Last year for the Halloween season, Kokandy Productions presented Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd. Now they’re back with another slasher songfest: American Psycho: The Musical, adapted from Bret Easton Ellis’s 1991 novel by book writer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and with a score by Duncan Sheik, whose original songs are interspersed with pop hits like “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” and “In the Air Tonight.”

It’s definitely a case of style over substance this time around—Patrick Bateman, the bored rich investment banker at the center of Ellis’s story, has far less justification for his murderous rampages than barber Sweeney. But in director Derek Van Barham’s hands, the ensemble delivers a sardonic snapshot of 1980s excess and narcissism. (Yes, a certain Manhattan real estate mogul of the era who went onto, um, other things in more recent years is name-checked with admiration by Bateman.)

I confess I’ve never read Ellis’s novel and have only seen Mary Harron’s 2000 film starring Christian Bale as Bateman in bits and pieces, but I don’t think you need familiarity with the source material to enjoy what Kokandy has cooked up here. (For the squeamish, it should be noted that while murder is on the menu, the stage violence is highly stylized, rather than realistic.)

What the story lacks in insight (breaking news: extreme consumerism and greed make soulless drones of us all!) it makes up for in wit and commitment to the disturbing worldview of Kyle Patrick’s creepily charismatic Bateman. A strong supporting ensemble playing multiple roles and clever runway set design by G “Max” Maxin IV (who also designs the lights and projections) make us feel like we’re at a fashion show of the damned.