Luca Guadagnino’s American Psycho won’t be as bad as “garbage” sequel that was never meant to happen

Luca Guadagnino is the next filmmaker to adapt Bret Easton Ellis’ novel, and while some devotees are furious at the news, it’ll be way better than the Mila Kunis American Psycho we got in 2002.

First thing’s first: Luca Guadagnino’s American Psycho won’t be a remake. According to reports, the Challengers director’s version will be a new interpretation of the gruesome novel, meaning we won’t be seeing a total repeat of Patrick Bateman’s crimes.

Ellis’ novel hit the ground in 1991, and made waves with its graphic depictions of violence at the hands of serial killer Patrick Bateman. A film adaptation by Mary Harron followed in 2000, starring Christian Bale as the murderous investment banker, proving the “unfilmable” book to be anything but.

While news of Guadagnino’s potential adaptation has stirred up the usual conflicts on social media, one thing’s for sure: it won’t be as notorious as the “garbage” American Psycho 2.

If you’re unfamiliar with the sequel, there’s a good reason: it was never meant to exist. American Psycho 2 was released in 2002 as a stand-alone direct-to-video movie, starring Mila Kunis as a killer college student.

The ill-fated sequel opens with a young version of Kunis’ character killing Patrick Bateman after he murdered her babysitter, thus setting off her thirst for slaughter. What follows is a pretty standard slasher movie that was never meant to exist in the American Psycho universe.

The screenplay was originally titled The Girl Who Wouldn’t Die, and had no connections to American Psycho at all. However, after production started, scenes making references to Bateman were added in to classify it as a sequel.

Kunis even admitted in a 2005 interview [via MTV]: “When I did the second one, I didn’t know it would be American Psycho II . It was supposed to be a different project, and it was re-edited, but, ooh … I don’t know. Bad.”

Needless to say, it didn’t end well. What could have been a half-decent slasher in its own right is now regarded as a failure of a sequel (it has 11% on Rotten Tomatoes) – or worse, forgotten about altogether.

For more, check out which Terrifier 3 kill was inspired by American’s Psycho’s most gruesome scene. You can also keep an eye on all the 2024 horror movies to get excited about, and check out our true crime recommendations.