@TheAlien659 The movie has some symbolism in it, you can look at it either way.
Personally, I think it chose to reflect upon the immense perversion and sociopathy in high ranking social statuses, that go completely ignored by the public because of the fear to offend / get involved when you try to call out a suspicion, or just because its "Better for business" if you leave it alone. But that's how I chose to view it because it helps me enjoy the movie better.
I think the most terrifying thing about if everything he did was true its not that he really did those things its that all those people had a monster living among them and where completely unaware of it.
This is why I love this film so much, how it completely throws you by questioning the narrative that you bought into. Was it real or not? Who knows. But it questions the viewer and lets you think for yourself, which is welcome change in popular fiction.
The pure genious pf this film/book is that especially if you read the book its almost obvious that he doesn't actually do any of this its just a demented psychotic dream he's this crazy it lives you wondering if its a dream or just a person who has completeley lost it
This why I think this movie is interesting, it's very debatible. Some people think he did kill those people, while others say it was all in his head. I liked the fact that how bigots like Bateman are to self centered to notice anything wrong and how they always mistake themselves for someone else. But personally, I think it's much funnier that it was all in his head. Almost like how Tyler Durden was a imanginary friend in Fight Club. But this is only my opinon though.
For Christ's sake, Bret Easton Ellis, the author of the book, confirmed that he killed everyone. It wasn't in his head, anybody who thinks that doesn't get it.
@PhoneHomeProduction what does his lawyer meen then when he says he had dinner with him? im confused ive seen bits and pieces of this movie and havent read the book yet
@phreestylesk8r He didn't actually have dinner with Paul Allen, he was having dinner with somebody he thought was Paul Allen. Get it? People are constantly mistaking certain people for others because they're too self-absorbed to notice.
@phreestylesk8r sorry to interject but i believe that, the lawyer knew that patrick killed paul alllen, and the lawyer simply is saying that "paul allen" was in london, where actually he was in America getting killed! Its a cover sotry and the lawyer didnt want to know about it, for plausible deniability! Thats my take, it makes sense though, they are all cover it up for patrick.
@lord123j We know that Bateman sometimes hallucinates because of the scene where the atm asks him to put a cat into it. But that could be part of his mental illness, or does it indicate that much of what he sees is his mind giving him an illusion. We see his secretary finding his datebook with many mad drawings in it. Was he imagining that too, or where those drawings what he would've like to be doing or depictions of what actaully happened? Like Eyes Wide Shut the "elite" covering each other
@PhoneHomeProduction I thought it was his lawyer lying to protect his client. Like when some one says ""you did not this" and the other person says "see what ;)".
It was real, the lawyer thought it was Paul but he doesn't realize it wasn't. For all intents and purposes it could be said it WAS. That's the point, everyone is so indistinguishable that it doesn't matter that he killed the people, it would be covered up (see the white apartment scene) and no one even knows who he is anyways, just another carbon copy of a copy, of a copy, of a copy, of a copy, of a copy
@TheNewRiflemanBob The real estate agency covered it up to keep housing prices high. The agent realizes Patrick is fishy and so she tests him with the "ad in the Times" question, and when he answers wrong, she realizes he's the one who put all the corpses there. She says doesn't want any trouble, and wants him to leave and never come back, a sort of "take it to your grave" thing. They just want it to go away, caring more about money than finding out what happened.
@CamButler wow that makes sense. However, would you agree that the movie is still open to interpretation on weather Patrick really committed these murders or not. Some people believe that he didn't. A part of their argument comes from the fact that the security guard didn't do anything when Patrick was carrying out Paul's dead body which was leaving a trail of blood. How do you explain that scene?
@TheNewRiflemanBob Part 1: I don't agree that the murders are in his head (I read the book a few times a year, FYI) I do understand how the movie makes it seem that way. Some parts are surely in his head, like the "FEED ME A STRAY CAT" and the Police Car exploding, but most of it isn't. The sleeping bag thing is explained in the book, Patrick says he's going camping and the people he meets immediately start asking him about how to wear a cummerbund. The sleeping bag plain just don't matter.
@TheNewRiflemanBob Part 2: The thing that it's trying to explain in the book (and I think the movie too) is that in Patrick's world, the people he looks down upon don't question him out of fear and insecurity, and the people he talks to are too vapid and self-centered to even notice these kinds of things, all they care about is image, money and status. Again, someone would clean up the blood trail or it would be taken care of. "My punishment continues to elude me" Patrick says at the end.
@biostyle I think that's all a bit too easy though. If it were confirmed that that was really the case, I would be disappointed. I prefer the idea that he did the killings but such was the self-centred, egocentric nature of the people around him and the envrionment he worked in that he was able to get away with it. Cases of mistaken identiy are prevalent throughout the film; even the police checking out his apartment could have just simply visited the wrong apartment.
@CheDonJohn Yeah, but there were too many weird scenes like the money-automat which wanted the stray cat, or the fact that the police cars just exploded when he was shooting at them, or the beginning scene where he said to the girl that he wanted to kill her and she didn't even react, like he wasn't saying it at all, and also his lawyer saying that he had dinner with Paul Allen in London.
We seriously need someone who knows the book and can say what really happened at the end.
@biostyle the ending of the book is ambiguous. what is perhaps not made clear enough by the film is that bateman is an unreliable narrator, and there is definitely a merging of fantasy and reality in his account...however...i believe he had to have killed allen, as otherwise this scene makes no sense, and secondly, one of the themes of the book is excess and largesse, that theres a class of person that can get away with anything...if it were all a fantasy this would negate this point completely
"I have all the characteristics of a human being: flesh, blood, skin, hair; but not a single, clear, identifiable emotion, except for greed and disgust." The movie is an allegory, no different from Lord of the Flies or Animal Farm.
@Capri557 That has nothing to do with it being an allegory. The point is that people are mistaking people for others all throughout the movie/book - which leaves the claim that Paul Allen is still alive an ambiguous one. It's open to interpretation - you decide whether everything actually happened or whether it's all just in Bateman's head.
