''American Psycho 2'' (also known as ''American Psycho II: All American Girl'') is a 2002 American

black comedy Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discu ...

slasher film directed by Morgan J. Freeman from a screenplay by Alex Sanger and Karen Craig. Starring

Mila Kunis Milena Markovna "Mila" Kunis (born August 14, 1983) is an American actress. Born in Chernivtsi and raised in Los Angeles, she began playing Jackie Burkhart on the Fox television series ''That '70s Show'' (1998–2006) at the age of 14. Since ...

and William Shatner, it is a stand-alone sequel to the film '' American Psycho''. Kunis portrays a criminology student who is drawn to murder. The screenplay for the film, entitled ''The Girl Who Wouldn't Die'', originally had no association with ''American Psycho''. After production began, the script was altered to connect the film with the original. ''American Psycho 2'' was released direct-to-video on June 18, 2002, to negative reviews from critics and holds a 0% rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

. It was also denounced by Bret Easton Ellis, the author of the original novel, and Kunis later expressed regret for the film.

Plot

The film starts with a 12-year-old girl whose babysitter is on a date with serial killer Patrick Bateman. After Bateman kills and starts to dissect her babysitter, said 12-year-old girl stabs him with an

ice pick The ice pick is a pointed metal tool used from the 1800s to the 1900s to break, pick or chip at ice. The design consists of a sharp metal spike attached to a wooden handle. The tool's design has been relatively unchanged since its creation. The ...

. Fast forward to the present day and the girl, who is named Rachael Newman, is now a college student studying criminology under Professor Starkman, a former FBI agent. Rachael aspires to join the FBI and is determined to get the teaching assistant position under Starkman, which would make her a

shoo-in Odds provide a measure of the likelihood of a particular outcome. They are calculated as the ratio of the number of events that produce that outcome to the number that do not. Odds are commonly used in gambling and statistics. Odds also have ...

for the FBI training program. Tough competition for the position stands in her way, and Rachael proceeds to kill off classmates one by one. During her killing spree, she decides to see the school psychiatrist, Dr. Eric Daniels. Realizing that Rachael is a textbook

sociopath Psychopathy, sometimes considered synonymous with sociopathy, is characterized by persistent antisocial behavior, impaired empathy and remorse, and bold, disinhibited, and egotistical traits. Different conceptions of psychopathy have been u ...

that is obsessed with Starkman, Daniels tries to warn Starkman but without revealing Rachel's name due to patient confidentiality. Starkman mistakenly assumes that the student obsessed with him is Cassandra Blaire, with whom he had an extramarital affair. When Cassandra reveals that her affair with Professor Starkman has guaranteed her the teaching assistant position, Rachael decides to murder her as well. After she does so, Professor Starkman discovers Cassandra's body and calls Daniels to tell him that "she's dead". He does not identify the victim and Daniels assumes it must be Rachael. Distraught, Professor Starkman leaves his teaching position, which angers the obsessed Rachael. It is revealed that she is not Rachael Newman; she killed the real Rachael at the beginning of the semester and assumed her identity. During spring break, "Rachael" stays on campus and locates an intoxicated Starkman, impaired by the effects of

Valium Diazepam, first marketed as Valium, is a medicine of the benzodiazepine family that acts as an anxiolytic. It is commonly used to treat a range of conditions, including anxiety, seizures, alcohol withdrawal syndrome, muscle spasms, insomnia, a ...

and alcohol, and tries to seduce him to get the job. However, Starkman sees she is wearing a dress and necklace he had given to Cassandra. She then confesses her crimes to him, her "crush" on him, and that she knew about his affairs with various women (which included her former babysitter that Bateman murdered), as he backs up towards the window in a state of confusion and fear. Rachael blows him a kiss, and he falls out the window to his death. As she leaves, Rachael also murders a janitor and a security guard because they witnessed Starkman's death. As the film reaches its conclusion, Daniels and two cops pursue Rachael in a car chase, which ends with Rachael driving off a cliff, resulting in the car exploding. At this point, she is presumed to be dead by the cops who witnessed the event and the media. Two years later, Dr. Daniels is giving a lecture on Rachael's mind and how he wrote a book about her. When he looks up from speaking with a student, he sees Rachael, who has not died after all; she indirectly reveals that she killed Starkman's last assistant, Elizabeth McGuire, and stole her identity to get into Quantico FBI Academy. She allows Dr. Daniels to know because she believes there is no point in committing the perfect crime if no one knows about it and she is confident he will not divulge this information because it would make a farce of his best-selling book in which he claimed to completely understand her and witness her death in the fiery car. The body that was in the car was the real Rachael, whose decaying body had been kept in the killer's dorm closet. It was revealed by another student that Rachael is the youngest agent to be drafted to the Bureau in her sophomore year. As Rachael walks out of his class, Dr. Daniels is visibly shaken by what he had just learned.

