Welcome back to Rotten Ink. Let’s kick off September 2026 right with a “From Horror Movie To Horror Comic” update that will make you think about business cards as well as 80’s music like Whitney Houston and Huey Lewis, but it will also make you think of axe and chainsaw murder,s and of course you all know that I am talking about, American Psycho and its serial killer Patrick Bateman. This is one of those films that was based on a book where for some fans the film surpasses the book, and that’s saying something as the book has a very diehard fan base! So if you are ready, let’s put on a suit, put on some 80’s music and try and get a dinner reservation at a posh restaurant as it’s time to spend some quality time with Patrick Bateman and Sumerian Comics as we talk about American Psycho! Also our countdown to Halloween 2026 starts right here with this update.

Let’s start by taking a look at Patrick Bateman who is an investment banker that is also a raging psychopath and his ways of taking lives of women, those who he is jealous of and of course the less fortunate. Patrick Bateman is 27 years old and is very well off due to his job and lives in a very swanky apartment. He is very self centered and takes care of himself by eating right and working out. Patrick is a lover of music, renting movies (horror and adult films) and likes to have control over women by telling them how to and what to eat. He also picks up prostitutes, who he likes to treat well at first only to disrespect them later as he is always cheating on his fiancé. He is a liar and truly a shell of a human as he does not know how to truly be normal and he knows all this himself. It’s clear that he suffers from extreme mental illness as he always thinks about killing people and even draws pictures of murder in his desk calendar. Patrick Bateman is a good looking guy and along with his money he is able to get away with much of his rude behavior as he also is smart and is able to handle fitting in when need be. He also does drugs like cocaine and likes to spend his time in fancy restaurants and clubs hanging with co-workers and flirting with women. Patrick being a true psycho has many ways of dealing death to his victims as he can use his bare fists to beat a person bloody and to near death or even death in some cases. He has been known to use axes, chainsaw, knives and even a handgun to end lives in violent and brutal ways as these are his preferred methods. Also when he is in the killing mode at times its like he becomes an animal, as he has been known to even bite his victims in a pure out of control manner. While Patrick Bateman is a dangerous killer, he is also just a man and can be killed like one so that means being shot, stabbed, burned, drowned, crushed and so on would put an end to his madness. Also Patrick Bateman’s narcissistic personality and complete mental illness can also lead to him making mistakes and almost get caught for his crimes, as at time he cracks and feels the need to bare his soul of all his terrible secrets. Also at times his own lies to cover his tracks can almost lead to the discovery of his murders. While Patrick Bateman is just a regular guy who is a cold blooded murder he still is very dangerous and a man filled with the urge to take human lives that he views lower than him or those who have more respect than him.

So now that we have taken a look at Patrick Bateman, I think that its time we take a look at the movie he is from American Psycho that was released in 2000 and was based on the 1991 book. So like always I will be taking the film’s plot from our friends at IMDB and then I will write about the film’s production as well as my thoughts. So if you are ready, let’s head to Dorsia and see if Patrick is on the prowl for not just good food but maybe a kill or two.

American Psycho (2000)

“A wealthy New York City investment banking executive, Patrick Bateman, hides his alternate psychopathic ego from his co-workers and friends as he delves deeper into his violent, hedonistic fantasies.”

