Alam Nyo Ba?

More than any horror character except perhaps Frankenstein’s monster, Dracula has continuously evolved to reflect the fears and fantasies of each cinematic era. From Max Schreck’s plague-like nightmare in silent German Expressionism to Gary Oldman’s operatic romantic antihero, every major Dracula performance has redefined what the vampire represents. With that in mind, here are our picks for the Best Dracula Actors.

The Many Faces of Dracula

• The Plague Creature — Max Schreck
• The Hypnotic Aristocrat — Bela Lugosi
• The Passionate Showman — Carlos Villarias
• The Feral Predator — Christopher Lee
• The Tragic Romantic — Jack Palance
• The Existential Parasite — Klaus Kinski
• The Operatic Antihero — Gary Oldman
• The Secret Manipulator — Christian Camargo
• The Storybook Monster — Duncan Regehr
• The Meta Vampire — Willem Dafoe

C​hristian Camargo – Penny Dreadful (2016)

W​hile Universal was trying to figure out how to create their Dark Universe, over on Showtime, Penny Dreadful was already doing a fantastic job beating them to the punch. The series pulled together literary versions of Frankenstein’s monster, the wolfman, Dorian Gray, and eventually Dracula himself. Christian Camargo played Dr. Alexander Sweet in Season Three, who begins to seduce Eva Green’s Vanessa Ives. It is revealed later that this doctor is, in fact, the Count himself, making him an unconventional addition to the Best Dracula Actors list. Carmargo brought out the seductive side of the vampire while later revealing just how deadly he could be.

D​uncan Regehr – The Monster Squad (1987)

His version of Count Dracula appeared in the kid’s film The Monster Squad but brought a lot of menace to the role. He appears in town with his other monster friends, looking for Van Helsing’s diary. Our group of young heroes crosses paths with him multiple times and only barely escape with their lives. Dracula has no problem using some dynamite to blow up their tree house and sees no problem with wanting a group of children killed. He was so terrifying in the role that child actor Ashley Bank legitimately screamed for her life during their face-to-face confrontation. Regehr scared a whole generation of movie fans. We would for sure list him as one of the best on-screen Dracula portrayals… and to make things he even better, he spends a good portion of his screen time hanging out with versions of Frankenstein’s Monster, the Wolf Man, the Mummy, and the Gill-Man.

K​laus Kinski – Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979)

I​n 1979, Werner Herzog remade the classic vampire tale, and in a twist of genius casting, put Klaus Kinski in the title role. His version of Dracula is more animalistic in its approach. He doesn’t seduce his victim but instead drinks from them in their sleep. His creepy look harkens back to the Max Schreck version but has even less humanity than that film put on display. With his giant lips and sharp teeth, he seems more like a leech than anything that can pass for human. Even though the performance from Kinski is completely strange (from Kinski? Go figure), it still is one of the best on-screen versions of Dracula.

J​ack Palance – Dracula (1974)

W​ith the popularity of Dan Curtis’s series like Dark Shadows and his Kolchak TV movies, he decided to turn his attention to bringing Dracula to the small screen. He teamed up with his usual collaborator Richard Matheson to bring it to life. They cast Jack Palance in the role of Dracula, and he brings an edge of pathos to the character. In this version, he sees a woman that reminds him of his long-dead wife. We see a little more of the character’s humanity as he tries to find the one thing that used to make him happy. He’ll get it no matter who he has to kill.

W​illem Dafoe – Shadow of the Vampire (2000)

T​his fictional take on the making of Nosferatu turns Max Schreck into an actual vampire. The director F. W. Murnau brings aboard this strange actor who suddenly seems too well-equipped to play the famed vampire. Dafoe disappears into the role of the strange creature. The interactions between him and the rest of the cast is fantastic to watch, and Murnau getting frustrated that he won’t stop killing the cast is great. A strange meta performance but still ranks as one of the best on-screen Dracula portrayals even if it’s by technicality.

