Not many adaptations manage to supplant their source material in the cultural consciousness, but Mary Harron‘s take on Bret Easton Ellis‘ American Psycho is one of those. While a good film in its own right, American Psycho primarily functions so well because of Christian Bale‘s turn as Patrick Bateman, as well as the vantage point it had on a period that wasn’t so old at the time. The whole thing is like lightning in a bottle — why attempt it again?

A question that doesn’t faze Lionsgate, who, according to Variety, will be working with writer and director Nobel Jones on another adaptation of the original novel. Deadline has some more information on the screenplay, a “microbudget” take that will be “a down and dirty new version that imagines how yuppie serial killer Patrick Bateman would fare in New York today, factoring in how the world has changed since the 2000 film.”

My initial reaction to the numerous headlines reporting this story is one I imagine most felt: horror. It goes back to that question of why you’d even attempt to tell this story once more; the filmmakers would just be wasting an audience’s time by redoing what Harron and company accomplished. But, getting into the specifics of it, I’m not entirely against the idea. After all, the best reason for a remake (or second adaptation) is to put a new spin on an old story — that’s the impression I come away with. Of course, just because Nobel did second unit work on The Social Network and is a “David Fincher protege” doesn’t mean he’ll make a good film, but he’s at least got a good start.

What do you think of a new American Psycho? Does the approach being taken here sound promising?