American Psycho was originally a 1991 novel that was written by Bret Easton Ellis and later it would be optioned to be turned into a film as producer Edward R. Pressman thought that it would make a strange and bloody horror film. It would have many actors and directors attached to it in the early stages like Stuart Gordon and David Cronenberg for director and Johnny Depp and Brad Pitt to star in the film. But the film would end up floating around for a while in developmental Hell before finally Mary Harron would join on as the director as well as screenplay writer as she would team with Guinevere Turner to turn the complicated novel into a terrifying film. But once more the search for casting the film’s psycho Patrick Bateman took place as the whole film would fall on the performance of the actor casted. Originally Billy Crudup was hired but he left the role, and Christian Bale would come in and become the part and the right choice. The film would get a budget of around $7million with Lionsgate set to distribute the film once done. Other names hired for the cast included Chloe Sevigny, Willem Dafoe, Jared Leto, Reese Witherspoon, Cara Seymour Bill Sage, Josh Lucas and Justin Theroux who made up the main cast. When filming Bale would stay in character and the other actors was said to be confused by him as well as thought he was a bad actor for his monotone delivery, but really it just showed how good of an actor he was as he fooled his fellow actors. Once done the films score was done by John Cale and such 80’s musicians like Huey Lewis And The News, Phil Collins and The Cure to name a few had songs featured in the film as the music was a big part of it. The film was released in theaters on April 14, 2000 and would be a big hit for Lionsgate as it would bring in $34.3 million and would also be meet with mostly mixed reviews from critics mostly over the violence, while it was better received by viewers who enjoyed the macabre nature. The film would be released on home media and would gain a big cult following over the years and even sparked a sequel in 2002 called “American Psycho 2” that would star Mila Kunis as Rachel Newman who is a serial killer. The film in 2000 was released alongside such other horror films as Final Destination, Ginger Snaps, Scream 3, Urban Legends: Final Cut, Hellraiser Inferno, Bloody Murder, Mulva Zombie Ass Kicker, Shark Attack, Leprechaun In The Hood, Bless The Child, Dracula 2000, Cherry Falls, What Lies Beneath, Blair Witch 2, Toxic Avenger 4 and Killjoy to name a few.

American Psycho was a film that had me and my friends all buzzing when it was released as we all kept hearing that it was going to be a bloody serial killer film that would mess with your mind of what is real and fantasy…and this had us all very interested. But the film was one that we all ended up seeing on our own and not as a group and I saw it once released on home media as I missed it in theaters as I was working lots of hours at my job at that time, and can remember loving every weird second of it when I was finally able to put that tape in the old VCR. I found Christian Bale to be perfect as the killer Patrick Bateman and his line delivery as well as mannerisms were perfect and I find myself to this day using quotes from this film in my everyday life and have even used the “Returning Video Tapes” line when its time for me to leave a place. My friends at that time all seemed to like the film as we all had different takes on if Patrick really killed people or if it was all in his head. I am in the camp that I think the killings are in his head but the beating and mistreatment of women is really his actions…but really who knows as the movie really does mess with your mind as the viewer as well. I think that Patrick Bateman in one of those characters who clearly degrades and abuses other people as a power play and to make himself feel like a big man, as clearly he spends most of his life comparing himself to others and being envious of those who do better than him. While the film had its supporters I also remember that it had a lot of haters as well as many people who were fans of the novel did not like the changes made in the film and many parents groups disliked it for its bloody kills and over all mean spirited mood. When I was working at Blockbuster Video I can remember some customers being mad that we stocked the movie for rent, yeah we had those kind of customers from time to time who for some reason targeted horror films. The direct to video sequel “American Psycho 2” was pretty much hated by my friends as spoiler….they kills Patrick Bateman off in the opening of the film and we follow a new killer named Rachael that is played by actress Mila Kunis. The film was super low budget and just failed to capture the magic of the first film, but keep in mind I don’t hate the sequel like so many others do. Love it or hate it, American Psycho has made its mark on horror cinema, and I am sure at some point it will get the remake or reboot treatment from Hollywood, but until that happens if you have not seen the film make sure to check it out if you like serial killer films set in the 80’s that blinds reality with delusions.

Now that we have taken a look at the film American Psycho and the film’s psycho killer Patrick Bateman, I think now we should take a look at Sumerian Comics comic mini series based around the film! And really in 2023 when this comic series was announced, I was both shocked and delighted as I think that the film could make for a good comic series and it also showcases what I have always said: more horror films should get horror comics as us readers look forward to them. I would like to thank Game Swap for having these comics in stock and making this update possible. I would also like to remind you all that I grade these comics on a star scale of 1 to 4 and am looking for how well the comics stay to the source material, its entertainment value and its art and story. So let’s put one some Huey Lewis And The News in the old CD player and spend some time with Patrick Bateman, a true American Psycho.