G​ary Oldman – Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992)

Sometimes Dracula just can’t help falling in love. I​ don’t think it will be a shock to say that Gary Oldman is an amazing actor. Francis Ford Coppola cast him to play Dracula in his 1992 big-budget story version. They used some of the best state-of-the-art effects to transform Oldman during different stages of his rejuvenation. He starts out as a decrepit old man, and as he feeds, he ages backward until he becomes a spry young man. Oldman plays the character perfectly, and you can see how easily seductive he is. At the same turn, there is a danger underneath that seeps through onto the screen. Easy to see why he’s a contender for the best on-screen Dracula.

C​arlos Villarias – Dracula Spanish Version (1931)

W​hen sound was first introduced to films, studios would sometimes make foreign language versions as well with different actors on the same sets and using the same costumes. For the 1931 Dracula, they shot the English version with Bela Lugosi during the day, and then another crew would come in to shoot the Spanish Language version of the horror film at night.

When compared, Villarias’ version of the character isn’t quite as stiff as Lugosi’s. His expressions and movements were more free-flowing and set this version apart. This, along with making the female leads sexier due to less stringent film codes in other countries, made this version of the story stand out from its English counterpart. Some even like it better than the Todd Browning film that everyone knows.

M​ax Schreck – Nosferatu (1922)

E​ven if someone hasn’t seen this film they definitely know the look of Max Schreck in the film. It has transcended the film and lodged itself so completely in pop culture that a single image of the film is enough for people to recognize it. This silent film from Germany used light and shadow to give Schrek’s Count Orlok (we all know it’s really Dracula) such a commanding presence in the film. His look and mannerisms have given generations the creeps just by looking at him. The filmmakers were sued by Stoker’s estate and lost. All film copies were to be destroyed, but a few survived, which is good for history as this version of the character might just be the creepiest it has ever been.

C​hristopher Lee – Horror of Dracula (1958)

W​hen Universal’s monster series began to grow long in the tooth (pun intended), they began to shift away from some of the classic monsters and move more into the atomic-age films that had started to become popular. Across the pond, Hammer Films decided to do their own version of these classic creatures. Christopher Lee was cast, and his take on Dracula was something audiences hadn’t seen up to that point. His version was very proper and dignified, but once he went into his blood-lust, he became savage and unhinged. You were in trouble if you were unlucky enough to come across him at this stage. He bared his fangs and hissed while his eyes became bloodshot and unsettled. The switch almost happens instantly. You could be having a thoroughly normal conversation, but he would suddenly go into a rage, and there would be no way to calm him down until he was able to dine. A scary portrayal of the character for sure.

Lee portrayed Dracula in a total of ten films. In addition to Horror of Dracula, he starred in Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966), Dracula Has Risen from the Grave (1968), Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970), Scars of Dracula (1970), Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972), and The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973). He also played the character in Jess Franco’s Count Dracula (1970), Jerry Lewis’s One More Time (1970), and Édouard Molinaro’s Dracula and Son (1976).

B​ela Lugosi – Dracula (1931)

The Universal horror icon. U​ntil the world finally turns to dust and escapes into the vacuum of space, no other actor will be as associated with the character of Dracula as Bela Lugosi. His slow walk and deep gaze became a stereotype for how the character was portrayed in every version afterward. His menacing stare and slow walk toward his victim became the stereotype for every characterization of Dracula.

Even when Lugosi would return to the role in the Abbott and Costello movies, his presence was enough to send a chill down your spine even with all the comedy going on around him. The simple delivery of the line, “Listen to them, the children of the night. What music they make!” is enough to send Lugosi to the Dracula hall of fame. Even with a smile on his face, the darkness in his performance is bone-chilling.

