- "There is an idea of a Patrick Bateman, some kind of abstraction—but there is no real me; only an entity, something illusory. And though I can hide my cold gaze, and you can shake my hand and feel flesh gripping yours and maybe you can even sense our lifestyles are probably comparable: I simply… am not… there."
- ―Patrick's infamous monologue
Patrick Bateman is the titular main villainous protagonist of Bret Easton Ellis's 1991 controversial novel American Psycho and its film and stage adaptations, as well as a posthumous antagonist in the metafictional mock memoir Lunar Park. He lives in 1980s Manhattan and works at Wall Street. The very image of a yuppie, he is obsessed with his health, cleanliness, appearance, money and music collection; however, he has a darker side, as he is also a serial killer, rapist, cannibal, and necrophile.
In the 2000 film, he was portrayed by Christian Bale, who also played Walter Wade Jr. in Shaft; in the West End musical adaptation, he was portrayed by Matt Smith, who also played Mr. Clever in Doctor Who, T-5000 in Terminator Genisys, Jack in Last Night in Soho and Milo Morbius in Morbius.
Biography[]
In the film[]
At one point, he met Paul Allen, who works at another firm. He lures him to his apartment, where Bateman kills him with an axe because he was handling an account that Bateman wanted. He then disposes of the body, breaks into Allen's apartment, packs his clothes into a suitcase, and rerecords the answering machine's greeting to say that Allen has left for London. Later, he picks up two prostitutes, giving them his name as Paul Allen, brings them to his apartment, and has sex with both of them, while videotaping it. Just as they are about to leave, he opens a drawer full of sharp tools, takes out a coat-hanger, and growls "We're not finished yet." The prostitutes are bruised and bleeding by the time he lets them leave.
A few days later, he picks up one of the same two prostitutes, phones up a lady friend of his, and brings them to Paul Allen's apartment. He drugs their wine and gets them to make out. He then cuts up his friend with a chainsaw and sticks the body parts in the closet. He ends up chasing the prostitute out into the hallway and she makes it down the stairs ahead of him. Bateman drops the chainsaw over the edge, which hits and kills the prostitute.
Several nights later, Bateman is at the ATM when it flashes the message "FEED ME A STRAY CAT". He picks up a stray cat and pulls out his gun, but an old woman sees him and cries out. Bateman drops the cat and shoots down the old woman. Two police cars roll in with sirens blaring, and Bateman unloads his gun at them, causing the cars to explode. Bateman flees to his office, where he calls up his lawyer and leaves a message confessing everything.
Bateman awakes the next morning and is surprised that the cops are not looking for him. He goes to Allen's apartment, only to find that it is completely empty and up for sale. He goes to work and then goes for a drink with some coworkers. He meets his lawyer there, who compliments Bateman on his great "gag". When Bateman insists that he killed Paul Allen, his lawyer balks, saying that Allen called him from London the night before. Bateman has an epiphany: that the punishment and notoriety he craves will forever elude him, and he is trapped in a meaningless existence—"THIS IS NOT AN EXIT".
Death[]
Non-canon[]
In the non-canon sequel to the movie American Psycho 2, “Rachel Newman” killed Bateman when he killed her babysitter.
Chelsea gave him the Dull Machete because it was disrespectful to the iconic Character.
Victims[]
American Psycho (2000)[]
- Sidewalk Woman - Killed offscreen
- Al - Stabbed repeatedly in gut
- Paul Allen - Chopped repeatedly w/ axe
- Model from Club - Beheaded offscreen
- Coat Closet Girl #1 - Killed offscreen and hung up in closet
- Coat Closet Girl #2 - Killed offscreen and hung up in closet
- Graffiti Gal - Killed offscreen
- Elizabeth - Drugged and stabbed (?) to death
- "Christie" - Hit w/ falling chainsaw
- Elderly Woman - Shot in chest
- Cop #1 - Gunned down
- Cop #2 - Caught in car explosion
- Cop #3 - Caught in car explosion
- Cop #4 - Caught in car explosion
- Security Guard - Gunned down on the job
- Janitor - Gunned down on the job
American Psycho 2: All American Girl (2002)[]
- Woman in Freezer - Head seen in freezer right off the goddamn bat
- Clara - Chewed to death? I don't know
Trivia[]
- He is prone to hallucinations and fits of psychosis, and the film leaves it ambiguous whether the plot actually occurs, or is simply a figment of his crazed imagination. For instance, at least some of the rampage occurring at the end of the movie is likely conceived by Bateman, as an ATM would never ask someone to feed it a "stray cat", and a single pistol would never be able to explode two police cars. Also, at the end of the movie, Bateman's lawyer does not take his confession seriously, despite Bateman's seriousness, and the horrendous details Bateman specified on phone. Despite this, there is no concrete proof that Bateman did never murder; for example, the murder of the homeless Al is realistic and highly plausible. Whether if all homicides depicted in the adaptations are his sadistic fantasies, if some of them are true while the others are in Bateman's head, or if every homicide is true, remains unknown.
- It is more likely, however, that the murders indeed happened and that the ambiguity instead stems from the extent to which Bateman's environment is aware of his crimes and whether they were covered up deliberately or simply out of cluelessness; this may at least apply to the novel version, which is more so themed around the apathy and dehumanization of overly consumerist and materialist environments (such as 1980s yuppie culture) that would bring about whatever mental illness Bateman may be afflicted with in the first place.
- According to Bret Easton Ellis, he himself was a disgruntled, socially alienated consumerist not too unlike Bateman and had been enveloped in such a lifestyle to the extent that it was the source of his inspiration and knowledge of yuppie culture while writing the novel, thus making leeway for the work and its commentary to be all the more scathing. Fittingly, he was also the same age as the character in the process of writing it. ]