The director said in the DVD features that it was a failure on his part that people didn't get that he really did kill them. The point was to show how little they care.
In the book, the door saying "THIS IS NOT AN EXIT" was more emphasized because it was supposed to mean that the events were not simply an escape from reality.
Still he did have certain hallucinations such as the ATM telling him to put a cat in it.
I like the convo going on in the comments. The only murder that was definately true was that of Paul. The others you have to decide yourself. the film intends to make you question if Bateman is different from the others. Did he kill Paul? Or was it another case of being like all the others and not actually knowing people. Was the victim Davis or Boyce? To Bateman he's just a guy he THINKS was Paul
From what I understand of Ellis' intent on book, the plot and outcome is purposely confusing..no right or wrong, murders or not. It's one of those frustrating plots with subjective, hanging endings. It's a certain literary style ( I can't remember the name. It happens in other books and movies, not just Ellis'). Ellis also incorporates characters from previous novels, in fact, several previous novels. Google it, It all makes sense. I hate horror, but I might have to see this one.
The evidence points to the murders being a hallucination. look at the combination of his final rampage where he blows up the cop cars and goes on a murder spree and gets away scott free. Also when the secretary finds his drawings
One of the all time greatest moments in film. It will never get the credit it deserves because it's not black and white and movie critics have to uphold the old time classics as the greatest. But this scene has more to do with the success of the Batman movie series than some comic books that hardly anyone living today has ever read.
Actually, some murders really hapened, but others happened in his mind, like the mass murder scene, where he kills a stray cat, a woman, a doorman, a cleaner and a lot of cops. That was his mind freaking out(daydreaming?)
whether the killings are real or not are inconsequential in the movie.....it's a satire on society, specifically the wall street society during the 1980's.....in the book the author goes to great lengths to describe (in great detail) the obsession bateman has with fashion and music.....it's obsessive and annoyed the shit out of me lol......but mentally unstable people are obsessive and incredibly egotistical, not to mention narcissists.....he still fits the description, in reality or not......
@Seattledude78 Am just stating this as a born Narcissist. Not all us "Narcissists" are unstable. Bateman was just Narcissistic beyond credibility, that is, to the point of delusion and hallucinating. This can happen if a narcissist does not keep their narcissism in-check.
there is no true definite answer to the ending, it's rlly how your interpreted it, so some people stop saying you're right or that's wrong, this is the ending. So just state your opinion don't say your right and someone else is wrong
I thought Bateman DID NOT kill all those ppl, but he just imagined it, which is why his supervisor found his gruesome drawings.
Him IMAGINING killing all those ppl made him think it was real, which is what makes a person insane.
I mean, in the scene where he tries to shove a kitten in a ATM machine because the machine said "Feed me a cat" (something like that) is ridiculous; which made me think that he imagined it all.
Actually, the whole twist at the end is more or less, did he kill the "right" Paul Allen or is Bateman just as self absorbed as his murder victims that he didn't even know if it was Paul Allen, or is the lawyer and everyone else still so self absorbed that they couldn't even distinguish between two people of similar fashion and interest. You can see the fear in the eyes at the realization that he may have mistaken the real Paul Allen for someone else.
@Tabatron2010 "ok people, once and for all, bateman really did kill everyone. notice not only did the lawyer confuse bateman with with davis but he also said "are you still going out with cynthia?" davis' girl friend was named silvia. he confuses everyone with everyone, just like everyone else. its not that no one cares bateman killed all those people its just that in that mass confusion and narcissism no one notices. i'd say a lot more, but i dont have space."
The director of this movie said this: in the book bateman really did kill all those people due to their shallowness. However in the movie it's left open to your own interpretation whether the killings really occurred or if he's just a schizophrenic (with the scenes of impossible events occurring).
i read all your comments and it makes me more and more confused! for me, all thoses murders were in bateman's imagination, but now that i read your theories, im not sure !! i really hate this ending
@missjay012 he did kill all those people,This film is not actualy about a killer but about society. About how shallow the uper class world is hes living in, thats why everybody calls eacother by the wrong name in the movie, all everybody cares about in this film is looking the same and trying to out do each other, the guy patricks talking to hear only knows the name paul alan from work, he didint really have dinner with paul it was someone else, (they all look the same) patrick really isa killer
I think it was not real. He made up the story of Paul being in London but actually Paul must have told him that he was in London. So he imagined killing him. As for the women, well i dont know.
The book is terrifying, but the movie is a bit confusing because Patrick really did kill all of the people he confessed to! The movie depicts all of his crimes as a matter of his imagination rather than an actual happening! He truly is a Psychopath according to the book. Which, I might add, is A LOT more GRAPHIC than the movie! He's actually really proud of what he's done!!!!
@MLC192 i chopped Justin's fucking head off. And i ate some of his brain, and i tried to cook a little. His body is dissolving in a bath tub in Hell's Kitchen.
in the book, he writes in blood 'i'm back" in pauls livingroom after murdering the girls...I think that message is why the allen family covered up the mess in the apartment. they don't know he's been murdered, they think he disapeared.
@cmerc25 -- good point ... this is still my favorite Bale performance, every nuance is spot on - especially if you read the book (save for The Fighter, which he was phenomenal)
ok people, once and for all, bateman really did kill everyone. notice not only did the lawyer confuse bateman with with davis but he also said "are you still going out with cynthia?" davis' girl friend was named silvia. he confuses everyone with everyone, just like everyone else. its not that no one cares bateman killed all those people its just that in that mass confusion and narcissism no one notices. i'd say a lot more, but i dont have space.
@idiedromantic19 i just finished the book..while the movie leads you to believe that its all a hallucination, the book shows you that he really DID kill all of those people. And the reason he was not caught or even a suspect is because of his reputation as a goody two shoe, "boy next door". Even his fiance Evelyn was cheating on him because she thought he wasn't interested in sex (little did she know he had a mistress and threesomes with prostitutes and such every night).mistaken identity.