Actor	Film / Series	Year	Dracula Style	Key Traits	Influence / Legacy
Christian Camargo	Penny Dreadful	2016	The Secret Manipulator	Intellectual, seductive, psychologically controlling	Modern prestige-TV reinterpretation of Dracula as a hidden corrupter
Duncan Regehr	The Monster Squad	1987	The Storybook Monster	Cruel, theatrical, physically threatening	Introduced younger audiences to a classic-style Dracula during the ‘80s
Klaus Kinski	Nosferatu the Vampyre	1979	The Existential Parasite	Lonely, corpse-like, melancholy	Helped popularize the tragic and emotionally exhausted vampire
Jack Palance	Dracula	1974	The Tragic Romantic	Emotional, grief-stricken, sympathetic	Early blueprint for the romantic Dracula archetype
Willem Dafoe	Shadow of the Vampire	2000	The Meta Vampire	Uncanny, darkly comic, self-aware	Explored vampire mythology through metafiction and horror satire
Gary Oldman	Bram Stoker’s Dracula	1992	The Operatic Antihero	Romantic, seductive, monstrous	Influenced the modern romantic vampire boom of the 1990s and 2000s
Carlos Villarias	Dracula (Spanish Version)	1931	The Passionate Showman	Expressive, volatile, sensual	Became a cult-favorite alternative to Bela Lugosi’s portrayal
Max Schreck	Nosferatu	1922	The Plague Creature	Inhuman, rat-like, nightmarish	Defined the monstrous vampire archetype in horror cinema
Christopher Lee	Horror of Dracula	1958	The Feral Predator	Violent, aristocratic, animalistic	Revolutionized Dracula with sensuality and physical aggression
Bela Lugosi	Dracula	1931	The Hypnotic Aristocrat	Elegant, restrained, commanding	Established the definitive mainstream image of Dracula

Who do you think is the best on-screen Dracula? Would you have included Frank Langella, Gerard Butler, John Carradine, or Richard Roxburgh? Maybe George Hamilton in Love at First Bite? Adam Sandler (Hotel Transylvania)? Lon Chaney Jr. (Son of Dracula)? Let us know in the comments.

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Christopher Lee portrayed Dracula in a total of ten films, and his epic run as the legendary bloodsucker began with the 1958 Hammer production Horror of Dracula, one of the best Dracula movies ever made. As that film’s 70th anniversary draws near, Deadline reports that the recently revived Hammer Horror Films has crafted an uncensored 4K restoration of Horror of Dracula that will be coming to theatres this Halloween!

This restoration of Horror of Dracula will also be available on home entertainment. 

What is Horror of Dracula about?

Directed by Terence Fisher from a screenplay by Jimmy Sangster and based on the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker, Horror of Dracula is a fun twist on a familiar story. In this one, Jonathan Harker arrives at Count Dracula’s Transylvanian castle to destroy the vampire. His mission fails when he is bitten and becomes undead. Dr. Van Helsing arrives to investigate, kills his turned friend, and travels to Karlstadt to protect Harker’s loved ones from Dracula’s revenge.

Lee was joined in the cast by Peter Cushing, Michael Gough, Melissa Stribling, Carol Marsh, and John Van Eyssen.

Following Horror of Dracula, Lee reprised the role of Dracula in the Hammer productions Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966), Dracula Has Risen from the Grave (1968), Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970), Scars of Dracula (1970), Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972), and The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973). He also played the character in Jess Franco’s Count Dracula (1970), Jerry Lewis’s One More Time (1970), and Édouard Molinaro’s Dracula and Son (1976).

What do we know about the restoration?

Horror of Dracula was the first full color production of a Dracula film, so the first cut of the film proved to be too intense for ’58. There were reports of people fainting at screenings, and censors took issue with the bloodshed. Only moviegoers Japan had the chance to see the uncut version.

