In the book, it’s fairly clear that he did kill everyone but only got away with it because 1) nobody can tell anybody else apart because everyone looks the same and 2) everybody is so self-centered that even if they did know a murder took place, they didn’t bother to report it.
It’s very heavily implied in the book that the landlady covered up Paul Allen’s (and multiple other prostitutes’) murder, presumably to maintain the property value of the apartment. Unfortunately, a lot of the clues don’t translate well into a movie:
The apartment only recently became available to rent
Bateman notes that the paint on the walls is still fresh, barely dried
Bateman notes that there’s a lot of potpourri laid out, as though to cover up a smell
Iirc the furniture was also brand new
The landlady immediately knew who Bateman was and asked him to leave
Yup, I agree with your points. It’s where I landed too. I always just try to see it from the perspective of people who like the hallucination theory.
It’s like the Ferris Bueler was in the head of his friend and wasn’t real theory. At first glance, kinda explains a lot. But it’s absolutely not true, and the are breaks in the movie that would happen if it were, additionally the director said that wasn’t true straight up.
But people still believe it. I try not to antagonize, but to show how unlikely that theory is to hold up.
In the book, it’s fairly clear that he did kill everyone but only got away with it because 1) nobody can tell anybody else apart because everyone looks the same and 2) everybody is so self-centered that even if they did know a murder took place, they didn’t bother to report it.
It’s very heavily implied in the book that the landlady covered up Paul Allen’s (and multiple other prostitutes’) murder, presumably to maintain the property value of the apartment. Unfortunately, a lot of the clues don’t translate well into a movie:
Yup, I agree with your points. It’s where I landed too. I always just try to see it from the perspective of people who like the hallucination theory.
It’s like the Ferris Bueler was in the head of his friend and wasn’t real theory. At first glance, kinda explains a lot. But it’s absolutely not true, and the are breaks in the movie that would happen if it were, additionally the director said that wasn’t true straight up.
But people still believe it. I try not to antagonize, but to show how unlikely that theory is to hold up.