“I think my mask of sanity is about to slip” Welcome to Harbour Highlights, a series of cult and classic films, all handpicked by the Harbour Lights staff. This month, for our 75th Harbour Highlight, Stephen dons a transparent raincoat and cues up Huey Lewis to celebrate the 25th anniversary of American Psycho. In 1987, Wall Street banker Patrick Bateman is consumed with the details of his privileged lifestyle – where to eat, how to dress, what to listen to, how to look. But beneath the perfect surface lies a violent second life where his petty obsessions meet an increasing bloodlust. As his murderous tendencies began to spiral out of control, Bateman’s two worlds begin to meet in dangerous and sometimes surreal ways. Based on the controversial Brett Easton Ellis book, a film version had been seen as undoable due to the graphic nature of the novel – though it didn’t stop people such as Oliver Stone and Leonardo DiCaprio giving it a go. But it was director Mary Harron and co-writer Guinevere Turner who cracked the adaptation, stripping the book of some of the most vile passages and concentrating on the dark satire at its centre. Bolstered by an unbelievable performance by Christian Bale, the film is a darkly funny take on 1980s consumerism and toxic masculinity which repulsed and delighted in equal measure on release in 2000, quickly gaining a cult following that has only grown since. After COVID thwarted our plans to show it as a Harbour Highlight in 2020 for the film’s 20th anniversary, we thought it only fitting to mark our 75th Harbour Highlight by finally screening it for its quarter-century milestone. Writer-director Mary Harron delivered a highly-stylised, often surreal version of the text which toned down the violence. Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale) is a Wall Street financier whose killer instincts in the City merge into his personal life as he hacks his way through his female companions; he consumes women as he does expensive meals, fast cars, and sharp suits. Dark, grim and at times disturbingly funny, American Psycho holds a magnifying glass to the decade where appearance and wealth were the virtues of the day.