WGTC Weekly Throwdown: What Is The Best Cinematic Violent Spree?

Alex – American Psycho

Who doesn’t love a great violent spree? What’s better than watching someone or some group of people violently slaughter everyone in sight? (I’m talking about in movies you sickos).

When it comes to movies there have been a ton of great stories centered around some very violent killings. But when it comes to sorting through the hordes and picking the best, most memorable spree, well there’s one that splatters much higher than the rest. That’s Patrick Bateman in American Psycho.

First of all, there is no voice and mannerisms more fun to imitate than Bateman’s. (Again I’m talking about imitating the way he acts, not imitating the killing. Jeeze. Sickos.) Bateman carries out his kills in the purist psychopathic method ever captured on film. What’s more enjoyable than watching Christian Bale dance to Genesis or Huey Lewis as he prepares his ax and plastic tarps to catch the blood and guts which will soon spill out of his victims? The answer: Absolutely nothing. Bale turns this extremely violent, extremely narcissistic character into one of the most fun characters to watch.

Bateman’s spree isn’t the largest in scope, there are tons of movies where way, way more people are mowed down, but his is epic purely because of the manner in which he carries out his plan and how effective he is in killing absolutely everyone he desires. The only real hitch comes from within his own head. If only he had been able to never care about killing anyone, who knows how long he could have gone on killing and how many tallies he could have added to his body count.

Part of what makes his spree so great is how it overtakes his life. He isn’t killing for some greater purpose, or because he’s being forced to by someone else. He legitimately enjoys killing people, so his pleasure derives from finding what he loves in life and acting on it. There’s a life lesson to be had in there for sure. He’s always looking to lure someone else into his house and kill them, just so he can get the next thrill. He loves killing and his spree shows that.

Sure, the film is a bit ambiguous as to how many or who at all he killed, but regardless of what actually happens, what we see on screen is a series of gory kills, so I’ll take that at face value and say there’s no better violent spree in film than Patrick Bateman’s.