Hi, I'm new here so, if this has already been discussed - sorry. I finally want to go and get American Psycho - unrated - on DVD and find that it has been pulled from the market. I was told by the clerk at a store that a new SE versin of the movie will be out soon. Is this true? Anybody know when? Or shoud I just seek the pulled copy online? Thanks!

You can get an unrated copy from Playcentric for 13 bucks. Nothing is different from the US version expect the cover. I thought the transfer, even for Lion's Gate, was great!

nope its temporary unavailable

I'm sure they will rerelease it as a Signature Series dvd.

Though their is only a 10 second difference between the R & Unrated. Again proving how dumb the MPAA is..since the uncut version could easily get a R!


Now had they been true to the novel. Then a NC-17 would be reasonable in my eyes since it is really explicit in every department. Yet the movie is G rated compared to the novel.

This is so true.

I watched the film and THEN read the book later, and it's very safe to say that the book just blew the movie away.

Then again, do you really think a film company would have gotten away with a true depiction of the book? I can imagine the complaints now.... LOL

A movie that literally (and graphically) depicted all the novel's events could never be made. If someone actually had the balls to make such a version, no one would be brave enough to risk prosecution releasing it, theatrically or on video. (but if you liked the movie, do yourself a favor and read the book! Its heavy going at times, but worth it)

Well if i ever get into filmmaking.I would LOVE to attempt a true adaption of the novel & not play it safe at all

I think Lions Gate would be up for all the controversy.Afterall they released Irreversible which is very explicit..& also releasing House of 1000 Corpses which Universal dumped claiming it was to 'controversial' for them.


Anyway i read the book first & just loved it.Thus when i saw the film. I was horrified at how sanatized & condensed it was. I would go so far as to say it was a worse adaption than Less Than Zero(!) since that barely resembles the book expect in name only. My other main gripe with the film other than it's going overboard to not offend anyone was that it left out so many great & important scenes from the book!

Stuff like Batemans escape to the Hampstons for the summer only to realize his urge to kill won't go away...& many other great scenes.

It's just my opinion of course & i even know how to get by the graphic scenes. Show much of it,yet also leave alot up to the imagination via various camera angles where you see a tiny bit of whats going on,yet mostly hear it & thus makes it seem even more horrifying..though alittle more tolerable than showing every tiny detail.

It would still get a NC-17 of course which i don't mind since i don't want to sanatize it durring filming aiming for a R rating. That would just ruin the film.


Though i do think a true adaption is possible. You just have to have the guts to do it & really get what the novels about rather than trying to not offend anyone. You need to go all out. Thats also what made the book so hilarious. Some of the dialogue & just plain ignorance of the charecters while offensive was just laugh out loud hilarious.


I can't praise the book enough. Yet most people can't handle it at all. True is it also very disturbing. Yet read the whole thing rather than stopping in fear...as it's quite a experiance.

I dont think any of Easton Ellis's novels get the treatment they deserve in film adaptations.

I just watched Rules of Aggression lately, and I'm still in shock as to how crap it was. I remember the book being much better.

I have'nt read Rules yet,though did read all of Ellises other novels.

So of course i was completely disgusted with the Less Than Zero & AP adaptions.

I did see Rules...& did enjoy it actually. Of course once i read the book. I'll see how the two compare. I'm sure plenty of stuff was changed & so on..but from what some have told me. It was about 80% true to the book,which seems alot higher than i can say for his other adaptions.


Now i know books can't be adapted 100% true to the source for time & pacing reasons. Yet i wish they would at least try.

Heck i like the Salems Lot tv movie despite the fact that it's different than the book. They are both really good.


Yet being a huge fan of Ellis & AP being one of my all time favorite books. I was literally revolted with what they did to the book in the adaption process. They could have made a goreless version that was just as effective as the book if they didn't leave out so many great scenes like the Hamptons chapter among many others. Then i would be alittle more pleased with the movie.


Speaking of which. The Olvier Stone version of AP may have been much truer to the source than the current version. I read alittle of the first couple pages of the script which was on either Avary's site or something. Anyway since i'm on webtv,it would'nt download the whole script which was not divided into pages,but just one long miles upon miles scroll.So of course it would'nt all fit.

Yet i was pleased with what i read though. Basically it started out exactly like the book with a few additions giving you a glimpse of the city & it's occupants.

Another important aspect dropped from the current version which also really pissed me off. Was the piles of bums rotting away on the streets with nowhere to go,as the rich get richer & the poor get tossed out on the streets in piles upon piles(this is also in the OS script!). The book just had that really claustriphobic city being overrun feel to it that was great..& yet all this awsome unsettling atmosphere was missing in the movie!





So sorry for going on. Whenever the movies brought up. I just have to praise the book since it's something everyone should read at least once. Especially when people keep telling me how excellent the film is..that just makes me cringe.

to answer your question i believe Lions Gate are planning on doing an American Psycho: Signature Series DVD at some point in the future...

I personally thought the movie was very thought-provoking, and was a great send-up of the "me" decade of excess, Reaganomics, and drugs. I thought the book was needlessly violent, and is in fact the only book I have ever put down in disgust(please keep in mind that Stephen King is my favorite writer). I much prefer the movie to the book, probably the only time I will ever say that.

