American Psycho Collection - Imprint Films 4K UHD Blood Pack Limited Edition (AU Import)

As I previously reviewed American Psycho on 4K, I’ll let that review stand - it’s a hell of a film and has stood the test of time. You can read that now: 

"Do you like Phil Collins?"

All handsome, rich, successful 27-year-old Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale) wants to do is fit in. He buys all the right clothes. Shops only at the best places. Listens to the "it" bands like Huey Lewis and the News and has an affinity for Phil Collins. He dines daily with his friends Bryce (Justin Theroux), McDermott (Josh Lucas), and Luis (Matt Ross). When they're done running up huge tabs at the trendiest restaurants, they're doing lines at the hippest nightclubs in New York. When Patrick isn't isn't returning his tapes or tending to his rigorous daily self-care routine, he's torturing and murdering women in increasingly violent and sadistic ways… and no one seems to notice. 

American Psycho hit theaters right as my high school career was coming to a close. It was a big movie of the winter season courting any amount of controversy a movie based on a Bret Easton Ellis novel could for its extreme amount of violent content and treatment of women. I dutifully stood in line opening night, plunked down my hard-earned cash from my part-time job, and sat in a darkened theater expecting to be amazed. I didn't get it. While funny and violent, a lot of the satire flew right past me. Even though I was a child of the 80s, I didn't live anywhere near that side of it. It's only as the years moved on and I saw people I knew drift towards that sort of material-centric life where the places you ate, drank, and the labels you wore once then threw out were most important that I started to actually get this film.

In the same way Beetlejuice watches The Exorcist, American Psycho just keeps getting funnier every time I see it. As I'm closer to 40 than I was when the film first hit theaters, I have an ever-growing appreciation for its biting cultural satire, hyper-violence, and its sadistically dark sense of humor. I hadn't seen the film all the way through in almost 14 years and I was worried that the film had passed its expiration date. I'm glad to see that worry was for nothing. While many of the references may be culturally dated, the film's satire is just as biting as it ever was. If anything it may even have some more teeth if you're at all interested in dissecting modern cultural cupidity. 

Given the text it was spawned from, I have to fully tip my hat to Mary Harron for even having the gumption to try and tackle an adaptation of the book, let alone make a successful film. It's not an easy source novel to plug from. My lone criticism of the film stems from its need to try and stick closely to the events of the novel while also finding a sense of finality to the whole business. Without giving much away, the book depicts Patrick's confessional narration of events with an amount of skepticism, that the murders, as well as entire characters, could well have been products of his drug-addled unraveling psychosis. The movie goes the other way and tries to pin things as literal events which rub abrasively against the film's finale. It almost works but just misses the mark of perfection. Such as it is, the film is very good even if it leaves things within a state of severe confusion.

Through it all, Christian Bale delivers the performance that arguably helped make his career what it is today (Reign of Fire notwithstanding). True, he didn't don the cape and cowl for a few years after this film's premiere, but one can't help look at his Patrick Bateman and see a little bit of his future Bruce Wayne sitting there. Like any of his roles, he gave himself physically and mentally to the part and it shows. His maniacal energy and commitment to the part are what keeps the film alive and I can't imagine what this film would have been without him. Considering DiCaprio almost snapped the role, American Psycho could have been a very different film, and not necessarily one for the better. This Psycho may be crazy, but it's a hell of a good time. Just don't make the mistake of grabbing a copy of American Psycho 2, you need that in your life about as much as Paul Allen needs an ax. 

While Mary Harron’s adaptation managed to score a decent box office run and a second life on video, the film even withstood an odd direct-to-video sequel that was to put it simply, a misguided effort. American Psycho 2 stars a baby-faced Mila Kunis and a round-as-a-baby William Shatner in a sequel to a story that never called for one. But that didn’t stop Lionsgate from throwing this at us. 

Now, I’ll give some credit to the film’s introduction of a little girl being the one to knock off Patrick Bateman with an ice pick setting up a deranged young adult who wants to kill serial killers (or anyone who gets in her way). That was actually kinda funny and enjoyable, but then the flippant obnoxious narration kicks in and the film slides south from there. That is partly because this film wasn’t initially intended to be a sequel at all. Originally, the film was going to be called The Girl Who Wouldn’t Die. The screenplay sold and during production, it was altered to dovetail into Harron’s original American Psycho and so we have this weird sequel. Apparently, that decision was made well into filming and not everyone involved was on board. 

