Patrick Bateman
The Strange Case of Patrick Bateman is a 2001 novella serving as the prequel American Psycho. A re-imagining of the famed novella Doctor Jekyll and Mister Winkler the Gay, it's primarily a biography covering how Christian Bale Patrick Bateman became a serial killer. When it was released in bookstores and libraries the day before 9/11, it was ignored by much. However, nowadays, Christian Bale Patrick Bateman has garnered a cult following...in the literal sense.
Characters[edit | edit source]
Patrick Bateman[edit | edit source]
The main character of this novella, Bateman is an outlet for Christian Bale to say inappropriate things to people, have threesomes with prostitutes, and kill Jared Leto and almost anyone else who annoys him. To this day, no one can figure out that Bateman and Bale are the same person. This is due to Christian's chameleon acting abilities. On other days, Christian Bale can be a futuristic cleric with awesome Gun-Kata skills, Batman (but not the gay one), a machinist, or someone who bangs Emily Watson, Natasha McElhone, or Kate Beckinsale.
Everyone Else[edit | edit source]
As only Bateman matters, trying to describe any of the other characters in the novella would be wasting precious time. All of them don't do much except being murdered by Patrick. These include Paul Allen, Jean, Evelyn Williams, Luis Carruthers, Timothy Bryce, Mrs. Wolfe, Courtney Lawrence, Marcus Halberstram, Christie, Detective Donald Kimball, David Van Patten, Sabrina, Harold Carnes and at least 50 others.
Plot[edit | edit source]
There is a plot, but it mainly follows Bateman killing people. That's the neat thing about slasher films, you don't need a plot. However, if you want a run-down of the novel's events, then you'll be pleased to know that it does exist.
In the beginning of the novella, we see a young baby born in 1977 to two pureblood Welsh hippies, as a squib. Sadly, Bateman murders them both a few hours later, with the Bee Gees' "Stayin' Alive" allegedly being played by the parents as this occurs. Living as an orphan in a British orphanage which is conveniently where Voldemort was raised, Bateman wasn't interested in magic, primarily choosing to become an banker.
Bateman's dream was soon realized, as he was one of the only students in his entire school who understood economics, banking, and Reaganomics, and when he was only 15, got a degree in economics. Despite being the valedictorian of the school, he still murdered all of the other students, just in case. Moving into America, he adopted a perfect American accent, shedding all connections to Wales.
Now, we follow him in his banking career, and I think you know how this goes. Bateman murders people, they don't believe he done it, he thinks about his life, then murders more people. Oddly enough, the movie cuts to a few month later, ending with Bateman entering the World Trade Center on 9/11, talking to a Saudi man about airplanes on his cellphone.
Legacy[edit | edit source]
When it was released in bookstores and libraries the day before 9/11, it was immediately taken off those places due to 9-11 occurring the day after. As a result, the CIA meant to personally got rid of all the people who worked on the movie. However, when they learned Christian Bale was the mastermind. they mysteriously cancelled their investigation.
For years, the novella was neglected, making Bale & Simpson, the company which made the book, lose almost $3 million. They later found some success with If I Did It: Confessions of the Killer, a book documenting how OJ Simpson would killed his wife and her little friend too...hypothetically of course. It temporarily got onto the news cycle every time Christian Bale did something that could only be described as "bat fuck insane". but after Bale stopped doing this in 2019, it faded into irrelevance again.
This was until some YouTuber named Lily Simpson done a review of the book, rightfully tearing it apart for the misogyny and constant themes of murder. However, now pricks like Andrew Tate, that dude you saw on TikTok, as well as that dude you saw on YouTube all follow the book almost like a bible.
See also[edit | edit source]
