Film fans, get your business cards at the ready as Christian Bale’s iconic American Psycho has finally been added to Netflix UK.
The controversial flick, an adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis’ novel, was set in 1987 and first released in 2000 – it quickly became a cult classic despite a grim plot.
Christian expertly led the cast with his stint as Patrick Bateman, alongside Reese Witherspoon, Jared Leto, Justin Theroux and Chloe Sevigny.
However, things aren’t quite as they seem and the creepy, image-obsessed investment banker leads a double life as a deranged serial killer, routinely killing people and dismembering their bodies.
It was added to the Netflix slate in the US in July and, as of today, has been released on the UK version, meaning viewers can now watch on in horror.
Despite the star-studded cast, many slammed director Mary Harron’s adaptation when it was first released on the big screen and it only has a 68% review score on Rotten Tomatoes, compared to an audience score of 85%.
Kristy Stouse from In Their Own League suggested: ‘There are times where this film is satire at its best. It’s also horrific, violent and stomach-turning.’
Joe Leydon of Film Scouts agreed: ‘There is little here to recommend, and quite a bit to despise.’
BDK reviews’ Kevin McCarthy said that it ‘makes you laugh uncomfortably throughout and you just walk away feeling disgusted’, but also described it as an ‘underrated masterpiece’.
While Susan Granger from rec.art.movies.reviews. vowed: ‘I wish I hadn’t seen it.’
Although he starred in a string of hits before the satirical horror was released, American Psycho is still considered to be one of Christian’s breakthrough roles.
He then went on to appear in the Machinist, the Prestige, American Hustle, Vice and as Batman in Christopher Nolan’s highly acclaimed trilogy.
Unpacking the part in a 2022 chat with GQ, he confessed that he feared his house would be repossessed because he was earning so little at the time.
‘I’d taken so long trying to do it, and they had paid me the absolute minimum they were legally allowed to pay me,’ he said. ‘And I had a house that I was sharing with my dad and my sister and that was getting repossessed.
‘So the first thing was: “Holy crap. I’ve got to get a bit of money,” because I’ve got American Psycho done, but I remember one time sitting in the make-up trailer and the make-up artists were laughing at me because I was getting paid less than any of them.
‘And so that was my motivation after that. It was just: “I got to get enough that the house doesn’t get repossessed.”’
When asked whether his salary for the film was due to the nature of the storyline or his position in the industry, Christian added: ‘It was the nature of me in it. Nobody wanted me to do it except the director. So they said they would only make it if they could pay me that amount.
‘I was prepping for it when other people were playing the part. I was still prepping for it. And, you know, it moved on. I lost my mind. But I won it back.’
This story was first published on July 1.
American Psycho is available to stream on Netflix now.
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