Hammer owner John Gore told Deadline, “It was the fangs that scared them. People were screaming, which was the point. Think of every Halloween, and you see all those fangs, that’s a Hammer and Christopher Lee invention. It all started when Christopher Lee said, ‘I want more teeth with this,’ so (makeup artist Philip Leakey) came up with something that had some bite. That thing that we just associate with vampires everywhere all came up with Lee and the makeup guy.“

As for the censored moments, Gore said, “We managed to get the uncut original Christopher Lee Dracula. So we’ve just been remastering that now. So there’s like three minutes missing. Hammer’s business was based on the censor. Getting that X-rated certificate was crucial to marketing, but they could only go so far because the censors didn’t like what they saw — all that blood. So Warner Brothers, they have this massive, massive storage near LAX where everything from the 1920s onwards is there. I mean, there’s like 10 Batmobiles and God knows what. And they found the director’s cut of the original 1958 Dracula. So we will be unlocking that and the world will get to see the bits they weren’t seeing, which is mostly to do with how Dracula dies at the end.“

There’s also “a bit that’s so famous, it’s where Christopher Lee descends on the woman and is about to bite her. It’s so sexual and they had to trim that because it just looked like it was nothing to do with vampires. So they had to trim a bit of the sexual stuff and then how he’s destroyed at the end. They cut quite a lot out because they went, ‘It’s too gruesome.’ And now that’s back in. All the crucial points that were axed are now back in.“

Silver Salt Restoration oversaw the upgrade of the picture. Gore added that he and his team are looking at the entire Hammer catalogue and exploring how the vault of 160+ productions might be further exploited.

Horror of Dracula is a great movie, so it’s very cool to hear that an uncensored 4K version will be in theatres this Halloween. Are you a fan of this one? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

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Tyler

It’s time for another episode of the WTF Happened to This Horror Movie? video series, and with this one we’re looking back at writer/director John Carpenter’s 1988 sci-fi horror cult classic They Live (rent or buy it HERE). To hear all about it, check out the video embedded above!

Inspired by the 1963 short story Eight O’Clock in the Morning by Ray Nelson, They Live tells us that aliens are systematically gaining control of the Earth by masquerading as humans and lulling the public into submission. Humanity’s last chance lies with a lone drifter who stumbles upon a harrowing discovery — a unique pair of sunglasses that reveals the terrifying and deadly truth.

The film stars “Rowdy” Roddy Piper, Keith David, Meg Foster, Raymond St. Jacques, George “Buck” Flower, and Peter Jason.

This is what the WTF Happened to This Horror Movie series is all about: Hollywood has had its fair share of historically troubled productions. Whether it was casting changes, actor deaths, fired directors, in-production rewrites, constant delays, budget cuts or studio edits, these films had every intention to be a blockbuster, but were beset with unforeseen disasters. Sometimes huge hits, sometimes box office bombs. Either way, we have to ask: WTF Happened To This Horror Movie?

The episode of WTF Happened to This Horror Movie? covering John Carpenter’s They Live was Written, Narrated, and Edited by Tyler Nichols, Produced by John Fallon and Tyler Nichols, and Executive Produced by Berge Garabedian.

A couple of the previous episodes of the show can be seen below. To see more, head over to our JoBlo Horror Originals YouTube channel – and subscribe while you’re there!

Are you a fan of They Live, and what did you think of this episode of WTF Happened to This Horror Movie? Let us know by leaving a comment.

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To this day, Ginger Snaps remains one of the greatest werewolf movies of all time. The idea to pair turning into a lycanthrope with puberty was a stroke of genius. But it’s really the Fitzgerald sisters that make the film so damn memorable. An entire generation of outcasts connected with their plight, and they became horror icons. Yet, strangely enough, the film came out to very little fanfare when first released. Thankfully, after several years, HBO picked up the rights, and it became a cult classic.

To celebrate the film’s 25th anniversary (and 4K release), I spoke with Katharine Isabelle, Emily Perkins, and director John Fawcett about the movie. They get into how much fun it was to film the staged deaths, and how it was one of their favorite aspects of production. John discusses the remastering process and the love and care put into this new release. Given how little Emily and Katharine have done interviews for the film, this was a real treat. You can check it all out in the video above!

