Transcript note: This transcript is based on the original working script. It may contain production notes, draft wording, spelling mistakes or other material that differs from the finished video - these scripts were meant to be spoken, not read.

Patrick Bateman. Gone in the first five minutes.

Mila Kunis. A serial killer.

William Shatner. Her professor.

And somehow… this is called American Psycho 2.

Yeah. Let’s talk about it.

American Psycho is a 1991 novel by Bret Easton Ellis.

It is a bleak, razor-sharp satire of capitalism, masculinity and yuppie culture dressed up as a slasher novel.

It tells the story of Patrick Bateman - a charming investment banker who may, or may not, be a serial killer.

It quickly drew controversy.

Critics would call it violent and depraved from the off... which, frankly, only helped sales.

Despite being described by most as unfilmable, Hollywood wouldn’t miss a trick and decided to give it a shot anyway.

In 2000, American Psycho hit cinemas with Christian Bale as Patrick Bateman.

The film would soften some of the book’s more brutal edges - not because it lacked the nerve, but because certain scenes just didn’t belong on the screen.

And if you’ve ever read the book – you know what I’m talking about.

It didn’t blow up the box office. Critics were still unsure what to make of it.

And a lot of people just skipped it altogether.

But those who did see it found a smart, sharply made film.

Word spread – home video helped – and pretty quickly after that, it found its cult.

In the book world, American Psycho was a one-and-done.

There was no sequel.

Mr Ellis never wanted one.

But… Hollywood did.

At around the same time a potential sequel was being talked about, a screenplay called The Girl Who Wouldn’t Die was floating around.

It wasn’t connected to American Psycho - but someone, somewhere, decided it could be.

So they rewrote a few pages, and just like that: American Psycho 2 was born.

Yay.

The link?

Well – the new protagonist kills Patrick Bateman in the opening minutes and makes plans to become a killer themselves.

Yep, that’s the premise.

Nope, I’m not kidding.

It’s about as tenuous a link as you can get, I know.

As the film starts, a young girl recounts the night she met Patrick Bateman.

And when she does, he's not in a sleek Manhattan apartment or at a reservation-only restaurant.

No, he's in a random suburban home about to murder her babysitter.

Before he can finish the night and take her out, the girl fatally stabs him and, just like that -

Poof.

Patrick Bateman - gone in the first few minutes.

No ambiguity. No fanfare. Just a footnote in someone else’s origin story.

And it is an origin story - she calls it that herself - with her vow to find and eliminate the other serial killers roaming the street.

(And before anyone starts to wonder – this was before the first Dexter book had been released, never mind the TV show.)

After the opening credits roll, we find out the young girl is now known as Rachael Newman - and she’d look an awful lot like a young Mila Kunis.

She’s now grown up, in college, and studying criminology - her main aim is to get into the FBI to help in her crusade to find and hunt serial killers.

We know all of this because she likes to narrate as she goes…

(And, again, this was before Dexter.)

To accomplish her mission, she must become a Classroom Assistant to Professor Starkman - who looks a lot like William Shatner

This will then propel her to the job with the FBI that she so desperately wants.

Or so she thinks at least.

But, there are obstacles in her way. Classmate, people-shaped obstacles.

And to complicate matters even more, one of these obstacles is having an affair with the professor.

(And, yes - Ewww.)

Not being afraid of a bit of murder, Rachael sets about getting her dream job the only way she knows how.

Hard work.

Dedication.

Academic excellence.

Wait, no - sorry.

Murder.

She murders them all.

-

American Psycho 2 plays out like a weird hybrid of campus comedy, procedural thriller, and off-brand themed killer movie from the ‘90s.

It can’t decide what it wants to be.

Dark satire?

Slasher flick?

B-movie?

Who knows, I mean - Really. There's a good use for a comment section if ever I saw one.

Whichever it wants to be, what we end up with is something that bears absolutely no resemblance to American Psycho.

Sure, the body count ticks up - classmates, rivals, anyone mildly inconvenient - Rachael handles them all with calm precision.

But...

There’s no subtext.

No critique.

No doubt about what’s real and what isn’t.

She kills people - that’s the movie.

Tonally, the film feels like a TV pilot.

Everything almost feels implied - the murders all happen, but you don’t actually see them on screen, you just know they’re happening.

The music’s off, the editing’s erratic, the dialogue sounds like it was written as they filmed.

The film runs under 90 minutes in total, and yet it still manages to feel like they’ve padded it all out. It's, odd.

Mila Kunis, when asked by MTV, said she didn’t know it was going to be marketed as a sequel to American Psycho when she signed on.

She thought she was making a standalone thriller.

> “Please, somebody stop this. Write a petition. When I did the second one, I didn't know it would be 'American Psycho II.' It was supposed to be a different project, and it was re-edited, but, ooh ... I don't know. Bad.”

Bret Easton Ellis?

He wasn’t impressed either.

His only acknowledgements of the film seem to be ensuring that nobody thinks he had anything to do with it.

Can’t blame him, really.

The critics were savage.

Roger Ebert didn’t even review it.

Others were less polite - they didn’t just dislike it, they dismantled it.

I mean - even as a standalone movie, it would struggle.

Fans of the book were offended.

Fans of the original film were confused.

[sigh]

And - you know what? - I’ve been trying to ignore this… but

OK.

We’ve got Bateman, Newman, AND Starkman.

And when you get to the end of the film, you’ll see it’s directed by a Morgan J. Freeman.

(And - no - not that one.)

It’s a weird “manpocalypse.”

It's odd, it really is. Or, a total lack of imagination.

Right… it’s been bugging me, but that’s off my chest.

[clears throat]

So what does American Psycho 2 leave behind?

Well - just a reminder that sometimes, when a film ends…

just like a book, it should just stay, ended.

American Psycho 2 didn’t need to happen.

It wasn’t asked for, and it certainly wasn’t built to compare to its predecessor.

It took a film that had become a cult favourite, slapped a 2 on the end, and thought it had a licence to print money.

It didn’t.

Despite it being an early role for Mila Kunis, it didn’t really do her any damage - and she went on to become a star in her own right.

William Shatner’s star power was - well, who cares - he’s William Shatner. He can do whatever he wants.

And - for all we know - Jeff Lindsay saw American Psycho 2 and thought:

“Now there’s an idea…”

Which would be something, at least.

…Anyways, I’ve been Paul - and this has been Franchise, Flogged.