@nidagichole yeah thats pretty much what i said before. and i got no indication from the movie that it was a hallucination, and i saw the movie first. everyones "oh they cleaned up the apartment, they covered up the murders to protect him" theories make me want to drive my head threw a window. seriously?
@idiedromantic19 yeah thats what i always thought. i only watched the movie, i have never read the book but the message i got from the movie was that batman actually fitted in so well that nobody noticed what he was all about. so much so that even if he screamed out load that he was a killer, still nobody would believe him.
@idiedromantic19 it's true that everyone confuses everyone, but that was something useful earlier in the plot. there are many hints to the fact that he imagined everything (never a witnesses, no one notices the blood track in the hall, the police car explodes with a gunshot and - the biggest hint, the atm says "feed me a stray cat"); he did imagine those things (also via the sketches) to think of himself as stronger and to run away from that suffocating, alienated yuppie life.
@kooper2 not so fast ! in the film there are many times when the characters confuse other characters for someone else, so the lawyer could have mistaken someone for paul Allen, thats why bret easton Ellis did the whole mistaken identity thing throughout the movie to make you think "huh maybe the lawyer made a mistake"
@idiedromantic19 That's a theory, but there are others and all are equally possible (none are proven). In the end you can't claim to be reasonable and say that bateman did, conclusively, kill people.
@DUNKDAEXCESS i guess,i just cant see how when the author of the book and the director of the film say both conclude 'this is what definitely happened' people still refute that. i love this movie, and i was confused about it all for a while too, but then i looked into it. i mean if its tuseday, its mother fucking tuseday why bother concocting that its thrusday? theres room for existentialism here within reason. you cant just existentialize concrete facts.
@idiedromantic19 Where did you see this? Can you send me a link to both author and directors confessions. I'm just curious. I have seen differently. But I could have been misinformed.
@tbranch74 hummm, it was a special about the the making of it. i'll try and find it. but the author quote was along the lines of "i wanted it to be assumed that the killings were real" give me a few days.
Read the book..Bateman saw a beggar on the street, i poor girl if i remember correctly, so he took some money out of his wallet and placed it into the beggars cup. suddenly the beggar was a normal person sipping on her coffee. He was also stalked by walking park bench for a few blocks. Seriously, the world he was living in made him wacko. Truth is, everyone is like him in the book.. materialism and their ego make them crazy. So if Bateman did kill those people is hard to answer.
@idiedromantic19 there is not any sign that he actually killed all those people, he has lost touch with life, he is superficial, narcissistic beyond credibility, this hallucinations and fantasies are an scape... Paul owen's wife does realize his disappearance...
@SHIBBYiPANDA It's not that it was an hallucination, more that it makes you think WAS it Paul he killed. If everyone else mistakes everyone...Is Patrick Bateman any different? He DID chop of someone's head...But was it Paul Alan? That's the question you are made to ask
@feedmebug hahahahaha OOOOOOOOOOOOOO like maybe the guy he went to dinner with and was calling Paul Allen was playing the same "I'm whoever you say I am you idiot" game Bateman was playing????
@SHIBBYiPANDA Exactly! Because they all do it! In the business card scene..They use the wrong names for each other..All of them do...Even Patrick does.
@idiedromantic19 Well, we don't know that for sure. It could be fantasies, yet all those things you said makes it possible that he really did kill everyone.
@idiedromantic19 What about the apartment he kept the bodies in? When he returned there was no bodies, no police had been there and there were no signs of anyone removing them, almost as if they were never there to begin with.
Also: the "I had dinner with Paul Alan in London 10 days ago" thing makes it pretty clear that he didn't kill Paul, as Paul wasn't in the states at the time of the murder.
@Squiglypig seriously, are people this short sighted?
"I had dinner with Paul Allen twice in London just ten days ago." This statement is coming from a lawyer that just mistook his own client (Bateman) as another individual (Davis). No one knows who's who in their world because everyone is essentially the same. The theme of "conformity" is apparent throughout the entire movie. The physical appearance of the actors, the business card scene titling everyone as Vice President, "Hip to be Square".
@Squiglypig Actually the lady cleaned the house out and buried the whole thing. Having dead hookers in the apartment you're trying to sell DRASTICLY reduces it's selling power XD
@Squiglypig All throughout the book (and parts of the movie) people mistake someone for someone else. For instance his lawyer kept calling him Davis we know his name isn't Davis. Everyone is so full of themselves that they practically pay no attention to the people around him. That's why Patrick has that expression on his face after his lawyer says he had dinner with Allen 10 days ago. He didn't. He had dinner with a guy he thought was Allen. The face he makes when he says "No you-" says it all.
I don't believe so. The message of the movie is that everyone is just selfish and egoistic. Did you not recognize that everyone was mistanken people for each other. Just watch the card scene, Bateman was mistanken for someone else. Exactly like this scene. No one care about each other. A narcissistic society.
@Abasuto If you only saw the movie, I can understand why! You have to read the book to get the full effect of what this psychopath really did and how proud he was after it was over! One part he decapitates someone and holds an entire conversation with the severed head! Sick, sick, sick!
One thing we shouldn't overlook, is the very last scene, where Reagan is talking foreign policy and Bryce is saying something like "how can he be so normal, when..."
It's called *American* Psycho for a reason. This is about America-who really runs this country, how they really run it, and how hard it is to know exactly WHO really runs it. All we know is Wall St. is involved somehow.
TheJBomber has a good theory about how everyone covers it up FOR him, just because they all share interests.
And you know, maybe it isn't meant to be definitively understood. Most good art isn't. It's just Ellis' expression of the world we live in and the way people are and who runs it, it doesn't have to be a puzzle, or a riddle, just a sort of abstract painting that one figures out on their own.
The lawyer doesnt recognize Bateman, he thinks he's Davis. No one regonizes each other in the yuppie world and the lawyer also confuses Paul Allen with someone else. Bateman killed everyone.
You can tell that Patrick wanted to chop Carnes' head off when he called him lightweight lol.
wadedinasty23 17 hours ago
Killings were only in his head...