Cast

as Rachael Newman, the serial killer, and a student of Professor Starkman's class, seeking to learn everything she can about serial killers. ** Susan Dalton as the real Rachael Newman ** Jenna Perry as Young Rachael * William Shatner as Robert Starkman, a college professor and former FBI agent. He teaches in the Behavioral and Social Sciences department and is Rachael's professor. * Geraint Wyn Davies as Eric Daniels, the school psychiatrist *

Robin Dunne Robin Dunne (born November 19, 1976) is a Canadian actor who has had numerous leading roles in sequels throughout his career, but is perhaps best known for his role as Doctor Will Zimmerman in the science fiction television series ''Sanctuary''. ...

as Brian Leads, one of Rachael's classmates *

Lindy Booth Lindy Booth (born April 2, 1979) is a Canadian actress. She played Riley Grant on the Disney Channel series ''The Famous Jett Jackson'' (and Agent Hawk in the show-within-a-show ''Silverstone'') and Claudia on '' Relic Hunter'' and A.J. Butterf ...

as Cassandra Blaire, a student in Starkman's class with whom he is having an affair. * Charles Officer as Keith Lawson * Michael Kremko as Patrick Bateman, a notorious serial killer *

Kim Poirier Kim Jacinthe Poirier (born February 6, 1980) is a Canadian actress, singer, film producer, and television host. Biography Personal life Born in Drummondville, Quebec, the daughter of actress/model Carol Laquerre who was Miss Toronto in 1976, sh ...

as Barbara Brown, a student in Starkman's class who is hoping for a good grade, only to be set aside due to the professor's affair with Cassandra Blaire. * Kim Schraner as Elizabeth McGuire, Starkman's assistant * Shoshana Sperling as Gertrude Fleck * Lynne Deragon as Mrs. Newman * Philip Williams as Mr. Newman * Kay Hawtrey as Mrs. Daniels

Release

Home media

The film was released on VHS and

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

on June 18, 2002. Extras included a feature commentary with director Freeman, star Kunis, deleted scenes, and a trailer. The film made its

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...

debut on September 5, 2017. It includes all of the DVD extras along with a digital copy.

Reception

''American Psycho 2'' was panned by critics. Review aggregation website

gives the film a rating score of 0% based on 8 reviews, with an average score of 2.90 out of 10. Film critic Rob Gonsalves wrote, "''American Psycho 2'' wasn't even supposed to be an ''American Psycho'' sequel, for Christ's sake! Lions Gate noticed that the first film got critical acclaim and didn't do too poorly in theaters, so they dusted off an unrelated script and modified it to link it (tenuously) to the first film." The film was denounced by ''American Psycho'' author Bret Easton Ellis the year before its release. In 2005, Mila Kunis expressed embarrassment over the film, and spoke out against the idea of a third entry. "Please—somebody stop this", she said. "Write a petition. When I did the second one, I didn't know it would be ''American Psycho II''. It was supposed to be a different project, and it was re-edited, but, ooh … I don't know. Bad."

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:American Psycho 2 American Psycho 2002 films 2002 black comedy films 2002 comedy horror films 2002 direct-to-video films 2002 independent films 2002 thriller films 2000s comedy thriller films 2000s English-language films 2000s horror thriller films 2000s serial killer films 2000s slasher films 2000s teen comedy films 2000s teen horror films 2000s American films American black comedy films American comedy horror films American comedy thriller films American direct-to-video films American horror thriller films American independent films American serial killer films American slasher films American teen comedy films American teen horror films Direct-to-video comedy films Direct-to-video horror films Direct-to-video sequel films Direct-to-video thriller films Films based on American horror novels Films based on works by Bret Easton Ellis Films directed by Morgan J. Freeman Films set in 1993 Films set in 1999 Films set in 2001 Films set in universities and colleges Films shot in Toronto Lionsgate films Slasher comedy films