American Psycho # 1  ***
Released in 2023    Cover Price $4.99    Sumerian Comics    # 1 of 5

It’s 1987 and Donald Kimball is a man who lives very modestly and likes to be under the radar so much so that even his own neighbor has his name wrong and he plays along. But his real goal in life is stalking a prostitute that he is angry at as he feels she thinks that he is not good enough for her, and one night he is stalking her and has a plan to make her pay but instead watches as she is picked up by Patrick Bateman who takes her home to his apartment and after having sex with her murders her with an axe. Donald approves of this killing as he was across the street with binoculars watching the whole time. We cut to 2011 and Charlene is drunk at a nightclub when a frat boy tries to take advantage of her in a bathroom stale and she is saved by her friend but not before she pukes on her would be attacker and drops her purse on the ground. As Charlene is taken out of the club and sent safely home, the would be attacker is thrown out of the club and is stabbed to death by an unknown killer who ends up leaving the drivers license of Charlene in the mans blood at the crime scene.

So far I am really digging this idea of an American Psycho comic mini series that is based around the events of the film as I truly think that Patrick Bateman as well as the 80’s sleazy business world makes for a great backdrop to horror. The plot of this issue follows Donald Kimball who we know is a private detective but who is also very much crazy in his own way and his stalking a woman that clearly he is either in love with or has been hired to follow, but he also seems to really hate her for sleeping around the city for money. And the strangest thing about him is he almost takes pleasure in watching her be killed with an axe and does not seem to want to bust the killer at all, as deep inside its like he thinks she got what was coming to her. Patrick Bateman the investment banker by day and killer by night is on the prowl in the city and is selecting his victims very easily as his appearance and money make him the perfect predator, and in this issue the young woman meets her end by the edge of an axe. And while Bateman and Kimball are roaming around in 1987 we also find that a new unknown killer is stalking the city in 2011 and has killed a clubber who was being way to pushy with a drunk female in the clubs bathroom, who is this killer? We are not sure but what we do know is that they are brutal in killing and seem to be framing the young woman they saved for the bloody crime. Charlene Carruthers is that woman who was drunk, saved and possibly framed and it makes you wonder if she will come into play more in this comic series, and I am guessing that she is the daughter of Luis Carruthers and Courtney Rawlinson both who knew Patrick Bateman. So far I am very interested in seeing were this comic mini series is going and like the idea of it bouncing from 1987 to 2011 and showing that at both times there is a killer on the loose. The issue does have blood being spilled and most of the horror of course comes from Patrick Bateman’s killing of a woman as well as of that of the unknown killer of 2011. The comic has many different covers but the one I have features Bateman with his axe and is really cool and eye catching if you are a fan of the movie like I am. The interior art is done by artists Piotr Kowalski and Brad Simpson and is pretty great stuff as it has a dark mood look to it, and I have to give them credit the characters kind of even loosely look like the actors who played them in the film. So far American Psycho is off to a good start, and I am looking forward to seeing what the next issue has in store for us and if we get more clues to who the killer is in 2011 as it makes you wonder is it still Patrick Bateman on the prowl?

American Psycho # 2  ***
Released in 2023    Cover Price $4.99    Sumerian Comics    # 2 of 5

Donald Kimball has returned home after watching a woman get killed by Patrick Bateman, and he has become obsessed with following him around over the following days watching him dropping off stained sheets at a laundry mat, having drinks with his co-workers, eating dinner on a date and even after he stabs a homeless man to death and stomps on his pet dog. Donald also ends up finding Patrick’s business card and his stalking gets even more out of control as he even tries to call his office to find out from Jean his secretary where Patrick is at acting as a friend. One night Donald breaks into the home of Patrick and is there when he kills Paul Allen a man who is a co-worker who is very successful and kind of a rich prick. As Patrick is getting ride of Paul’s body Donald sneaks out of the apartment but also steals some money and buys a suit with it as he is coming up with an idea to force himself into Patrick’s world. Meanwhile now in 2011 Charlene Carruthers wakes up in bed and finds that her sheets are covered in blood and she is in a panic when the cops are at here door and inform her that her id was found near the body of the man who tried to attack her the night before, as the cops leave Charlene is not sure what is going on and if she really did kill a man.