TheVukovi96 1 day ago
Keep your shirt on, maybe lose the suspenders
20tropic 1 week ago
So he didn't kill all these people?
TheAlien659 2 weeks ago
@TheAlien659 The movie has some symbolism in it, you can look at it either way.
Personally, I think it chose to reflect upon the immense perversion and sociopathy in high ranking social statuses, that go completely ignored by the public because of the fear to offend / get involved when you try to call out a suspicion, or just because its "Better for business" if you leave it alone. But that's how I chose to view it because it helps me enjoy the movie better.
NintenFan0900 2 weeks ago
@TheAlien659 No, it's a fictional story
MrRazorblade999 1 week ago
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TheAlien659 2 weeks ago
I think the most terrifying thing about if everything he did was true its not that he really did those things its that all those people had a monster living among them and where completely unaware of it.
Luke47895 3 weeks ago 9
2:30 very disturbing moment
scRaTcHvsWU 1 month ago
This is why I love this film so much, how it completely throws you by questioning the narrative that you bought into. Was it real or not? Who knows. But it questions the viewer and lets you think for yourself, which is welcome change in popular fiction.
Nothefaceyoubitch 1 month ago
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why not you stupid bastard!?
ernestezekiel 2 months ago
"Listen i'm Patrick BATEMAN!"
"That's rich BATMAN, just like you!"
"God dammit!"
mehdude9999 2 months ago
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The pure genious pf this film/book is that especially if you read the book its almost obvious that he doesn't actually do any of this its just a demented psychotic dream he's this crazy it lives you wondering if its a dream or just a person who has completeley lost it
iLuvBarRefaeli 2 months ago
I'm not Davis I'm BATMAN!
marah131 2 months ago 5
So he was Davis! oh okay that makes perfect fucking sense
shkdbsahbdlabf1 3 months ago
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damn i gotta see this movie
MrCharrrles 3 months ago
ugh, perfect.
esplodere 3 months ago
1:03 hahaha, I love how he swallows his anger there.
973JJJ 3 months ago
This why I think this movie is interesting, it's very debatible. Some people think he did kill those people, while others say it was all in his head. I liked the fact that how bigots like Bateman are to self centered to notice anything wrong and how they always mistake themselves for someone else. But personally, I think it's much funnier that it was all in his head. Almost like how Tyler Durden was a imanginary friend in Fight Club. But this is only my opinon though.
IncredibleFulk1 3 months ago
@IncredibleFulk1 According to the author, Patrick Bateman did indeed kill all those people.
braddyboy82 3 months ago
@braddyboy82 Source? Always felt it was ambiguous.
ProjectSWOLENESS 1 month ago
2:55 "what the FUCK"
SktRat4life 4 months ago
Can someone please explain this scene. Did he kill Paul Allen or not?!?
IonicGell200 4 months ago
@IonicGell200 No, He didnt kill him.
kegean 4 months ago
@kegean Can you explain any further?
IonicGell200 4 months ago
I love the look on Bateman's lawyer's face when he tries to talk to him seriously...he has this look of utter death
xanderwat 4 months ago
Pause at 2:02 and look at the fucking size of his fingers!!!
ForcedAllegiance 5 months ago
@ForcedAllegiance All the better to strangle you with, my dear.
Jahoobano 4 months ago
If you ever wanna leave a conversation just say "Is that Edward Towers?" and walk away lol
MrChillypepper7 6 months ago 7
@xxLimbo85xx never even considered that one !! this film has so many possible interpretations
MrEthnic007 6 months ago
cmon' faggots lets get a res
boyeeman 6 months ago
For Christ's sake, Bret Easton Ellis, the author of the book, confirmed that he killed everyone. It wasn't in his head, anybody who thinks that doesn't get it.
PhoneHomeProduction 6 months ago
@PhoneHomeProduction what does his lawyer meen then when he says he had dinner with him? im confused ive seen bits and pieces of this movie and havent read the book yet
phreestylesk8r 6 months ago
@phreestylesk8r He didn't actually have dinner with Paul Allen, he was having dinner with somebody he thought was Paul Allen. Get it? People are constantly mistaking certain people for others because they're too self-absorbed to notice.
PhoneHomeProduction 6 months ago 12
@PhoneHomeProduction i get it now! thank you for explaining, it makes a lot of sense now
phreestylesk8r 6 months ago
@phreestylesk8r Of course. :)
PhoneHomeProduction 6 months ago
@phreestylesk8r sorry to interject but i believe that, the lawyer knew that patrick killed paul alllen, and the lawyer simply is saying that "paul allen" was in london, where actually he was in America getting killed! Its a cover sotry and the lawyer didnt want to know about it, for plausible deniability! Thats my take, it makes sense though, they are all cover it up for patrick.
lord123j 4 months ago 3
@lord123j We know that Bateman sometimes hallucinates because of the scene where the atm asks him to put a cat into it. But that could be part of his mental illness, or does it indicate that much of what he sees is his mind giving him an illusion. We see his secretary finding his datebook with many mad drawings in it. Was he imagining that too, or where those drawings what he would've like to be doing or depictions of what actaully happened? Like Eyes Wide Shut the "elite" covering each other
mojav26 4 months ago
@PhoneHomeProduction I thought it was his lawyer lying to protect his client. Like when some one says ""you did not this" and the other person says "see what ;)".
suckit69er 4 months ago
@PhoneHomeProduction also because all his friends have horn-rimmed glasses, suspenders, and tumi leather attache cases - from book
BuyBenco 6 days ago
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sutteratgmaildotcom 6 months ago
so whats the story with this film? did he kill anyone or was it all his imagination??? i cant be sure...
stanconsidine 6 months ago
It was real, the lawyer thought it was Paul but he doesn't realize it wasn't. For all intents and purposes it could be said it WAS. That's the point, everyone is so indistinguishable that it doesn't matter that he killed the people, it would be covered up (see the white apartment scene) and no one even knows who he is anyways, just another carbon copy of a copy, of a copy, of a copy, of a copy, of a copy
CamButler 6 months ago 3
@CamButler I don't understand the white apartment scene. Can you explain it to me? please.
