American Psycho
Mahoning Drive-In Theater - Lehighton, PA
Last night, the Mahoning kicked off their new Modern Marvels series. The fact that American Psycho is nearly a quarter century old and is being considered modern should give you an idea of what this film series is all about. With each passing year, we get further away from the release dates of films that we might not consider all that old. Every movie will be considered retro eventually, and the Modern Marvels series feels like a way to capture that moment when a movie crosses over into retro film territory.
Mahoning Drive-In Theater - Lehighton, PA
Last night, the Mahoning kicked off their new Modern Marvels series. The fact that American Psycho is nearly a quarter century old and is being considered modern should give you an idea of what this film series is all about. With each passing year, we get further away from the release dates of films that we might not consider all that old. Every movie will be considered retro eventually, and the Modern Marvels series feels like a way to capture that moment when a movie crosses over into retro film territory.
The 35mm print of American Psycho that we got to see was the uncut version of the film that was shown theatrically in Europe when it was first released. There's less than a minute of additional footage, but it's still pretty cool to have had the opportunity to see a version of this film on the big screen that theaters in the United States didn't get to show during it's original theatrical run.
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I haven't watched American Psycho since I brought it home as a rental from the new release wall at Hollywood Video. It didn't leave much of an impression on me the first time, and if I'm being completely honest, it didn't really click with me last night either. It's not that I didn't enjoy watching it. The performances are all great and the soundtrack is incredible, but while I found the story to be engaging, it didn't connect with me in any real way, and I can't say that this second screening inspired me to think of this movie as a modern classic. I think it's a pretty good satire of 80's yuppie culture; an above average film, but not something I'd call outstanding or thought-provoking.
Incidentally, I'm in the camp of folks who believe that Patrick Bateman is imagining most of the events that take place in this film and that he's never actually killed anyone. The way that he looks at his gun when a few shots somehow manage to blow up three police cars, and the ATM asking him to feed it a stray cat are dead giveaways. He's crazy, but it's all in his head. It's the only explanation in which this story makes any sense at all.
