A Nice Slice of Murder

I often receive stares when I tell them of a certain film that, to no fault, makes me hungry every time I watch it. I am somewhat breaking tradition, as I have already dedicated an entire blog about this film in the past. I could have taken to discussing spaghetti westerns like The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly and making horrible, horrible puns, instead I chose this.

Every time I watch American Psycho I get very hungry.

I tend to get three reactions from this statement: disgust, confusion, and, very rarely, understanding. Those who have not seen the film tend to jump to the first reaction, basing their reaction of the inferences made from the title- clearly I am revealing that bloodthirsty murder, the subject of the film, gets my appetite going. They have some validity, the film does largely involve bloodthirsty murder (I'll avoid the fact that the movie works to satirize the corporate culture and ultra-conservatism of the 80s), but that aspect does not get my tummy rumbling. Even those who've seen the film tend to drift toward the former two reactions, basing their reactions on the same reasoning of what I just mentioned. The few who understand have noticed a part of the story that never receives much attention from the audience.

The reason I get hungry when I watch American Psycho stems from the fact that about every other scene in the movie takes place in a restaurant or bar. I can count nine scenes off the top of my head, and I'm sure more exist. Heck, one of the three primary motivations for the pivotal and central murder of the entire film stems around a restaurant reservation (the other two motives: a nicer business card and a more successful investor account). The serial killer protagonist, Patrick Bateman, cannot get a reservation at the high class restaurant Dorsia. His rival co-worker, Paul Allen, can so he. He meets Allen at a restaurant, he discusses his disappearence at two other restaurants after that. The title scene even looks like this! (Ignore the spanish, por favor).

I really hope I shed some light on my seemingly sociopathic revelation. I'm sure if you noticed a film or book or T.V. show that's settings primarily consisted of dining establishments you would have a similar reaction, even if the media in question does involve grizzly axe murders.