Lions Gate definatly seems to be turning into the new studio with balls. I'm so psyched for House of 1000 Corpses.

I have been waiting almost 2 YEARS to see House of 1000 Corpses. I love Rob Zombie and all the music videos he's directed, so naturally I can't wait to see what he does with a feature-length movie.

Since I don't have any immediate plans on readin the novel, would anyone care to let me know some examples of what's so graphic in it? Thanks.

If I was to do that I'd probably be banned in 10 minutes

True. They picked up Dogma for theatrical release when Miramax decided it was too "controversial" for them.

If any company would back a film of American Psycho that was 100% faithful to the book I guess it would be them. But I know for a fact that it would never play in Canada at least. No film board here would approve a film that would depict so much graphic violence toward women. I imagine that Lions Gate would have trouble finding theatres in the US willing to exhibit it as well.

And I don't really think we can discuss the scenes from the book in detail here (I don't want to be banned either ). There's been some theories that these scenes in the book are just Patrick Bateman's fantasies and don't really happen, just because they are SO over the top and intricately detailed.

Girl. Tube. Cheese. Rat. Chainsaw.

Thanks for the info, all. For some reason I can't wait, so I'll track down the current unavailable DVD. I also saw tha movie before I read the book. I can see where a fan of the book would be disappointed in the film, but think about it. THe movie was pretty audacious in what it tried to do. I don't see how you could get the book onscreen without being savaged and unemployable until the movie was recognized for being "visionary". That could be a long time. For the uninitiated, the book's scenes were so gory and over the top and outrageously funny, that one would have to put the book down from time to time and decide if it was OK to laugh or not. WILD BOOK!!!

Man, its been over 5 years since I read the book last, but will never forget that scene.

If i made the film..the chainsaw/rat sequence would be in it That would really have people reaching for the barf bag or bolting for the exit(if they made it that far).

I also missed them cutting out the catching of the rat sequence in the book. I thought it was just hilarious as Batemans on the phone..& then sees this rat that comes out of nowhere & he's like "what the hell?"..& then of course catches it,starves it,tortures it..& then later on lets it loose durring the infamous chainsaw sequence.

+ I like that the book was so challenging & such a endurance test(i did have to skim over bits of the gory parts as it started becoming to much for me to handle..yet i absolutely loved the book when all is said & done). So if people don't get it now(a true adaption that is)..they may later on if they watch it with a open mind.

Then again the book was probably the most memorable thing i've ever read as it completely changed the way i look at things such as big business & all that. A really wicked satire that will piss alot of people off..since it tears apart the so called 'good life'.

As good as Ellis's other novels where. AP is without a doubt his masterpiece & highly recomended for all to read(if you dare).


+ i should point out to all the people who trash the book for being 'overly gruesome & disgusting'. When all is said & done. Their is very little violence in the book. Yes he goes all out when the murder scenes do hit,yet they are spread out so far apart from each other than they take up very little space of the actual book. Their is so much more going on in it. Heck it takes 130 pages to get to the first murder scene with the bum(much more gruesome than the movie version of the scene). Then it takes nearly 100 more pages for the next murder/torture scene.

+ as disgusting & to much to handle as those scenes where. They were a important aspect of Batemans personality & journey through madness & beyond. Since at first he seems to enjoy killing...yet near the end durring the infamous rat sequence & stuff that happens after. He finds it boring,usual & cliche as with everything else in his life..yet still can't seem to stop.

Again this aspect was cut practially out of the film in whole,besides a rushed explanation near the end.

Even if i had'nt had high expectations for the film since after reading all the articles i would have still been disapointed. The director stating while they are not making a gorefest.they are being true to the novel. I was interested in seeing the film thinking "hmm they seem to know what they're doing"...& when i finally saw the film. I was let down in the extreme.


Yet to me. The movie is for everyone who hasn't read or didn't like the novel.

Heh, elaborate on that scene, no reason you should be banned for describing something, regardless of its gore. And wasn't the book written by a woman? And they say that men are the crazy ones.

The gore wouldn't really be the problem, the sexual violence would. Also, although the film adaptation was directed by a woman, the novel itself was written by a man.

Well i'll explain the rat sequence in as not as graphic as possible.

After a unsucessful attempt at shoving a tube into a womens private area. He gets it in their after smearing cheese among other stuff on it. I think glass came in handy as well durring the scene yet i have'nt read the book in awhile.

Then he lets loose the starved rat which goes through the tube & into the women as she screams in pain. Then it described how you can see the rat moving around inside her. Some other stuff may have gone on as well. Then Bateman takes a chainsaw & slices her clean in half from the waist while shes still alive kicking & screaming...& then she finally dies as her severed legs twitch for a moment. The rat is still alive & comes out of the opening..where Bateman then squashes it like a big splattered it to pieces with his foot.

Of course it's described much more graphicly than this. So please don't ban me. Was only being helpful since someone requested the info!

My bad, got them mixed up.

So i'm still wondering...what's coming out on May 20th? Is it simply a re-release of the unrated version via Lion's Gate?

Would they bother doing that when they're possibly putting out a SE soon?