Derived from the word “slash”, it is a subgenre of horror that typically involves a serial (or mass) killer who stalks and massacres (using edged weapons) upper-middle-class youths who have transgressed some social norms.
Published in Chapter:
American Psycho Universe: Capitalism, Blood, and Sequels
Copyright: © 2024
|Pages: 20
DOI: 10.4018/979-8-3693-7416-0.ch007
Abstract
Horror is one of the genres that has most exploited the possibilities of franchises, sequels or remakes. Precisely, the slasher subgenre is capital in the sense that such notorious sagas as Halloween. Thus, the chapter approaches the American Psycho phenomenon from its formulaic nature, analysing the implications of each of its audiovisual products. Based on the novel by Ellis, the film by Harron was a critical and public success: set in the Wall Street of the 1980s, it narrates the life of Bateman, a yuppie who personifies the business elite and at the same time is a bloody serial killer. The success of the film gave rise to American Psycho 2, abusing the slasher formula, this time in a female key and in the university. Also inspired by the novel, the musical adaptation recaptures the critical essence of the original film, while a sequel comic commenced publication in late 2023. En this line, drawing from the novel and the original film, the chapter explores the evolution of the narrative in terms of genre orthodoxy, ideological subtext, and commercial aspects.