American Psycho (2000)

"American Psycho" the film is a completely different beast from the novel and the two mediums should never be compared. They both have something unique to offer and the book has aspects that couldn't be transferred to a movie. The film does take some aspects from the novel and finds a clever way of inserting them into the movie, such as having the main character Patrick Bateman talk about his views on the different musical performers from the 1980's to his soon-to-be victims. Christian Bale gives an amazing performance as Patrick Bateman, killing his victims with such a detached zeal that comes across so strongly in the novel. The character of Patrick Bateman is perfect as a possible serial killer because he is often described as the boy-next-door throughout the novel and the film. He kills because it's another form of consumption, referring to one of his victims as a piece of meat; Patrick is living at the height of the 1980's consumerism boom, consuming drugs, sex, high profile dinning spots, business cards, and killings as if they were all the same thing.

Patrick Bateman is a successful 27 year old yuppie who works on Wall Street, is obessessed with his looks and moisturizing creams, is engaged to a beautiful young woman who he is cheating on, and who has a compulsion to kill. It might be all in his mind because he thinks about it all the time, even threatening people with death right to their face. He starts off small (to him) by killing a homeless man and his dog. Then he kills his assumed rival Paul Allan. As Patrick becomes more and more bored of his real life, his alter life becomes filled with murders and sex. Even when he believes that everything is spiraling out of control, that he's gone to far over the edge, he's rudely reminded that "Patrick Bateman is too much of a wuss to ever kill anyone". So he's left brooding to himself while his "friends" and co-workers decide where to go for dinner next.

Daybreakers (2009)

“Daybreakers” was a great idea that turned into an ok movie. While it has some “meh” moments in the plot such as how Willem Dafoe’s character is cured from his vampirism, I do appreciate the side effects of what happens to a vampire when they don’t drink fresh human blood after a while. Turning into an animalistic killing machine is pretty cool and makes sense in addition to being awesome to watch and a great motivator to solve the vampire society’s most pressing issue. Besides some weak story choices, “Daybreakers” does offer a cast of known actors such as Ethan Hawke, Sam Neill, and Willem Dafoe to keep us entertained.

In 2019, most everyone has become a vampire and the human blood supply is quickly running out. If you don’t drink your blood, you’ll eventually turn into a mindless beast that kills anything and everything you see, so the vampire boss types want to find a cure as quickly as possible. Edward is a scientist who is working on finding a cure but falls into the wrong crowd, normal humans, and finds a cure that he was not expecting. Now cured but human, Edward is in a world of trouble and is being hunted down by his boss because becoming human and losing your vampire powers was not the objective!

Favorite moment – Sam Neill being creepy as the vampire boss, trying to have as much fun with the role as he can.

"I can be a vampire and look all pensive like Brad Pitt too!"