TheNewRiflemanBob 6 months ago
@TheNewRiflemanBob The real estate agency covered it up to keep housing prices high. The agent realizes Patrick is fishy and so she tests him with the "ad in the Times" question, and when he answers wrong, she realizes he's the one who put all the corpses there. She says doesn't want any trouble, and wants him to leave and never come back, a sort of "take it to your grave" thing. They just want it to go away, caring more about money than finding out what happened.
CamButler 6 months ago 2
@CamButler wow that makes sense. However, would you agree that the movie is still open to interpretation on weather Patrick really committed these murders or not. Some people believe that he didn't. A part of their argument comes from the fact that the security guard didn't do anything when Patrick was carrying out Paul's dead body which was leaving a trail of blood. How do you explain that scene?
TheNewRiflemanBob 6 months ago
@TheNewRiflemanBob Part 1: I don't agree that the murders are in his head (I read the book a few times a year, FYI) I do understand how the movie makes it seem that way. Some parts are surely in his head, like the "FEED ME A STRAY CAT" and the Police Car exploding, but most of it isn't. The sleeping bag thing is explained in the book, Patrick says he's going camping and the people he meets immediately start asking him about how to wear a cummerbund. The sleeping bag plain just don't matter.
CamButler 6 months ago
@TheNewRiflemanBob Part 2: The thing that it's trying to explain in the book (and I think the movie too) is that in Patrick's world, the people he looks down upon don't question him out of fear and insecurity, and the people he talks to are too vapid and self-centered to even notice these kinds of things, all they care about is image, money and status. Again, someone would clean up the blood trail or it would be taken care of. "My punishment continues to elude me" Patrick says at the end.
CamButler 6 months ago
@CamButler Thanks a lot. Its more clear now.
TheNewRiflemanBob 6 months ago
Now imagine...Patrick Bateman having a conversation with Johnny ...from The Shining
robertsom 6 months ago
@robertsom i thought you were gonna say johnny the homicidal maniac
caspercoven 6 months ago
@robertsom You mean Jack Torrence?
IncredibleFulk1 3 months ago
2:32 his fav curse word
spade760100 6 months ago
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Why Not you Stupid Bastard...
efkay4u2c 7 months ago
It's all in his head - End of the story.
biostyle 7 months ago
@biostyle I think that's all a bit too easy though. If it were confirmed that that was really the case, I would be disappointed. I prefer the idea that he did the killings but such was the self-centred, egocentric nature of the people around him and the envrionment he worked in that he was able to get away with it. Cases of mistaken identiy are prevalent throughout the film; even the police checking out his apartment could have just simply visited the wrong apartment.
CheDonJohn 7 months ago
@CheDonJohn Yeah, but there were too many weird scenes like the money-automat which wanted the stray cat, or the fact that the police cars just exploded when he was shooting at them, or the beginning scene where he said to the girl that he wanted to kill her and she didn't even react, like he wasn't saying it at all, and also his lawyer saying that he had dinner with Paul Allen in London.
We seriously need someone who knows the book and can say what really happened at the end.
biostyle 7 months ago
@biostyle the ending of the book is ambiguous. what is perhaps not made clear enough by the film is that bateman is an unreliable narrator, and there is definitely a merging of fantasy and reality in his account...however...i believe he had to have killed allen, as otherwise this scene makes no sense, and secondly, one of the themes of the book is excess and largesse, that theres a class of person that can get away with anything...if it were all a fantasy this would negate this point completely
fullspeccydominance 7 months ago
Now if you'll excuse me, those video tapes aren't going to return themselves.
Jahoobano 7 months ago 36
@Jahoobano lol lol lol
coldstaind91 4 months ago
Wait.......STOP.
dfresh0114 8 months ago
I CHOPPED ALLEN'S FUCKING HEAD OFF!
fogdog60 8 months ago
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This was great. Please check out a version called American Psycho Sitcom Laughter. It's really entertaining. Any feedback would be appreciated.
navy4181 8 months ago
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Why not you stupid bastard?
NewSuperAvenger 8 months ago
Christian Bale is about one of the most understated movie stars ever. He us awesome!
unit529 8 months ago 2
"I have all the characteristics of a human being: flesh, blood, skin, hair; but not a single, clear, identifiable emotion, except for greed and disgust." The movie is an allegory, no different from Lord of the Flies or Animal Farm.
insidejoker89 8 months ago 23
@insidejoker89 allegory for what?
MrBeauJango 5 months ago
@insidejoker89 so how did he think he killed paul allen but he didnt
Capri557 2 months ago
@Capri557 That has nothing to do with it being an allegory. The point is that people are mistaking people for others all throughout the movie/book - which leaves the claim that Paul Allen is still alive an ambiguous one. It's open to interpretation - you decide whether everything actually happened or whether it's all just in Bateman's head.
BlueVane 1 month ago
keep pressing 6 on the keyboard... HAM anyone?
Garcian 8 months ago
"I chopped Alan's fucking head off". LOL he's so sincere
Garcian 8 months ago 2
Pokerface @ 1:32
AmunExorbis 8 months ago
The director said in the DVD features that it was a failure on his part that people didn't get that he really did kill them. The point was to show how little they care.
In the book, the door saying "THIS IS NOT AN EXIT" was more emphasized because it was supposed to mean that the events were not simply an escape from reality.
Still he did have certain hallucinations such as the ATM telling him to put a cat in it.
