Many fans of the film American Psycho — which tells the story of a wealthy New York investment banker — probably don’t realise that there was a sequel to the 2000 release.
The original plot tells the tale of yuppie Patrick Bateman, who leads a double life as a sadistic serial killer in a superficial world that sees him indulging his violent urges in a bid to feel alive.
Set in the materialistic world of 1980s Wall Street, American Psycho follows a handsome and wealthy young man who hides a second life as a brutal and indiscriminate murderer.
It stars Christian Bale as the protagonist, Willem Dafoe as a police detective, and Jared Leto as one of Bateman’s coworkers, whom he later murders.
Reese Witherspoon also stars as Bateman’s fiance in the story, which is based on the 1991 novel by Bret Easton Ellis.
Off the back of the original film, the sequel was released two years later in 2002. American Psycho 2 (also known as American Psycho II: All American Girl) is a slasher film directed by American Morgan J Freeman.
The film also featured its own A-list stars, including William Shatner and Mila Kunis in one of her first main film roles. The sequel sees Kunis play a criminology student who seeks to advance her career by murdering classmates she sees as competition.
The screenplay for the film, entitled The Girl Who Wouldn’t Die, originally had no association with American Psycho. The script was then altered to connect the film with the original and was released direct-to-video on June 18, 2002.
The film was considered a flop, and Kunis later expressed regret for working on the picture. It was slated by critics and received just a 23 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
The sequel’s plot starts in early 1988, when a 12-year-old girl accompanies her babysitter on a date with serial killer Patrick Bateman. After Bateman kills and starts to dissect the babysitter, the girl kills him with an ice pick.
Fast forward several years, and the young girl, Rachael Newman, is now a college student studying criminology at a Washington university under Professor Starkman, played by Shatner.
Starkman is a former FBI agent in the film, and Rachael aspires to join the bureau. She’s desperate to be chosen as his teaching assistant she she believes it will be a stepping stone to being accepted into the FBI training facility at Quantico, Virginia.
American Psycho 2 was lambasted by critics. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, just 23 percent of 22 critics’ reviews are positive, with an average rating of 3.3/10.
One review says: « Lackluster and ill-conceived, American Psycho 2 ditches its predecessor’s clever satire in favor of shallow slasher tropes and unconvincing attempts at dark humor. »
You can watch American Psycho 2 in the UK by renting it on Amazon or Sky.
