American Psycho

It’s difficult to imagine a more contentious premise for a film than Bret Easton Ellis's cult satirical novel of '80s excesses and misogyny, American Psycho.

Writer-director Mary Harron delivered a highly-stylised, often surreal version of the text which toned down the violence. Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale) is a Wall Street financier whose killer instincts in the City merge into his personal life as he hacks his way through his female companions; he consumes women as he does expensive meals, fast cars, and sharp suits.

Dark, grim and at times disturbingly funny, American Psycho holds a magnifying glass to the decade where appearance and wealth were the virtues of the day.