Bret Easton Ellis’ 1991 best-selling horror novel American Psycho is widely appreciated for its transgressive and postmodern themes. The book tells the story of well-to-do Manhattan investment banker, Patrick Bateman, who lives a double-life as a serial killer. Apart from his penchant for taking lives, Bateman is shown to be racist, homophobic, elitist, and chauvinistic.

The book’s film adaptation starring Christian Bale is equally critically acclaimed, mostly because of the actor’s incredible performance. However, it leaves out several moments from the novel. This is understandable considering that the Bret Easton Ellis book is extremely graphic and features several weird exchanges of dialogue. A few other moments also had to be cut because the book is quite long (399 pages).

Here's what was left out.

9 Bateman Interacts With Tom Cruise in his Apartment’s Elevator

Hollywood A-lister Tom Cruise is a character in the book. The actor lives in the penthouse of Patrick Bateman’s apartment building. The two characters once bump into each other in the elevator, and, because he is star-struck and anxious, Bateman fails to remember the name of Cruise’s 1988 romantic comedy-drama, Cocktail.

Cruise Inspired Christian Bale

A Tom Cruise cameo in the movie might have elevated it to even greater heights. Still, the celebrated actor partly contributed to the film’s quality. In an interview with David Letterman, Bale revealed that he based his performance on Cruise’s mannerisms. He explained that Cruise “just has this very intense friendliness with nothing behind the eyes,” so he modeled Bateman after him so that the character would give the impression of a respectable, law-abiding citizen.

8 Bateman Tortures His First Murder Victim, Al

Neither the book nor the movie stated when Bateman started killing people. The movie hints that he has been doing it for a long time (he struggles to clean bloody beddings in the first few minutes). The first victim depicted in both the film and the source material is a homeless man named Al. While Bateman only stabs Al in the movie, he gives him the Dexter Morgan treatment in the novel by gouging his eyes and breaking his legs.

An Acceptable Omission

The detailed brutality described in the book’s opening chapter gives readers a clear picture of how deranged Bateman is. However, there is a strong case for the omission of the torture scene, since the character lacks proper motivation for the act. Having him torture a homeless person in the street for several minutes and risk getting caught makes little narrative sense, hence director Mary Harron was wise to leave out this sequence of events.

7 Bateman Hallucinates About an Anthropomorphic Park Bench Attacking Him

Toward the end of the novel, Bateman’s mental health deteriorates completely. He begins experiencing hallucinations of various things, notably an anthropomorphic park bench attacking him, seeking to punish him for his sins. For once, he finds himself in a situation where he is afraid of his life, yet he is normally the bringer of fear. Interestingly, the scene doesn’t appear in the film.

Surrealism in Bateman’s Story

Questions could be raised about why the scene was abandoned. It highlights his mental state at the time, and gives readers an idea of how low he has sunk. In the movie, the scale of his insanity remains ambiguous. All that audiences get is a hint that he might be imagining the events. The inclusion of the scene might have made American Psycho weightier, making it not just a scary flick but one of the essential films about mental health.

6 Bateman Shopping for Rolex Watches and His General Obsession With the Brand

Patrick Bateman is Rolex’s biggest customer in the source material. There are detailed descriptions of him shopping for the best Rolex watches. So obsessed is he, that he won’t let anyone near the watches, notably the Rolex Datejust 16013. In a rather terrifying scene, he screams at a guest for trying to examine one of his Rolex pieces. In the film, he loves watches too, but he is never seen shopping for any specific brand.

Rolex Banned the Use of Its Watches in the Movie

There is a good reason why Rolex watches are nowhere to be seen in the horror movie. According to Esquire, the brand didn’t want to be associated with what they presumed would be a stomach-churning horror movie (given the book’s details), so they banned the producers from attempting any product placement. The Italian fashion house, Cerruti 1881, also did the same thing, hence the investment banker doesn’t wear their suits like he does in the book.

5 Bateman Murders a Gay Man For Trying to Seduce Him

Bateman openly voices his homophobia several times in the Bret Easton Ellis book. So deep is his hatred that when a gay man tries to seduce him in Central Park, the investment banker murders him. In addition to that, he strangles the man’s dog to death while cursing it for not having a better owner. Understandably, neither the scene nor a variation of it is present in the movie.

Cutting Down Homophobia

Great strides had been made in the fight for gay rights by the time the movie came out. The rampant homophobia of the ‘80s was fading, so the director was wide to leave out the scene. In the film, Bate actually leaves a potential murder victim alone when he reveals he is gay. While in the bathroom with his co-worker Luis Carruthers, Bateman tries to kill him, only for Luis to think he is flirting. Luis then reveals he is gay, and without saying another word, Bateman leaves the bathroom.

4 Bateman’s Date with His Ex-Girlfriend, Bethany

In the book, Bateman meets up with his ex-flame Bethany for a lunch date. The encounter is described as cringy, with Bateman complaining about everything in the restaurant and forcing Bethany to read a graphic poem he wrote for her. Bethany later offers to pay for her own meal and insists on leaving, but Bateman convinces her to come back with him to his apartment, where he kills her with a nail gun.

One of the Book’s Best Scenes

The restaurant scene in the pages would have arguably made the movie better. It contains several bizarre moments that could have been executed brilliantly by Christian Bale. From trying to discuss The Patty Winters Show with Bethany (yet she isn’t a fan), to correcting the waiter’s grammar, Bateman keeps diving into the unusual. Regrettably, only book readers experienced this strange moment.

3 Bateman Opens Up About His Challenges to An Escort

Both the screen and the book version of Bateman love escorts. In the pages, the love is so deep that he once opts to open up about his challenges to an escort just as she is about to leave. This scene is absent on screen. Instead of the escort, Bateman opens up to his secretary, Jean. who has romantic feelings for him. Later, he requests her to leave, claiming he might hurt her because he cannot control himself.

The Switch Improves Jean’s Arc

Jean doesn’t do much in the book. Bateman just describes her as "Jean, my secretary who is in love with me." The choice to grant her the escort's arc in the movie makes her a better character because she not only gets to understand him better but also becomes curious about him. Chloë Sevigny, the actress who played Jean, recently revealed that she was extremely awed by how seriously Bale handled his role.

2 Bateman Murders a Young Boy

Bateman’s violent acts in the novel keep getting stranger by the page. While visiting the zoo, he commits another impromptu murder by slicing a boy’s neck. Though he enjoys it at the time, he later regrets it. Upon reflection, he concludes that children should never be subjected to such violent acts because they are innocent souls. The gruesome murder doesn’t happen in the film.

Children Are Off Limits

Teens often get butchered mercilessly in horror movies, but most directors adhere to an unwritten rule about little children. The murder of children is guaranteed to cause some uproar, so director Mary Harron was wise to scrap it. A better decision might have been to replace the boy with an adult. In the movie, Bateman has a few principles, During a dinner conversation, he wishes that adults were as pure as children, implying that he would never harm the younger ones.

1 Bateman Eats a Human Body

As if being a racist and homophobic serial killer isn’t bad enough, writer Bret Easton Ellis made him a cannibal too. In another disturbing scene, he murders an unnamed person and cooks his body with the meticulousness with which he grooms himself. He doesn’t enjoy the meal as he feels animals taste much better, but he doesn’t regret his actions.

Crossing All Morality Boundaries

As evil as fictional serial killers tend to be, many of them can be defended. Their actions make some sense when analyzed within the context of the societies in which they exist. However, Bateman is an impossible character to defend. He doesn’t have to do some of the things he does, yet he does them anyway. The cannibalism is extreme, even by horror standards, so the movie is better off for not including it.