10 Horror Movies Where The American Dream Becomes A Nightmare

If They Live took on the Me Decade during its dying days, American Psycho was able to take a sharper swipe at the Gordon Gekko-led naked greed and ambition with a decade’s distance. Mary Harron’s film is a stylish, increasingly baffling descent into madness led most memorably by Christian Bale’s star-making turn.

A seldom-better Bale plays Patrick Bateman, the yuppie’s yuppie. He’s a slick, handsome investment banker with an eye for detail; from his skincare routine to his clothes to his business cards, everything is meticulously designed with an eye on moving up the corporate and social ladder.

Unfortunately, that drive and desire has come at a price: he has become so obsessed with materialism and status that he has lost any kind of connection with normality. As the title suggests, Bateman is an unrepentant killer. He’s a particularly white collar ‘80s murderer, though, taking cutthroat boardroom behaviour to the extreme - i.e taking an axe to his workplace rivals.

The film - less explicitly than Bret Easton Ellis’ source novel - gives us the indication that the murders may be taking place only in Bateman’s head. In a way, this is more scary still - Bateman reflects the hidden psychopath lurking in any ruthlessly ambitious sort.