ReducedToAsh 8 months ago 3
hmmmmmm
SHIBBYiPANDA 9 months ago
I like the convo going on in the comments. The only murder that was definately true was that of Paul. The others you have to decide yourself. the film intends to make you question if Bateman is different from the others. Did he kill Paul? Or was it another case of being like all the others and not actually knowing people. Was the victim Davis or Boyce? To Bateman he's just a guy he THINKS was Paul
feedmebug 9 months ago
From what I understand of Ellis' intent on book, the plot and outcome is purposely confusing..no right or wrong, murders or not. It's one of those frustrating plots with subjective, hanging endings. It's a certain literary style ( I can't remember the name. It happens in other books and movies, not just Ellis'). Ellis also incorporates characters from previous novels, in fact, several previous novels. Google it, It all makes sense. I hate horror, but I might have to see this one.
tbranch74 9 months ago
The evidence points to the murders being a hallucination. look at the combination of his final rampage where he blows up the cop cars and goes on a murder spree and gets away scott free. Also when the secretary finds his drawings
Baskinrobems 9 months ago
One of the all time greatest moments in film. It will never get the credit it deserves because it's not black and white and movie critics have to uphold the old time classics as the greatest. But this scene has more to do with the success of the Batman movie series than some comic books that hardly anyone living today has ever read.
slavesofarmageddon 9 months ago
Actually, some murders really hapened, but others happened in his mind, like the mass murder scene, where he kills a stray cat, a woman, a doorman, a cleaner and a lot of cops. That was his mind freaking out(daydreaming?)
Gabrielvogel 9 months ago
I get how the ending in the book is left open as to what Bateman may or may not have done, but why does this lawyer mistake him for somebody else?
hakoon1234 9 months ago
409 people killed Paul Allen, and they liked it.
DeafEskimo 10 months ago
whether the killings are real or not are inconsequential in the movie.....it's a satire on society, specifically the wall street society during the 1980's.....in the book the author goes to great lengths to describe (in great detail) the obsession bateman has with fashion and music.....it's obsessive and annoyed the shit out of me lol......but mentally unstable people are obsessive and incredibly egotistical, not to mention narcissists.....he still fits the description, in reality or not......
Seattledude78 10 months ago
@Seattledude78 Am just stating this as a born Narcissist. Not all us "Narcissists" are unstable. Bateman was just Narcissistic beyond credibility, that is, to the point of delusion and hallucinating. This can happen if a narcissist does not keep their narcissism in-check.
jonnbag06 8 months ago
there is no true definite answer to the ending, it's rlly how your interpreted it, so some people stop saying you're right or that's wrong, this is the ending. So just state your opinion don't say your right and someone else is wrong
miamid17 10 months ago 2
@miamid17 I basically said the same thing. So Kudos, we agree :)
tbranch74 9 months ago
this is the scene that makes bateman an antihero. he's insane and nobody's listening to him. nobody cares. it's upsetting.
youngaria 10 months ago
I thought Bateman DID NOT kill all those ppl, but he just imagined it, which is why his supervisor found his gruesome drawings.
Him IMAGINING killing all those ppl made him think it was real, which is what makes a person insane.
I mean, in the scene where he tries to shove a kitten in a ATM machine because the machine said "Feed me a cat" (something like that) is ridiculous; which made me think that he imagined it all.
that's just a thought though.
MrFTW733 10 months ago
bale scares the shit out of me !
FCB87 11 months ago 2
only say.... read the book
TexasTomBoe 11 months ago
Actually, the whole twist at the end is more or less, did he kill the "right" Paul Allen or is Bateman just as self absorbed as his murder victims that he didn't even know if it was Paul Allen, or is the lawyer and everyone else still so self absorbed that they couldn't even distinguish between two people of similar fashion and interest. You can see the fear in the eyes at the realization that he may have mistaken the real Paul Allen for someone else.
Tabatron2010 11 months ago
@Tabatron2010 exactly!
cbhitman1 11 months ago
@Tabatron2010 "ok people, once and for all, bateman really did kill everyone. notice not only did the lawyer confuse bateman with with davis but he also said "are you still going out with cynthia?" davis' girl friend was named silvia. he confuses everyone with everyone, just like everyone else. its not that no one cares bateman killed all those people its just that in that mass confusion and narcissism no one notices. i'd say a lot more, but i dont have space."
boxellmark27 11 months ago
Why not you stupid bastard?
CrimsonVermillioneye 11 months ago
The director of this movie said this: in the book bateman really did kill all those people due to their shallowness. However in the movie it's left open to your own interpretation whether the killings really occurred or if he's just a schizophrenic (with the scenes of impossible events occurring).
DeusGear 11 months ago
did anyone notice when patrick looks to his right twice at 2:04
actually quite scary
jimbobhk2009 11 months ago
@jimbobhk2009 That is some fucked up freaky shit.
alienlifeform11 11 months ago
The author said that patrick bateman stood behind him and basically dictated this story to him. He has no idea if he did or not
AWrexroat 11 months ago
this movies fuckin confusing.
SteezyySteves622 11 months ago
@SteezyySteves622 what do U find confusing,i'll help U.
peleking352 11 months ago
@xxLimbo85xx lol i heard that theory before that he was so confused he builded upp a character named patrick bateman !
hunterallen48 11 months ago
i read all your comments and it makes me more and more confused! for me, all thoses murders were in bateman's imagination, but now that i read your theories, im not sure !! i really hate this ending
missjay012 11 months ago
@missjay012 he did kill all those people,This film is not actualy about a killer but about society. About how shallow the uper class world is hes living in, thats why everybody calls eacother by the wrong name in the movie, all everybody cares about in this film is looking the same and trying to out do each other, the guy patricks talking to hear only knows the name paul alan from work, he didint really have dinner with paul it was someone else, (they all look the same) patrick really isa killer
neilwilson557 11 months ago
I guess not even the author can 100% say that he ither killed everyone or he didn't. This story is a madman riddle of a sort.
I allways took it as if he DID kill everybody rly.
scRaTcHvsWU 11 months ago
I think it was not real. He made up the story of Paul being in London but actually Paul must have told him that he was in London. So he imagined killing him. As for the women, well i dont know.
declannorton 11 months ago
The book is terrifying, but the movie is a bit confusing because Patrick really did kill all of the people he confessed to! The movie depicts all of his crimes as a matter of his imagination rather than an actual happening! He truly is a Psychopath according to the book. Which, I might add, is A LOT more GRAPHIC than the movie! He's actually really proud of what he's done!!!!