The crimes of Patrick Bateman are ramping up as he kills a homeless man as well as a fellow investment banker and all the while he is unknowingly being followed by a man who has become obsessed with watching him commit his crimes and the rage and fury that he slaughters a person with, so much so that he wants to be apart of it all. While in our modern story Charlene finds herself very confused and now a possible suspect in a killing. Donald Kimball is truly a very unstable man as its clear that after watching a woman he was stalking get killed he becomes drawn to the killer as well as the thrill of watching someone die, now his new obsession is the killer and he just so badly wants to be closer to him as well as just be apart of his world. Donald is also so crazed now that he not only watches two other killings without helping the victims as well as steal money from one but he also kills his own cat…and this makes him truly a foul person. Patrick Bateman is doing what he does and that is go to work and do nothing, hangout with his shallow co-workers and of course kills people that he finds are lesser than him as well as one that he feels lives a better life than him…in other words Patrick is doing his best to seem like a normal person who has a very dark side. And Patrick is very much a psycho in this one as he uses a knife as well as his axe to deal death to his victims. I like the idea of this comic series so far as the events we are seeing are from the film but we are getting the view from a different characters eyes as we also are getting a backstory for a character that kind of is just floating around in the film but also seems like an important character and that of course is Donald Kimball who clearly is just a weirdo stalker who is gearing up to be a fake private detective in order to get closer to Patrick. The modern story moves forward slightly as all we know is that Charlene Carruthers is confused on if she has killed a man or not, and not much more to say yet for the 2011 part of our comic. The comic has lots of blood and violence and should very much please those readers who enjoy the red stuff being splattered all over the panels. The cover for this issue I have is pretty cool and shows Patrick Bateman and Charlene Carruthers whose refection is showing up on a knife. And once more Piotr Kowalski and Brad Simpson are doing the interior art and its good stuff as it really has a dark mood feel to it. Another good issue and I am very much looking forward to issue three and see how the stories are going to play out.

American Psycho # 3  ***
Released in 2024    Cover Price $4.99    Sumerian Comics    # 3 of 5

Donald Kimball comes up with a fake identity of being a private detective who has been hired to look into the disappearance of Paul Allen and uses this made up life style to weasel his way into interviewing Patrick Bateman several times at his office and is amazed on just how calm Patrick is and how easy it is for the killer to try and act normal. At night Kimball still also follows Patrick hoping to see him kill again and gets upset when he allows his secretary Jean to live when he had her over instead of shooting a nail into her skull. Sometime later Kimball has lunch with and is disappointed in his hero as he thinks that he is a false prophet and is more of a coward than a alpha killer, and after lunch Kimball decides that he has to kill Patrick to show him what he has becomes. So armed with a knife Kimball heads to kill Patrick but before he gets close enough he witnesses the killing of a woman with a chainsaw by Patrick and once more finds that he worships and idolizes the madman. In 2011 Charlene Carruthers is hanging out with one of her friends at a bar and they are looking at social media on her phone as people are posting about the young man murdered when they come across an account that is using Charlene’s pictures and calling her a killer and sharing photos from the crime scene, and this freaks her out and causes her to return to her parents home were she is informed that mental illness runs in her family as her real father is Patrick Bateman is locked up in an asylum.

This third issue is really about Donald Kimball getting more and more drawn into the twisted killing world of Patrick Bateman and coming up with a lie in order to get close, speak to and even touch his new twisted idol as he gets a rush being near him. And it’s clear that at this point Donald Kimball is building a man crush on this killer and is living his kills via watching from the shadows as he feels just like his idol as he is only a shell of a person pretending to be normal. Patrick Bateman is in a spiral as he is getting more and more frenzied in his killings and is also getting a little more unhinged and sloppy as his need to take lives is getting bigger and bigger, but in this issue as well we see that he is starting to crack as Kimball visiting and showing him the CD that he played when killing Paul makes him sweat and also he shows that all of his humanity is not gone as he spares the life of Jean as he finds that he cares and respects her. The turn in this issue that is very interesting is that Kimball has lost his faith in Patrick and has set his sights on killing him, but once he watches him slaughter another female he once more gains his love and obsession with the madman killer and wants to learn from him. The 2011 set part of our story is also pretty great in this issue as Charlene Carruthers learns that someone on social media has created a fake account for her calling her a killer and she also learns that her real father in Patrick Bateman who has been locked up in an asylum for the past 24 years. The issue has blood being spilt as we see a woman be killed with a chainsaw and of course the Horror is coming from not only Patrick Bateman and his kills but also from the decent into madness from Donald Kimball. The cover for this issue is pretty cool and has both Patrick Bateman and Charlene Carruthers in a maze and the use of blue and white makes it standout. The interior art is still being done by Piotr Kowalski and Brad Simpson and you guessed it is great stuff and they make a good team. This series this far as been really good and I am looking forward to reading the next and seeing how this all plays out.

