by Valarie Thorpe

Take a good dose of stark cinematography, toss in a bit of hilarious satire, sprinkle with a smidgen of biting commentary, and you've got this week's DVD for review. What does that have to do with all things Really Scary? Well, on the surface it's a psycho killer flick with an axe, a chainsaw, a wire coat hanger and a nail driver. Scratch the surface and it isn't actually a horror movie at all.

Brett Easton Ellis, the author of the novel on which the movie is loosely based, took a great deal of heat when this book came out. Most detractors primarily called Ellis a misogynist. I won't get into a review of the book, primarily because I was never able to get through it. I know Ellis is highly acclaimed, and I know it's supposed to be full of foul murder and mayhem, but honest to god, I just got bored stiff the three separate times I've given it a go. In some minds, that may make me an undisciplined reader, but if you can't get through it, you can't get through it. I think that's pretty straightforward of me -- I know a helluva lot of people who've dogged this book and then, when put on the spot, admitted they've never read it.

Anyway, the movie. This is not a woman-hater film. Most descriptions I've read say it's an indictment of everything '80s and yuppie, and it is. But I'd take that one step further and says it's an indictment of all things in excess.

It's a pretty quick watch and I enjoyed the satire. But I'll admit, after the first two or three '80s music dissertations from crazed killer Patrick Bateman, (Christian Bale's character), well, let's just call a snoozer, a snoozer. The majority of this film is talk. Talk about Huey Lewis, who's got the prettier business cards, the genius of Whitney Houston, who can land hard-to-get dinner reservations, and just generally the sort of stuff that made me wish my brain would turn to oozing cheese whiz and leak outta my head.

But the boring minutia is exactly where the satire is. These things really, really meant something to these characters, and where is that just a teeny bit familiar nowadays? If you think this movie is just talking about yuppies and the '80s, and 'aren't we all a lot more clever nowadays,' then consider this setting for Patrick Bateman -- a palm pilot, the latest cell phone, a T1 line in the home. Just toss in a little talk of Britney Spears and 'N Sync and we're not too far off.

And regarding the big, silly to-do over the sex scene that got cut out? No big deal. Don't get me wrong, it is a big deal that it was cut. The censorship in this country is ridiculous -- land of free speech my ass. This scene is obviously meant as an over-the-top look at narcissistic behavior, and it's jaw-breakingly ridiculous that they cut it.

Although I wasn't completely taken with the movie, there are some standout moments. The end is way worth making it to -- very funny in a bitter pill sort of way. Christian Bale portrays a truly empty person with startling ability. And that is meant in a good way.

I won't knock it completely because it's worth the watch with some friends (especially the type easily offended) so you can tell them that as far as horror movies go, this one is very, very tame. Now, as far as social commentary and a look at the complete and absolute vacuum that some people can live in, there, it's a dead on indictment. And don't fool yourself into thinking this existed only in the yuppiedom of the '80s. If ever there was a time of ridiculous wealth and frivolity among the young again, the tech age is definitely it.

Get rid of the Patrick Bateman character in this movie and what you would have would be just as sad, horrific and, unfortunately, a lot truer than any of us would like to really think.