This is almost too painfully purposefully ironic.
The folks over at the creative agency Flickering Wall take on one of the best scene’s of the 2000’s cult classic ‘American Psycho’ in their ad video for Denham Jeans and ingeniously make business card obsessed yuppies into jean obsessed hipsters. Hit the jump to see the video.
“Denham Psycho” was conceived when the short’s director Hugo Keijzer met he founder of British jean brand Denham, “-when I first heard Jason Denham talk about jeans it reminded me of the film’s legendary business-card scene. I recognized the same manic attention to detail and ravenous appetite for craftsmanship. This triggered the idea for a modern-day remake of the scene”.
And it works because let’s face it, the line substitutions are scarily relevant. Changing the “Egg shell and Roman” card description to one about “New Vintage” jeans is hilariously seamless. There is also the whole beard and “prison tat” exchange that faithfully keeps to the Easton Ellis’ themes about the compulsive and obsessive culture of the young professional elite. Their hipster Patrick Bateman, like Christian Bale’s, is almost indistinguishable from his colleagues with their vintage rimmed glasses and reverse fade haircuts.
With a remake of ‘American Psycho’ always in development hell, this video shows an amusing angle Hollywood and fans didn’t think of since many believed the references would be too dated. Even the U.K.’s current musical adaptation starring Doctor Who’s Matt Smith as Bateman still stays faithful to the 80’s style the cult film emulates. And let’s not forget, though we want to, Kanye West’s viral video parody of this scene for his album ‘Yeezus’ starring brother-in law Scott Disick. This short does outdo the recent incarnations by abandoning how it continuously gets remade. It does not try to make what 2000 film did work again but updates it by staying true to nature of this generation’s hipster professionals. Standout moments penned by writer Ben Clark are definitely the kitschy lingo line drops like “Inbox me” and how one of them got into a Vinyl Bar.
This funny and horrifying short does capture the spirit of the elitist sociopaths of Easton Ellis’ work whether they don suits or expensive thrift shop fashions–and makes you want to buy Denham jeans just because they pulled it off. Only thing missing was Hewey Lewis and the News. You’d think their Bateman would have it on vinyl, no?