Ginger Snaps plot:

Ginger Snaps is the story of death-fixated teenage sisters Ginger and Brigitte, who are attacked one night by a creature drawn to Ginger’s first menstrual period. Bitten by the creature, Ginger soon exhibits sudden aggression and bizarre transformations that convince Brigitte her sister is turning into a werewolf…and that Ginger’s embrace of her liberating new condition may be terminal.

Ginger Snaps 25th Anniversary 4K Blu-Ray is now available!

Related

Lionsgate has the teenage werewolf film Ginger Snaps transform into a new 4K Blu-ray

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Growing up, I would always notice the Witchcraft movies sitting on the shelves of my local video stores. I was intrigued by them and the fact that this horror franchise was steadily pumping out sequels, but I never rented them. It wasn’t until 2011 that I spent thirteen weeks viewing my way through the entire series, one installment a week… and that was quite an experience, as this is one crazy series. In 2016, the franchise grew by three more sequels, with parts 14, 15, and 16 being filmed back-to-back-to-back. Last year, Witchcraft XVII: The Initiation made its way out into the world – and now, it has come to our attention that the eighteenth film in the franchise is already on the way! This one is called Witchcraft: The Lanterne of Light, and the cast includes Lisa Wilcox of the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise and reality TV icon and media personality Kato Kaelin.

What is Witchcraft: The Lanterne of Light about?

This is said to be a paranormal found-footage installment in the franchise, made with the intention of reintroducing Witchcraft with a more grounded, atmospheric approach. The story centers on a paranormal investigation team documenting the legend of The Children of the Hollow, a pagan cult rooted in North Carolina folklore, as their search for answers leads them into increasingly dangerous territory.

Wilcox takes on the role of Detective Garner, “a woman already scarred by years of horrifying investigations tied to disappearances, ritualistic murders, and secrets that were never meant to resurface. The deeper the crew digs, the more they realize Garner may know far more about the nightmare awaiting them than she’s willing to admit.“

Kaelin will be playing the host of “a live special edition of Murder in a Minute, a late-night true crime broadcast that airs the recovered footage connected to the mysterious disappearance of William Spanner, Keli Jordan, and the rest of the team from the television series Unmasking the Paranormal. Neither Kaelin nor the viewers watching the broadcast have ever seen the footage before, causing the terror and reactions unfolding throughout the film to happen completely in real time. As the broadcast continues, what begins as a sensationalized exposé quickly spirals into something far more disturbing. The recovered footage reveals the existence of The Children of the Hollow, a brutal cult tied to an ancient cursed lantern known as The Lanterne of Light. Strange interruptions and increasingly panicked reactions from viewers blur the line between entertainment and genuine supernatural terror.“

Also in the cast are

• Andrew Pierson (A Soldier’s Descent)
• Kristina Lafser (The Last Sleepover)
• Former Studio 54 DJ Rockin Ronnie
• Sandy Johnson, best known for playing Judith Myers in the original Halloween

The film is being directed by Carissa Pierson, who had this to say about some of the cast members: “Rockin Ronnie brings a presence you can’t manufacture. There’s a lived-in authenticity to him that immediately adds texture to the world we’re building. The Lanterne of Light is about atmosphere, about history bleeding into the present—and his energy fits right into that.

Lisa Wilcox is someone I grew up watching and admiring as a horror fan, so having her become part of Witchcraft: The Lanterne of Light is honestly surreal. She brings strength, emotion, and authenticity to Detective Garner in a way that elevates the entire film. Fans are going to see a darker, more psychological side of horror with this story, and Lisa fits perfectly into that world.

