American Psycho (2000)

American Psycho parents guide

Heads up on strong sex and nudity, and extreme gore. That is past what the R on the box suggests. Beyond that, real scares and a jolt or two.

Scare

Properly scary

Frightening, not just tense.

Jump scares

A couple

One or two sudden jolts.

Gore

Extreme gore

Our top level for gore.

Violence

Brutal violence

Our top level for violence.

Sex and nudity

Strong

Strong means explicit or repeated sex, extended nudity, or sexual assault shown on screen, attempted or completed, even partly off screen. Any one of these is enough.

Language

Strong

Frequent strong profanity or slurs.

How we rate: an AI reads what is known about each title and tags it 0 to 3; we check the tags against a hand-rated set and correct them by hand when readers tell us. Estimates, not a scene-by-scene review. Spot a mistake? Tell us.

Three questions

Is American Psycho scary?

Yes, properly. American Psycho is the real thing without being an endurance test.

How gory is American Psycho?

Extreme gore and brutal violence. If graphic gore is a dealbreaker, skip it.

What is American Psycho rated, and is it OK for kids?

Rated R, and it earns it: real scares, strong sex and nudity, and brutal violence. Not one for kids.

What is American Psycho about?

A wealthy New York investment banking executive hides his alternate psychopathic ego from his co-workers and friends as he escalates deeper into his illogical, gratuitous fantasies.

Cast and crew

More like American Psycho

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• Fargo (1996)Gritty · graphic gore · strong violence · emotionally heavyA desperate car salesman's dark, witty kidnapping scheme unravels into gritty, suspenseful, pulpy chaos.
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• Fight Club (1999)Gritty · graphic gore · brutal violence · emotionally devastatingAn insomniac and a soap salesman unleash primal aggression, igniting a darkly comic, surreal spiral toward oblivion.
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American Psycho is on our Goriest, Set in New York, Thriller on Prime Video, Drama on Prime Video and Crime on Prime Video lists.

More like this feeling

Prompts we typed into CouchRot, and the lists that share its tags.

• “a thriller with a twist, no spoilers”
• “a movie that will make me cry”
• “scary but not gory”

Lists with the same feel: Most violent and Dark.