American Psycho # 4  ***
Released in 2024    Cover Price $4.99    Sumerian Comics    # 4 of 5

After Patrick Bateman leaves the place of the kills Donald Kimball enters dressed in a hazmat suit and cleans the whole area that so happens to be the apartment of the late great Paul Allen, and all through the place is dead female bodies, parts and blood…but he knows that he needs to clean so that Patrick will not be caught. As Donald is cleaning the landlord enters and she is threatened that if she speaks of what she has just seen she will be killed and worse her high rent apartment building will be shutdown when people learn that prostitutes have been murdered there, she agrees to keep quit and escapes with her life. After he is finished cleaning up the crime scenes Donald returns home and thinks about committing his first kill, when he gets a phone call from Jean as she has found Patrick’s planner that has lots of violent drawling’s in it as well as Allen’s business card that is covered in blood…and when Donald arrives at the office he ends up stabbing and killing Jean just as Patrick enters and is puzzled by what he is seeing. Donald then alerts Patrick that he knows about the killings and has covered them up for him as he even has called the police and confessed to them all clearing Patrick of all the crimes. Now back to 2011 a confused Charlene Carruthers pulls into the asylum that is more like a country club and sets up a meeting with her father Patrick Bateman who is unaware of her and ends up telling her about the killings as well as the fact Donald only killed one person that being Jean and is not the scary serial killer the world thinks him to be…and he also tells her that he thinks Donald is the man behind the fake social media account!

Well this issue really takes some wild twists and turns as I did not see it coming that Donald Kimball is willing to take the fall for all the killings that Patrick has committed because he idolizes and worships him that much, I also was taken back on the fact that they kill off Jean who is a well liked character from the film. The plot of this issue really is Donald doing what he can to cover up the killings Patrick has committed as he fears for him to be caught and stopped, with the more modern plot being Charlene going to the asylum were Patrick has checked himself in at in order to get answers and meet her real father for the first time only to learn he really is a serial killer! Patrick Bateman in the issue in the past is truly cracking up as his dive into madness and slaughtering is corrupting his mind and soul while in modern times he seems calm but also a little annoyed that he did not get any credit for his kills. Donald Kimball is a psycho who hides behind many different faces and truly loves the thrill of watching people be killed as well as really wants to know what killing feels like and sadly for Jean she becomes his victim. Jean who by accident sets up her own killing thinks she is doing the write thing by calling Donald who she thinks is a Detective about her bosses odd behavior and crude drawings. Charlene Carruthers is starting to question her own sanity as she thinks that maybe she did blackout and kill that asshole from the club, she is also being tormented by this social media account as some people are writing her hate mail while others lover letters! We will see if she is like her father and is the one killing or if its Donald back on the prowl or even Patrick doing these crimes. The plot this far really is drawing me in, as I cannot wait to see how this plays out! The issues has lots of blood and grisly shots of dead bodies and this is were the Horror comes in, and the cover for this issue is cool but a little strange as it shows Patrick in shadow with an axe and body bag in hand. The interior art done by the duo of Piotr Kowalski and Brad Simpson is still great stuff and I like the way they draw Patrick as well as the gruesome deaths. Over all yet another great issue in the American Psycho series and I cannot wait to see what the next and final issue has in store for us.