TheRockfan68 1 year ago
@TheRockfan68 in one part of the book he made the girl into sasauge
tylerf13ful 1 year ago
I killed Justin Bieber... and I liked it!!!!!
MLC192 1 year ago
@MLC192 i chopped Justin's fucking head off. And i ate some of his brain, and i tried to cook a little. His body is dissolving in a bath tub in Hell's Kitchen.
ares12790 1 year ago
I can always get you a lime.
Eatazombie 1 year ago
"Why not you stupid bastard?"
NewSuperAvenger 1 year ago
in the book, he writes in blood 'i'm back" in pauls livingroom after murdering the girls...I think that message is why the allen family covered up the mess in the apartment. they don't know he's been murdered, they think he disapeared.
nidagichole 1 year ago
He killed them all but certainly exxagerated most of them
damienforlan87 1 year ago
How did Christian Bale not even get nominated for an Academy Award for this?
cmerc25 1 year ago 33
@cmerc25 -- good point ... this is still my favorite Bale performance, every nuance is spot on - especially if you read the book (save for The Fighter, which he was phenomenal)
disengagejam 1 year ago
@cmerc25 Their fucking idiots, that's why!
MosDopeBoy 1 year ago
@cmerc25 Seriously
fogdog60 8 months ago
ok people, once and for all, bateman really did kill everyone. notice not only did the lawyer confuse bateman with with davis but he also said "are you still going out with cynthia?" davis' girl friend was named silvia. he confuses everyone with everyone, just like everyone else. its not that no one cares bateman killed all those people its just that in that mass confusion and narcissism no one notices. i'd say a lot more, but i dont have space.
idiedromantic19 1 year ago 65
@idiedromantic19 Very good point.
kizza1960 1 year ago
@idiedromantic19 i just finished the book..while the movie leads you to believe that its all a hallucination, the book shows you that he really DID kill all of those people. And the reason he was not caught or even a suspect is because of his reputation as a goody two shoe, "boy next door". Even his fiance Evelyn was cheating on him because she thought he wasn't interested in sex (little did she know he had a mistress and threesomes with prostitutes and such every night).mistaken identity.
nidagichole 1 year ago
@nidagichole yeah thats pretty much what i said before. and i got no indication from the movie that it was a hallucination, and i saw the movie first. everyones "oh they cleaned up the apartment, they covered up the murders to protect him" theories make me want to drive my head threw a window. seriously?
idiedromantic19 1 year ago
@idiedromantic19 enlighten me.. im confused
ThatAboutDoesIt 1 year ago
@idiedromantic19 I totally support this explanation, as easy as it would be to say that everything was a hallucination
AndrewSpriter 11 months ago
@idiedromantic19 yeah thats what i always thought. i only watched the movie, i have never read the book but the message i got from the movie was that batman actually fitted in so well that nobody noticed what he was all about. so much so that even if he screamed out load that he was a killer, still nobody would believe him.
slimithy12 11 months ago
@idiedromantic19 it's true that everyone confuses everyone, but that was something useful earlier in the plot. there are many hints to the fact that he imagined everything (never a witnesses, no one notices the blood track in the hall, the police car explodes with a gunshot and - the biggest hint, the atm says "feed me a stray cat"); he did imagine those things (also via the sketches) to think of himself as stronger and to run away from that suffocating, alienated yuppie life.
soapg0 11 months ago
@idiedromantic19 however, a little doubt lingers. and that was probably intended.
soapg0 11 months ago
@idiedromantic19 u are a moron, he says '' i had dinner with Paul Allen twice in London'' in your face, retard :)
kooper2 11 months ago
@kooper2 uhmmmm....i know he said that. i dont know what your trying to get across.
idiedromantic19 11 months ago
@kooper2 not so fast ! in the film there are many times when the characters confuse other characters for someone else, so the lawyer could have mistaken someone for paul Allen, thats why bret easton Ellis did the whole mistaken identity thing throughout the movie to make you think "huh maybe the lawyer made a mistake"
you arrogant prick !
jimbobhk2009 11 months ago
@idiedromantic19 That's a theory, but there are others and all are equally possible (none are proven). In the end you can't claim to be reasonable and say that bateman did, conclusively, kill people.
DUNKDAEXCESS 10 months ago
@DUNKDAEXCESS exactly. it's purposely left open to interpretation. now if you dont mind, i have to return some videotapes.
MrBiggaman 10 months ago 2
@DUNKDAEXCESS i guess,i just cant see how when the author of the book and the director of the film say both conclude 'this is what definitely happened' people still refute that. i love this movie, and i was confused about it all for a while too, but then i looked into it. i mean if its tuseday, its mother fucking tuseday why bother concocting that its thrusday? theres room for existentialism here within reason. you cant just existentialize concrete facts.
idiedromantic19 10 months ago
@idiedromantic19 Oh I didn't know the author confessed that bateman killed everyone. Nevermind then
DUNKDAEXCESS 10 months ago
@idiedromantic19 Where did you see this? Can you send me a link to both author and directors confessions. I'm just curious. I have seen differently. But I could have been misinformed.
tbranch74 9 months ago
@tbranch74 hummm, it was a special about the the making of it. i'll try and find it. but the author quote was along the lines of "i wanted it to be assumed that the killings were real" give me a few days.
idiedromantic19 9 months ago
Read the book..Bateman saw a beggar on the street, i poor girl if i remember correctly, so he took some money out of his wallet and placed it into the beggars cup. suddenly the beggar was a normal person sipping on her coffee. He was also stalked by walking park bench for a few blocks. Seriously, the world he was living in made him wacko. Truth is, everyone is like him in the book.. materialism and their ego make them crazy. So if Bateman did kill those people is hard to answer.
RedRiverChannel 10 months ago 2
@idiedromantic19 there is not any sign that he actually killed all those people, he has lost touch with life, he is superficial, narcissistic beyond credibility, this hallucinations and fantasies are an scape... Paul owen's wife does realize his disappearance...
