Decidedly low key compared to it’s literary counterpart, American Psycho the movie received a much “warmer” welcome. But don’t mistake it’s mild approach to murder as weakness, the movie’s direction captured the more satiric side of the book and clearly left the more gruesome aspects to the imagination.

Assuming that the general public has seen the movie over reading the book (although if you can stomach it, flip through a few pages), you can expect to see more psychological elements of American Psycho in the musical. Besides, who would want American Psycho tickets if they had to walk out of the theater with blood spray? (Gallagher anyone?)

Directed by Mary Harron, who directed “I shot Andy Warhol” and more Recently “The Notorious Bettie Page” (quite a stretch), American Psycho premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and received positive reviews.

According to Rolling Stone, “Whenever Harron digs beneath the glitzy surface in search of feelings that haven’t been desensitized, the horrific and hilarious American Psycho can still strike a raw nerve” and Roger Ebert managed to squeeze out three stars for the film.

Christian Bale, known for transforming himself physically and mentally for his roles, received praise for his ice cold portrayal of Bateman, earning him the Chlotrudis Award and the OFCS Award for Best Actor as well as the ALFS Award for British Actor of the year. Is there a chance that he could reprise the role on stage?

Notable differences between the book and the movie include name changes- Paul Owen in the novel is Paul Allen in the movie and Tim Price in the novel is Tim Bryce in the movie and some key characters in the Novel, including Patrick Bateman’s brother Sean (the main character in Ellis’ novel Rules of Attraction), are absent in the film.

The most prevalent difference between the movie and the book is the absence of violence that is intricately detailed in the novel. During an interview between Ellis and a writer from Hotwired, the interviewer confessed that he became physically ill after reading a passage from the book (we probably won’t see them in line to purchase American Psycho tickets any time soon).  So the omission of the finer moments within the book is understandable, if you can’t stomach gore, then watch the movie instead. Or better yet, land yourself some American Psycho tickets and see the horror live!