Here we are again. Yet another day and another piece of news regarding a movie being made that you’ve already seen or know the property it’s attached to. Was anyone really asking for a new adaptation of “American Psycho” to be made? Our guess is, “not really,” but here we are and it’s apparently happening courtesy of Lionsgate. At the very least though, they look to be getting the talented Luca Guadagnino to direct it.
In the event you’re not familiar with “American Psycho” it began its life as a book from 1991 by Bret Easton Ellis. The author had already made a name for himself with his dark, seedy, sexual, and satirical looks at the 1980s; American Psycho was no exception to that. The film, starring Christian Bale came out in 2000 and not only did a successful job of bringing the book to life but of also being just the right amount of humorously and horrifically absurd.
Meanwhile, Guadagnino has been behind the camera for a number of strong films over the last several years including his most recent “Suspiria,” and 2017’s “Call Me by Your Name.” The man knows his way around horror and drama and he’ll be joined by screenwriter Scott Z. Burns for this project. Burns has been working on the Apple TV+ series, “Extrapolations,” with films like “The Bourne Ultimatum,” “The Informant!,” and “The Report” in his resume of writing.
With that talent behind it, this movie certainly has the potential to be good, but it is even remotely necessary? The previous adaptation by director Mary Harron did pretty much everything it needed to do to bring something successfully and enjoyable to the screen. A new adaptation would invariably be compared, for better or for worse, to both the book itself and the already existing film. You could try to make this new version even more over-the-top than the previous one but you risk losing the central themes and psychological horror elements. Or you could try to make it more grounded and risk losing the meme worth music rants and feeding of cats to ATMs that have endeared audiences to the 2000 version.
Some things just don’t need to be remade, especially if they worked well the first time. We wish everyone luck and remain curious as to who will be taking up the role of protagonist-villain, Patrick Bateman, but for now we’ll just listen to some 80s music. …Do you like Huey Lewis & the News?