M33GR0V 9 months ago
@idiedromantic19 but Paul Allen is in London, right? So that proves it was a hallucination??
SHIBBYiPANDA 9 months ago
@SHIBBYiPANDA It's not that it was an hallucination, more that it makes you think WAS it Paul he killed. If everyone else mistakes everyone...Is Patrick Bateman any different? He DID chop of someone's head...But was it Paul Alan? That's the question you are made to ask
feedmebug 9 months ago
@feedmebug haha interesting point...
SHIBBYiPANDA 9 months ago
@feedmebug hahahahaha OOOOOOOOOOOOOO like maybe the guy he went to dinner with and was calling Paul Allen was playing the same "I'm whoever you say I am you idiot" game Bateman was playing????
SHIBBYiPANDA 9 months ago
@SHIBBYiPANDA Exactly! Because they all do it! In the business card scene..They use the wrong names for each other..All of them do...Even Patrick does.
feedmebug 9 months ago
@SHIBBYiPANDA No, that was really Paul Allen, because we see his business card, his apartment and the detective HIS girlfriend hires.
ArchhereticK 8 months ago
@idiedromantic19 then how do you explain away the Paul Allen discrepency
SpiroHrvoje1989 8 months ago
@SpiroHrvoje1989 what discrepancy?
macarion 8 months ago
@idiedromantic19 Well, we don't know that for sure. It could be fantasies, yet all those things you said makes it possible that he really did kill everyone.
noyearold 7 months ago
@idiedromantic19 What about the apartment he kept the bodies in? When he returned there was no bodies, no police had been there and there were no signs of anyone removing them, almost as if they were never there to begin with.
Also: the "I had dinner with Paul Alan in London 10 days ago" thing makes it pretty clear that he didn't kill Paul, as Paul wasn't in the states at the time of the murder.
Squiglypig 7 months ago
@Squiglypig seriously, are people this short sighted?
"I had dinner with Paul Allen twice in London just ten days ago." This statement is coming from a lawyer that just mistook his own client (Bateman) as another individual (Davis). No one knows who's who in their world because everyone is essentially the same. The theme of "conformity" is apparent throughout the entire movie. The physical appearance of the actors, the business card scene titling everyone as Vice President, "Hip to be Square".
Roar5chach 7 months ago 2
@Squiglypig Actually the lady cleaned the house out and buried the whole thing. Having dead hookers in the apartment you're trying to sell DRASTICLY reduces it's selling power XD
Deemo202 7 months ago
@Deemo202 And what about the lawyer having dinner with Paul in London?
Squiglypig 7 months ago
@Squiglypig All throughout the book (and parts of the movie) people mistake someone for someone else. For instance his lawyer kept calling him Davis we know his name isn't Davis. Everyone is so full of themselves that they practically pay no attention to the people around him. That's why Patrick has that expression on his face after his lawyer says he had dinner with Allen 10 days ago. He didn't. He had dinner with a guy he thought was Allen. The face he makes when he says "No you-" says it all.
Deemo202 7 months ago
@idiedromantic19 so how did he have dinner with paul alen towice in londen ??
hamic13 7 months ago
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Fleishman322 6 months ago
Harold Carnes is a demon. He puts an unlit cigarette in his mouth at 0:24, and 3 seconds later it's lit, and he exhales smoke!
subhash91 1 year ago 3
After seeing this movie I feel the Joker is the normal one and Batman is a psycho killer.
TorgeistLLN 1 year ago 3
I always assumed that he didn't actually kill anyone. That all the murders were in his mind.
Abasuto 1 year ago
@Abasuto
I don't believe so. The message of the movie is that everyone is just selfish and egoistic. Did you not recognize that everyone was mistanken people for each other. Just watch the card scene, Bateman was mistanken for someone else. Exactly like this scene. No one care about each other. A narcissistic society.
sandeyboy 1 year ago
@Abasuto If you only saw the movie, I can understand why! You have to read the book to get the full effect of what this psychopath really did and how proud he was after it was over! One part he decapitates someone and holds an entire conversation with the severed head! Sick, sick, sick!
TheRockfan68 1 year ago
One thing we shouldn't overlook, is the very last scene, where Reagan is talking foreign policy and Bryce is saying something like "how can he be so normal, when..."
It's called *American* Psycho for a reason. This is about America-who really runs this country, how they really run it, and how hard it is to know exactly WHO really runs it. All we know is Wall St. is involved somehow.
TheJBomber has a good theory about how everyone covers it up FOR him, just because they all share interests.
IAMtheNewWorldOrder 1 year ago
And you know, maybe it isn't meant to be definitively understood. Most good art isn't. It's just Ellis' expression of the world we live in and the way people are and who runs it, it doesn't have to be a puzzle, or a riddle, just a sort of abstract painting that one figures out on their own.
IAMtheNewWorldOrder 1 year ago
"Why not you stupid bastard???????"
jc11xbox 1 year ago
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gablemalaise 1 year ago
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gablemalaise 1 year ago
The lawyer doesnt recognize Bateman, he thinks he's Davis. No one regonizes each other in the yuppie world and the lawyer also confuses Paul Allen with someone else. Bateman killed everyone.
Nick2703 1 year ago
6 people thought Bateman's message was a joke.
Hellblazer311 1 year ago
OMG... It even has a watermark
coryboy345 1 year ago
Lawyer and bateman are amazing at acting
Ironandtheshizzelz 1 year ago
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tkey3191 1 year ago
If I could murder people and never get caught I would be sooo happy.
Leatherbubba 1 year ago
@Leatherbubba
thats kinda sick, u should look into that.
Keldrath 1 year ago
@Keldrath Are you really crazy... or are you as good as you say you are?
Leatherbubba 1 year ago
@Leatherbubba
the only thing i am is confused
Keldrath 1 year ago
I chopped Allen's fucking head off!
IronFist3007 1 year ago
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IronFist3007 1 year ago
Take the e out of Batmeman and what do you get?
MLC192 1 year ago 2
@MLC192 batmman
BeardedClamMeister 1 year ago 9