002), a direct-to-video starring Mila Kunis. Easton Ellis has categorically stated that this sequel has no place in the narrative he created.

“…running it through the re-make blender serves only to strip it of what made it great in the first place.”

What’s worse is that the original screenplay for American Psycho 2 was completely unrelated to the original storyline — it was a different idea, for an independent movie called The Girl Who Wouldn’t Die. The script was subsequently altered to fit into the American Psycho narrative. Even Kunis was unaware of this until after production had begun.

The sequel was completely unnecessary, and added nothing. Unsurprisingly, it flopped. Why do studios think a re-make will somehow fare better?

One thing’s for sure. Taking a quintessentially modern film and running it through the re-make blender serves only to strip it of what made it great in the first place. There’s no shortage of films where insane protagonists are at the helm. Infringing on a classic such as this would only serve to make it more generic.

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Featured image courtesy of Raph_PH via Wikimedia Commons. No changes were made to this image. Image license found here.

Just another argumentative antithetical dream girl trying her best to make her sentences pretty. She has an undergraduate degree in psychology and is currently pursuing a Master's in broadcast journalism.

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