10 Slasher Horror Movie Characters Who Were Seconds Away From Dying
2. Jean - American Psycho
Unhinged yuppie serial killer Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale) murders a whole lot of people throughout American Psycho - if you take the movie at face value, at least - yet one incredibly lucky near-victim is Bateman's secretary Jean (Chloë Sevigny).
Jean is one of the few decent characters we meet throughout the story - a rare innocent person in Bateman's circle who he nevertheless invites over to his apartment with the intent of butchering her.
While Jean, who has serious feelings for Patrick, sits on his sofa nervously having a drink, she has no idea that Patrick has grabbed a nail gun and is holding it mere inches away from her head behind her.
Patrick literally places his finger on the nail gun's trigger, ready to squeeze it, when he's interrupted by a voicemail message from his fiancée Evelyn (Reese Witherspoon), at which point he's totally thrown off his game and thinks better of slaughtering his kindly secretary.
A rare moment of compassion from Patrick? Not so much. Had Evelyn not left that well-timed message, he clearly would've painted his apartment with Jean's brains.