In truth, on its own, American Psycho 2 is decently budgeted and well shot, and as odd as the cast list is, they’re doing what they can with the material. Kunis certainly looks in over her head but has the right kind of energy and Shatner truly looks like he’s passing the ham for an easy paycheck between better and probably more lucrative TV guest spots. All faults aside, there is an odd charm to this film that’s hard to ignore - it helps if you’ve had a couple fingers worth of cheap Kentucky bourbon.

Yeah, it’s bad. I never read the original screenplay and I don’t know what anyone saw in that work and felt it’d make a great American Psycho sequel. This is something that falls under the category of “so bad it’s entertaining.” I have a hunch that if this film was made in the 90s, it would have been a fun midnight watch on Cinemax alongside the silly Poison Ivy sequels. But as a sequel to a genuinely great film, it’s a frivolous piece of schlock tie-in marketing that is barely watchable under normal conditions. Get some stiff drinks and a lot of junk food and you might just make it through. 

American Psycho - 4/5 
American Psycho 2 - 2/5

Vital Disc Stats: The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray 

Australian entertainment powerhouse Via Vision and their Imprint Films label deliver the two-film American Psycho Collection. In this set we get the original American Psycho on 4K and Blu-ray with a 1080p for American Psycho 2. The 4K disc is the same BD-100 we were given in the States from Lionsgate. The Region Free BD-50 for the 1080p opens with a Via Vision logo, but everything else about it is the same disc we got Stateside. Likewise, the included disc for American Psycho 2 opens to a Via Vision logo but it’s the same disc we saw from 2017. Now the artwork lists these as Region B discs but they are all in fact Region Free (tested on multiple units with no trouble).

What makes this set extra special is the packaging. The discs are housed in a three-disc case featuring the film’s classic poster art. Also included are six art cards in a bloody envelope. The whole thing is wrapped together in a hard-stock slipcase with a Blood Pack cover. The plastic blood bag cover has velcro strips so you can open and close it easily without the risk of puncturing the pockets of liquid. It’s a thick heavy-duty plastic, but if you’re worried about it sitting on your shelf and bursting under the pressure of the rest of your collection, you can take it off and store it safely elsewhere. Without the blood pack, the cover art is a duplicate of the OOP Best Buy exclusive 4K SteelBook. Removing the paper J-card reveals the same back artwork as well. The run is limited to only 2000 units.

For the video transfers of American Psycho in 4K and Blu-ray I’ll repost my previous comments because they hold true: 

When American Psycho first hit Blu-ray, it simply repurposed the old DVD master. Thankfully Lionsgate went back to the well for this native 4K  2.35:1 2160p transfer with Dolby Vision and HDR10, as the results are a spectacular improvement over the previous Blu-ray. I really and truly wish I could source images from this disc because it is a night and day difference. It shouldn't be all that surprising considering the vintage of the previous disc but suffice to say fans should be very happy with this new 4K Ultra HD release. 

Set aside improvements in detail, colors, black levels, whites, and contrast - the first thing you're going to see and appreciate is the simple fact that the numerous and constant instances of speckling and staining and the outright noisy grainfield have been taken care of. This is a fresh sparkling presentation and it shows. Details are immaculate, allowing you to fully appreciate the sterile soulless life Patrick has built for himself. Facial features, deconstructed jackets and clothing, and the film's excellent 80s production design are all on display. The film grain is present and is nicely resolved without being noisy or intrusive.

The film also enjoys a nice Dolby Vision HDR push that breathes a lot of new life into the film's color pallet. People actually look like they have a healthy complexion! Primaries are robust with some great highlights coming from the colorful food people eat, the bright New York taxi cabs, and the copious amounts of blood on sheets, floors, and chainsaws. Black levels are nice and inky and give the image a new sense of three-dimensional depth that was absent in the previous SDR Blu-ray release. This isn't a 100% perfect score, however. There are a few scenes where black levels aren't quite up to snuff, they're a tad on the brown side, and there are a few soft scenes that still stick out but overall, it's a notable improvement. As for whites, well, all you have to do is compare business cards. White's are pristine - when they're not covered in someone's blood. Switching between the old Blu-ray and this new 4K Ultra HD disc, it's easy to see and appreciate how far home video technology has come. This film was in serious need of an upgrade and we've finally got it with this disc. 