We wanted the audience to feel like they’re watching something they were never supposed to see. Kato’s role brings an unsettling realism to the film because the horror is unfolding live in front of everyone. It turns the audience into part of the experience.“

Have you seen the previous entries in this franchise, and are you interested in watching another Witchcraft sequel? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

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PLOT: After a young couple witnesses a gruesome highway accident, they soon realize they did not leave the crash scene alone, as a demonic presence called the Passenger won’t stop until it claims them both.

REVIEW: When I first saw the teaser for Passenger months ago, I thought it was one of the scariest trailers I’d seen in a while. It had that perfect “what the hell was that?” feeling that made me want to see the movie immediately. I was so in that I refused to watch any more trailers because I didn’t want any of the scares ruined for me.

Funny enough, the joke was on me. That teaser is basically a shortened version of the opening sequence, so when the big scare finally came, I saw it coming. Unfortunately, that turned out to be a pretty good preview of the movie itself.

Passenger may as well have been called Jump Scare: The Movie.

André Øvredal knows how to stage a horror sequence, and there are definitely moments where the movie works. But so many of the scares are telegraphed from a mile away. You can feel the movie winding itself up before every loud noise or sudden face in the frame. After a while, it stops being scary and starts feeling like you’re waiting for someone to clap behind your head.

The setup is solid. Maddie (Lou Llobell) and Tyler (Jacob Scipio) are a young couple who’ve given up their apartment to live the whole van-life dream. Tyler seems way more into it than Maddie, who already looks like she’s realizing that “freedom on the open road” may not be the life she envisioned.

After an effective opening involving two friends on the road and something very wrong lurking in the distance, Passenger shifts to Maddie and Tyler several weeks into their #vanlife. While looking for a place to park for the night, they come across a brutal car accident and realize way too late that they didn’t just witness something horrific. Soon, they realize something has latched onto them. A ghost hitchhiker, a demon, a curse, a road monster, or whatever the hell you want to call it. The idea is creepy because road horror should be easy to make scary. You’re trapped in a vehicle, stuck in unfamiliar places, and the whole point of driving away is that you’re supposed to be able to escape. So, what happens when you can’t?

That’s where Passenger should really cook. And sometimes, it really does.

The opening is easily one of the film’s strongest parts. The cinematography is gorgeous, and there’s an eerie control to the way it builds. Øvredal has already proved himself with films like Trollhunter, The Autopsy of Jane Doe, and Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, and you can feel that experience here. If this movie were in the hands of a less-seasoned director, it could’ve been a road I’d never want to travel again, and not in the good horror movie way. Øvredal keeps it watchable even when the script starts running on fumes.

And that’s really where the film struggles. The script from Zachary Donohue and T.W. Burgess is the weakest part of the whole thing. There’s some eye-rolling dialogue, and the lead characters just aren’t memorable enough. I’m not even exaggerating when I say I forgot their names almost immediately after walking out of the theater and had to look them up for this review. Funny enough, even IMDb didn’t have Lou Llobell’s character name listed when I checked. It’s Maddie (thanks, Wikipedia), but honestly, I might as well have called her Scared Girl.

That’s not really on Llobell, either. She does a decent job with what she’s given, and so does Scipio. Melissa Leo also shows up and gives the movie some extra credibility, even if her character mostly exists to explain the mythology. The actors aren’t the problem. They’re trying to sell a script that never gives them enough personality to make us truly care about them beyond “please don’t die.”

The mythology is also a little silly. I like it when horror movies build rules around a creature or curse, and Passenger tries to do that with its road symbols, warnings, and creepy old folklore. But the more the movie explains, the less interesting it becomes. The Passenger itself works better when it’s a shape in the dark, something half-seen, something that feels like it could appear in the rearview mirror at any second. Once the movie shows more, especially in its final form, it loses much of its power. Sometimes the scariest thing a horror movie can do is not explain itself to death.

