American Psycho

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Mary Harron directs. Andrzej Sekula behind the camera. John Cale scores. Andrew Marcus cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in Canada, United States of America. Dialogue in English, Spanish, Cantonese.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 1Made its money back 4.9× over at the box office.
• 226 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
• 3Dialogue crosses 3 languages: English, Spanish, Cantonese.
• 4International production across 2 countries: Canada, United States of America.
• 5Part of the "American Psycho Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
• 6Directed by Mary Harron, shot by Andrzej Sekula. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
• 7Original score by John Cale. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
• 8Editor Andrew Marcus shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 9Christian Bale and Justin Theroux and Josh Lucas carry the top of the cast.
• 10Marketing tagline: "Killer looks.".
• 11IMDB entry: tt0144084 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
• 1212,828 TMDB user ratings logged — serious cultural footprint.
• 13Classified under 21 themes, including "new york city", "based on novel or book", "businessman", "psychopath".
• 14Released under 11 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography

Andrzej Sekula

Original score

John Cale

Editing

Andrew Marcus

Production design

Gideon Ponte

Costume design

Isis Mussenden

Makeup / hair

John Quaglia

Sound

Paul Urmson

Stunt coordinator

Matt Birman

Runtime

102 min · 1h 42m

Aspect ratio (typical)

1.37:1 (Academy)

Status

Released

Budget

$7,000,000

Box office

$34,269,748

Return

490% of budget

Original language

EN

Certification (US)

R

IMDB

American Psycho (2000) ↗

Part of

American Psycho Collection

American Psycho is a cult psychological thriller and satirical film. The film focuses on Wall Street yuppie Patrick Bateman, whose mental instability and bloodlust lead him to serial killing. A direct-to-video spin-off, American Psycho II: All American Girl, was not based on the novel or the original film, as its only connection with the original is the death of Patrick Bateman, briefly shown in a flashback. However, the sequel continues the pattern in the first film of featuring a series of graphic deaths of colleagues and friends of the main character.

• 
  American Psycho

  2000 · this one
• 
  American Psycho II: All American Girl

  2002

Also by

Mary Harron

• 
  Six Feet Under

  2001 · ★ 8.1
• 
  Homicide: Life on the Street

  1993 · ★ 8.1
• 
  Oz

  1997 · ★ 8.0
• 
  Constantine

  2014 · ★ 7.7
• 
  The L Word

  2004 · ★ 7.7
• 
  Graceland

  2013 · ★ 7.2

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

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Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

• 

  ▶
  Celebrating 25 Years of AMERICAN PSYCHO with Mary Harron | TIFF

  Featurette
• 

  ▶
  'Patrick Bateman Spares His Assistant' Scene

  Clip · Official
• 

  ▶
  'Patrick Bateman Gets Revenge' Scene

  Clip · Official
• 

  ▶
  'Comparing Business Cards' Scene

  Clip · Official
• 

  ▶
  Trailer

  Trailer · Official
• 

  ▶
  American Psycho - Trailer

  Trailer · Official

Community reviews

What people are saying

• Andre Wilfred Sanders2023-04-02
  ★ 7/10

  A detailed explanation of the wealthy Americans on Wall Street It is one of the most important films during the last 20 years and one of the powerful movie that left an impact on American cinema. The film talks about a hysterical, insane, murderous character who herself is a character who realizes from within that she is a murderer and describes herself with important dialogue sentences that talk about the nature of the character in the voice of the hero himself. Patrick Bateman was a thug who wanted to convey his suffering to others, and he did not see that no one had a future. He did not show any good feelings to anyone, because his suffering wanted to convey it to everyone around him, while he was without emotion and did not desire anything but hatred and hatred for everyone. It was these sentences at the beginning and end of the movie that were a complete description of the character. The director wanted to show the viewers the nature of Wall Street work and who works inside it in the old periods of this time, and all their concern and only goal was appearances and pretending with suits, glasses and cards that they made for themselves. Acting was at the highest level from Christian Bale. Acting was the distinguishing element in the work, in addition to music. The idea of ​​linking musical or romantic works with a murderer was unique

  Read full review ↓
• Nathan2023-05-15
  ★ 9/10

  I want be Patrick Bateman, well without the sociopathic tendencies and the murder, but his workout routine, apartment, and job are cool... Jokes aside, this movie bangs, literally and metaphorically. Christian Bale is great. The cast is stacked. Cool imagery, fantastically paced, and some wild turns the had me baffled. Score: 90% Verdict: Excellent

  Read full review ↓
• Andre Gonzales2023-07-17
  ★ 6/10

  Well it's definitely what the title says he's a american psycho. That's an understatement. Really good movie.

  Read full review ↓

Production companies

Who made it

• 

  Lionsgate

  US

• 

  Pressman Film

  US

• 

  Muse Productions

  US

• CH

  Christian Halsey Solomon Productions

Key crew

• ProducerChristian Halsey Solomon
• ProducerChris Hanley
• NovelBret Easton Ellis
• ProducerEdward R. Pressman
• Set DecorationJeanne Develle
• EditorAndrew Marcus
• Production DesignGideon Ponte
• Costume DesignIsis Mussenden
• First Assistant CameraJayson Clute
• ADR Voice CastingSondra James
• Negative CutterCatherine Rankin
• Color TimerChris Hinton
• First Assistant DirectorAndrew Shea
• Third Assistant DirectorCassandra Cronenberg
• Supervising Dialogue EditorFred Brennan
• Camera TraineeMarcel Janisse
• Best Boy ElectricMark Cowden
• Second Assistant DirectorJennifer Deathe
• Key GripChris Faulkner
• Foley MixerAndrew Tay
• Dolly GripStewart Grayburn
• Assistant Production ManagerKeitha M. Redmond
• Second Assistant CameraSteve Mrkobrada
• Foley MixerRon Mellegers

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• new york city
• based on novel or book
• businessman
• psychopath
• dark comedy
• satire
• wall street
• serial killer
• chainsaw
• big city
• psychological thriller
• character study
• white collar
• harvard business school
• voice imitation
• 1980s
• american businessman
• bloody
• ambiguity
• psychological horror
• horror

Release history · US

When it landed

• Premiere2000-01-21· Sundance Film Festival
• Theatrical2000-04-14R
• Theatrical2026-10-16R· Welcome to Horrorwood
• Physical2025-12-09NR· 25th Anniversary 4K Ultra HD Collector's Edition / VHS (Lionsgate Limited)

Also known as

International titles

• 美国杀人狂CN
• Амерички психоRS
• アメリカン・サイコJP
• Kẻ Sát Nhân Cuồng TínVN
• Amerikan PsixiAZ
• Psicópata americanoAR
• 아메리칸 싸이코KR
• Ամերիկյան ԽելագառAM
• Psicópata AmericanoCL
• Psicópata AmericanoMX
• Psicopata AmericanoES