Now, American Psycho 2 comes to Blu-ray in decent shape but it’s hardly a stunning transfer. It looks like a dated HD master likely used for broadcast or sourced for the DVDs way back in the day. Details look alright, facial features and early 2000s fashions get a little attention, but the film has a rather flat feel and there’s fairly constant speckling throughout. It’s a serviceable transfer and for a film like this I wasn’t expecting Imprint or Lionsgate to move the world for a new transfer. But I don’t think this film is the make-or-break point for people looking to buy this set. 3/5

Likewise the same audio options return for these films. Again for American Psycho I’ll repost my feeling for the audio. 

To say the previous American Psycho Blu-ray had a lackluster lifeless audio package is a bit of an understatement. It should come as a surprise to no one that this new Dolby Atmos audio mix eviscerates the old mix. Everything from dialogue and sound effects to the film's great use of classic 80s tunes to the great score John Cale enjoy a serious and noteworthy uptick in quality. Truth be told I would have been happy with a nice lossless mix, but I really appreciate that Lionsgate went the extra mile. The soundscape is well spaced allowing for plenty of atmosphere to set the scene. 

The extra channel spacing helps give big scene sequences a lot of life. Anytime Bateman and his pals are in a big empty restaurant or a loud and busy club, you can really feel and appreciate the added room this mix affords. You also get a great sense of distance when that chainsaw revs its engine down the hallway. Levels are spot on without any sort of softness issues to report. As far as object-based activity, there really isn't much to speak of save for one terrific element: the narration. 

This probably is one of my favorite uses of object-based activity, the mix uses the vertical channels for Patrick Bateman's narrations. It comes at you as this eerie disembodied voice from God and it's really effective without smashing out other sound elements. When he's not narrating, those channels are mostly used for adding space to various busy locations. The scene in the bathroom where they're trying to do coke that's been mixed with sweetener is a great highlight of the activity in the room. Taken as a whole it's probably not the best or most aggressive Atmos mix ever released, but it works beautifully for this film offering up plenty of sonic treats. 

As for American Psycho 2 we have a DTS-HD MA 5.1 and 2.0 track to choose from. Both will get you through the film, but the 5.1 is the more engaging. The narration, such as it is, sounds a little livelier and more present in 5.1 and the fun jangly score from Norman Orenstein gives the mix a little more heft. Dialog is otherwise clean and clear without issue. Imaging makes for some nice use of channel spacing for some key audio effects to land some impact. 3.5/5

The same set of excellent extras for American Psycho return. You score two excellent audio commentaries, deleted scenes with optional commentary, and a pair of illuminating featurettes. They may not all be bright shiny new, but they’re all quality and worth your time. For American Psycho 2 we have what looks like the same extras available for the 2017 Blu-ray and maybe the original DVD(?) - I never bought either disc so they’re all new to me. The commentary with director Morgan J. Freeman and Mila Kunis is interesting. It seems pretty heavily edited, as there are quite a few dropouts, but it’s an engaging listen. There’s a solo director’s commentary and deleted scenes.

American Psycho

• Audio Commentary Featuring co-writer/director Mary Harron
• Audio Commentary featuring co-writer/director Mary Harron
• Audio Commentary featuring co-writer Guinevere Turner
• American Psycho: From Book To Screen (SD 48:53)
• Deleted Scenes with Optional Director Commentary (SD 12:19)
• The 80s Downtown (SD 31:46)

American Psycho 2 

• Audio Commentary featuring Mila Kunis and Morgan J. Freeman
• Audio Commentary featuring Morgan J. Freeman
• Delted Scenes (SD 3:58)

After a standard 4K release, and then paying up for a slick SteelBook, I was fairly well set on needing another copy of American Psycho. Then along comes Australia’s Imprint Films to give us the two-film three-disc American Psycho Collection. Only it’s not just the films or the discs that make this release so attractive, it’s the fact the box comes wrapped in a velcro Blood Pack slip making it a true standout for collectors. Now you’re not really getting anything “new” with this set beyond stylish packaging. We’re getting what is effectively the same 4K and Blu-ray discs for American Psycho that we got here Stateside but now packaged with the unfortunate (but still oddly entertaining) sequel American Psycho 2 on Blu-ray. Coupled with the great packaging, and stylish art cards, it’s a fun set - especially if you haven’t bought it already. My only “however” for this release is the price point is a bit steep for a Blood Pack, but then it is a really cool Blood Pack! To that end the nerded out physical media collector in me has to call the American Psycho Collection a Highly Recommended release.