"American Psycho" (2000), is based around high status business man,Patrick Bateman ,who gets a deranged pleasure out of killing innocent people. With trying to both keep from getting caught and getting a promotion at his fathers work, you see Patrick slowly unravel through panic and stress which leads to his ultimate downfall through his unhinged behaviour.
The opening shot is of a discoloured white, Keeping the audience's feelings and impressions in anticipation due to the lack of colour,and because of the white slightly tilting to a light grey, gives the seemingness of a grim and possibly dark theme. We then see a small drop of what appears to be blood falling in front of the white (seeming to possibly be a wall) with a sharp (what seems to be) violin note, Followed by two more droplets with the same note, giving the feeling of suddenness and gore.This particular shot was a building up moment as the audience could feel that something was going to happen to the white wall, and were waiting for it to happen, which gives off that impression for the entire film,waiting for that psychotic moment to happen because you know that it is coming.
Multiple other droplets are shown falling but to a classical song, giving off the impression of high culture. We finally see the droplets hit the white surface and splat around the title "American psycho", showing the audience that blood will spill, and onto this american psycho.
We then see a stream of the electric red pour down in front of the once again clear, white surface, showing that the blood that was spilt is quickly cleaned away, with no one noticing. After this we see the stream of red has been poured onto what is presumed to be a plate in a swirling pattern, revealing the liquid to be a sauce. With the intense music slowly changing into a calm and cheerful classical piece, the mood changes quickly from sinister to a more exuberant theme, Showing the audience that everything can seem innocent if you look at it a certain way.
We then see the first actors name displayed, whilst a knife is seen raising upwards past it, illustrating to the audience that this is the main character, due to what can be used as a deadly weapon displayed with his name. the name disappears and a piece of steak is shown, where what appears to be the same knife that was raised, is brought down in a sharp menacing way, with a piercing note played when it hits the piece of meat. Following this two raspberries are dropped down ,also like the droplets at the beginning of the sequence, sticking to the theme of red, onto the plate where the steak has gone from what seemed quite menacing, to an elegant appearance with garnishes and decoration. Giving off the effect that this could be a possible description of the main character, stripped down a sinister, threatening persona but when accessorised an attractive, pleasant character.
The plate is then picked up and carried out of shot from a grey table, cutting to a pink coloured table where it is then placed among other, fancily prepared dishes, which gives off the impression of wealth, as with the wine that is also seen in shot. Making the audience see that we will be seeing the upper class lifestyle. The camera then pans around other dishes and upwards to a couple, with a the woman wearing ,which the audience would deem to be, an expensive outfit, with her hair being gelled straight and in place,giving the impression of a well put together character, a fuchsia sequinned dress and large gold earrings, and the gentleman wearing a business suit, we can gather that the restaurant is very up-market, and attracts the higher status crowd. This is then further insinuated when the camera pans around the bottom half of the server/waiter, where we see the customers to who he is telling the menu to at a low angled shot. By not seeing the waiter when he speaks, it seems that the waiter is irrelevant and that he is only there to serve upon the wealthy, giving the impression that this would be the opinion of many in the film. Though we do see a low angled shot of the waiter's face still reciting the restaurants very detailed and unique menu, also making the meals sound very fancy and a cut above the rest, giving off the effect that the audience is in the customers seat, and therefore putting us at a higher status than the server.
Finally we focus on a group of three gentleman, They all seem very well put together dressed in business attire with sleek hair do's, Illustrating, That the men are wealthy, and that they are organised and intelligent. As the men seem to be bickering and inquisitive about others, and seeming distracted about what's going on around them,they seem to have been thrown into a friendship that they don't really care about, making the audience feel that the men are either using each other either for information with something possibly for work, or be each others allies which also fits into the work category. With the camera not focusing on one particular character we don't really gather who the main character is, leaving the audience curious as none of the men seem to be psychotic, but that's how the film wants you to think as the psycho is someone who is playing the part of a normal man, when behind it all, is a homicidal maniac. The lighting doesn't help either, as we can see bright colours with normal sunlight, showing the sense of simplicity and normality, This leaves the audience waiting in anticipation to see the sudden change from reality to a sick and menacing act.
Through just the opening of the film , I could sense the thriller, horror and satire of this film, as you could see both the horror and thriller when the opening credits just started but seemed playful and comical when it is viewed to be harmless, almost making fun of the crime that is to occur in the film. The audience would be able to feel mixed emotions at this point , and to what degree of each emotion is only guessable as you cannot predict this film from the get go other than some evil things will occur, but to what extent and the explanation to why isn't predictable at all.
I thought this film overall was comical, exhilarating and horrid all at once, which illustrated Patrick's personality perfectly, he had so many emotions and could snap so easily, giving the impression of possible schizophrenia, which is one of the reasons for his unthinkable acts, as it must have taken a complete mentalist with dozens of problems to have committed the psychotic crimes that he carried out.
