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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