American Psycho # 5  **1/2
Released in 2024    Cover Price $4.99    Sumerian Comics    # 4 of 5

Donald Kimball has been on the run since the 80’s as he has taken credit for all of Patrick Bateman’s crimes and has now traveled the world killing innocent people, he has found out he has cancer and is now returning to New York in order to see Patrick before he dies, and he has been the one doing the killings and is making it look like it was Charlene Carruthers doing them as he had an idea to kill her after a while and make it look like a suicide in order to draw Patrick Bateman out into the open. Charlene Carruthers hears her “real” father tell her all this and is confused by his words as well as if she should believe him, as she leaves Patrick asks her for her address so that he can write and she does leaving it at the front desk. As Charlene heads home she finds herself being stalked and chased by Kimball who wants to kill her as the ultimate message to Patrick who meanwhile has now killed a bunch of people at the asylum has escaped and is headed to his daughters apartment. Charlene is able to fight back against Kimball but she is stabbed several times and is dying but she is able to shoot Kimball who is also dying from his wounds by the time Patrick shows up. Patrick looks at the two dying people before him as Kimball gives him a letter he wrote him and his daughter begs him to get her help. In the end Patrick Bateman drives Kimball to the hospital and leaves his daughter in her home to bleed to death and she is now trying to fight for her own survival.

Patrick Bateman is back on the loose in these modern times after escaping the asylum that is watching over him as he is faced with both sides of his personality the psycho killer one and the other the want to act normal. The plot has Charlene Carruthers learning that her real father is a serial killer and that one of his biggest “fans” is now committing murders to blame her for with his end goal being to end her life. And when the attack happens Patrick is able to escape his captivity and chooses to get help for his fellow serial killer instead of his daughter when they are both badly injured in the attack. Patrick Bateman clearly has found his dark side again as he has no issues of killing workers at the asylum brutally and even walks away from his own daughter when she needs him the most. It also just shows that no matter how normal Patrick tries to act he is insane at his core and a cold blooded, soulless person. Poor Charlene Carruthers is being used by a serial killer in order to draw out another so that he can tell him farewell, so this young woman’s life is turned upside down all because of psychos, not to even mention she learns her real day is one of the psychos who ends up leaving her to die instead of getting her help when she is stabbed. Donald Kimball starts off just being a wannabe serial killer who after taking the life of his first victim ends up claiming the kills of his idol and then goes around the world killing, but wants to have a final moment with his killer idol when he finds out he is dying from cancer. And Kimball gets his moment when Bateman chooses to get him medical help over his daughter. While over all I enjoyed this series based on American Psycho the cult classic film it does sort of fall apart in this final issue as I feel that it was a little rushed and the payout while grim was lacking a big impact as I wish it was just a little different like Bateman killing them both in order to start fresh. I will say that the creators behind this series do a pretty good job of making it feel like apart of the film universe sort of and do a good job to bring the characters of the past into the year 2011. The issue does have lots of blood being spilt and deaths and both Bateman and Kimball are were the Horror comes from, and if Slasher or Thriller films or comics scare you I am sure this series will creep you out. The cover I have is very cool and showcases Patrick Bateman and the interior art is still really good and done by Piotr Kowalski and Brad Simpson and once more some props to them for sort of making the characters look like the actors that played them in the film. I think if you are a fan of the film American Psycho, like Slashers or just like Horror Comics based of Horror Films make sure to check this series out as over all it’s a really good read. Check out the artwork below to see the style used in this comic mini series.

I never thought that the 2000 film American Psycho would ever get a comic book series so when it was announced for 2023 I was totally shocked and also very much looking forward to reading it, and for the most part I can say that it was a good series with a slightly weak ending. I also have to say that Sumerian Comics could have been a bigger powerhouse in the world of Horror Comics based on films if they would have stayed with it as they besides American Psycho also did comics for The Fog (1980) and Basic Instinct (1992), who knows maybe they will do more of these type of comics in the future. But our time with Patrick Bateman is coming to an end but our time with a horror comic mini series based on a slasher film has not as next up I will be talking about the 1981 film My Bloody Valentine and the comic series from American Mythology! So until next time, read a horror comic of three, watch a horror film or two and as always support your local Horror Host. See you next update as we celebrate Valentines Day in September as I hear that there is a crazed Miner out there that is just itching to celebrate.