Recently, I was in this forum discussing American Psycho, and so I did a bit of side reading on it and found something interesting in the wikipedia article. The first line:

"American Psycho is a 2000 satirical psychological horror film"

My immediate reaction: WHAT? Psychological horror film?

And this isn't the first time I have come across this, I have seen it categorized as a horror film multiple times in the past, and some people have told me they're not a fan of it because they don't like horror.

To me, this film falls squarely into the same category as films like Heathers, In Bruges, and Fargo. In other words, I see it as a dark comedy film. While the character, Patrick Bateman, has severe psychological problems, the exact same thing can be said for the characters in the other three films. But just about every single scene has some kind of humour in it; and not the slapstick-slasher type humour of a Nightmare on Elmstreet, Halloween, or Friday the 13th film, but actual intelligent comedy (mostly satirical of the yuppie culture).

If you've seen American Psycho, how would you describe it from a genre standpoint?

Are there any films that you feel you interpret very differently from most?

I agree, I mainly see American Psycho as a dark comedy, a satire. But it is also kind of a slasher film, with the grotesque violence. I think it explores psychological topics more than Fargo and In Bruges do. It explores narcissism and greed, and makes fun of it. So I can see the psychological part of "psychological horror". But it is definitely not the kind of movie I associate with psychological horror.

A movie I feel I interpret very different from the general audience, is Scarface. It is often labelled as a Crime Drama. Like American Psycho, I see Scarface more as a satire. It makes fun of capitalism, the american dream, the excessive nature of american culture at the time and the crime genre in general. One of my favorite gangster films.

Brings me back to the Golden Globes considering The Martian a comedy.
The way I see it, the overarching writing of American Psycho makes it a satirical/black comedy film, but it does have horror/slasher elements to it, and since it takes itself too seriously, even as a black comedy, I can understand people classifying it as a horror film. I dont really associate it with psychological horror myself tbh. Sometimes the "Psychological" tag in films is a bit loose. Another example is Black Swan, which is also considered psychological horror according to Wikipedia, which I think its weird. At most its a psychological thriller or drama. Certainly the "psychological" part is present, but I dont find horror elements in that film.

Def a satire film. The card scene gives that away. The ending gives that away. By no means a horror. The violence and gore it too tame for that. It's a dark satire film.