Still, there are some great set pieces here. There’s a one-take sequence in a parking lot that is easily one of the highlights, and there’s another scene involving an outdoor movie in the woods that I really dug. I don’t want to spoil how those play out, but those are the moments where you see the better version of Passenger. The movie has style. It has atmosphere. It has a few nasty gore effects that hit harder than expected because they’re used sparingly. When the violence lands, it lands.

That’s what makes Passenger frustrating. It’s not a bad movie. It’s just one of those horror films where you can see the better version of it hiding inside the one you’re watching. The premise is there. The director is there. The cinematography is there. Several set pieces absolutely work. But the characters are thin, the dialogue gets rough, the mythology gets goofy, and the scares are way too easy to predict.

It even has the “getting yanked away on the ground while screaming towards the camera” move. Future horror directors: STOP. DOING. THIS. SHIT.

I wanted this to be scarier. I wanted the movie to live up to the promise of that teaser. It doesn’t quite get there. But I also can’t say I had a terrible time with it. There’s enough craft here, enough atmosphere, and enough fun horror nonsense to make it worth watching with a crowd. I genuinely screamed a few times.

So instead of getting in the left lane and passing this film entirely, I’d say load the car up with your friends and enjoy the ride. Just don’t expect it to take you anywhere you haven’t been before.

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PLOT: In 1858, an eccentric young woman, Winifred Notty (Maika Monroe), is hired to be the live-in governess for the aristocratic Pound family. Yet, she’s hiding more than a few secrets, one of which is that she’s a full-blown psychopath.

REVIEW: Watching Victorian Psycho, I couldn’t help but wonder why we haven’t gotten more horror films set in this era. After all, it’s a natural setting for a ghoulish tale such as the one told here, which is based on the novel by Virginia Feito (who has returned to pen the screenplay).

Directed by Zachary Wigon (Sanctuary), it’s more of a satire than a full-on horror flick, but it’s extremely well done, with the Victorian setting and gonzo style making for a highly amusing ninety-minute ride. It’s anchored by a pitch-perfect performance from Maika Monroe, who once again demonstrates her versatility within the genre, being as comfortable playing both a final girl and an antagonist.

Yet, I’d wager she’s never played a role quite like this one before. Sporting a working-class accent and a gaze that suggests she has more than a few screws loose, Winifred Notty is a terrific creation. Despite the fact that all of her previous charges have “gone missing,” she’s somehow talked her way into a post at the sprawling Ensor House. The master of the house, Mr. Pound (Jason Isaacs), seems to be an ineffectual fop, only for a cruel streak to be revealed in a tense sequence where he makes his headstrong daughter hold out a book of illustrations as he attempts to shoot it from her hands. His wife (Ruth Wilson) is even worse, with her, at one point, cutting off a scullery maid’s ponytail because strands of hair occasionally get into her soup.

Yet, in Victorian Psycho, it’s not as if the cruelty of the Pound family has made Winifred someone whose rage can be justified. No — she’s a lunatic, with her victims including those who deserve it, but also those who don’t, including a baby at one point.

Yet, as the title playfully riffs, just as in American Psycho, you are compelled by Winifred’s madness. It helps that the dialogue by Feito is amusing from a modern perspective without being too on the nose, while the production design and score (by Ariel Marx) are as high quality as you’d find in a legit period epic. If Merchant/Ivory had made a serial killer movie, it might have looked something like this.

While it’s Monroe’s show throughout, the supporting cast is amazing, with Isaacs and Wilson, both of whom have played period parts like this in a straight-faced way, giving the film an authenticity as they delightedly chew some scenery. Thomasin McKenzie once again shows some of the comic chops she displayed in the underrated Fackham Hall as a none-too-bright, but sweet, maid Winifred befriends.

Running a lean ninety minutes, Victorian Psycho was one of the more purely amusing concoctions I caught at Cannes this year. Yet, the craft behind it goes toe-to-toe with anything else I’ve seen, and it has cult classic written all over it. This is one to keep an eye on when it comes out this summer.

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