Victorian Psycho Review: What If Gothic Horror Were an “Eat the Rich” Comedy?

Maika Monroe Leads a Darkly Comic Gothic Horror

Victorian Psycho turns the conventions of Gothic horror into a wildly comic and vicious story about a murderous governess. Maika Monroe plays Winifred Notty, a woman determined to make a good impression on her new employers, the wealthy and deeply disturbed Pound family.

The film begins with familiar Gothic ingredients: a seemingly fragile young woman arrives to care for the children of a rich family, strange noises echo through a grand house, valuables disappear or are vandalized, and members of the staff vanish. Yet Victorian Psycho immediately subverts those expectations. Winifred is not an innocent heroine confronting an unexplained supernatural threat. She is already dangerous, and the film reveals from the outset that she is the vicious force moving through the night.

Writer Virginia Feito, who adapted her own novel, establishes that reversal through the film’s title and its deliberately distorted approach to the genre. Director Zachary Wigon, known for Sanctuary, reinforces the tone with an opening scene in which Winifred addresses the audience in voiceover while looking directly into the camera. The direct address has a Fleabag-like quality, particularly as Winifred presents herself as the sanest person she has ever met. The illusion collapses soon afterward when a dismembered human ear falls from her luggage and she reacts with only mild irritation.

A Murderous Governess Among the English Elite

On the surface, Winifred appears to be a polite young woman eager to find acceptance in a household that might value her. She is restrained when she meets the Pound family and the servants at their estate. The household includes a heavily mustachioed father played by Jason Isaacs, a formidable mother played by Ruth Wilson, their teenage daughter Drusilla, played by Evie Templeton, and Andrew, the spoiled young heir to the family fortune, played by Jacobi Jupe.

Winifred’s antisocial nature becomes more apparent when she is alone with the children. She speaks about the wickedness and pain contained within all living things, frightening Andrew as he watches her beat a fallen deer to death with a rock. Winifred also quickly befriends the children’s nurse, Miss Lamb, played by Thomasin McKenzie, and tells the wide-eyed young woman stories about a ghoul supposedly stalking the property. The explanation is convenient, especially when Winifred’s dress is covered in blood.

Wigon presents Winifred’s violence with bursts of graphic gore but keeps some of the most disturbing killings off-camera. That balance allows the film to remain energetic and absurd even when its subject matter becomes grim. Feito’s dialogue also draws on the comic foolishness of wealthy characters in Jane Austen’s novels, turning the Pound family into caricatures of entitled privilege.

The family’s absurdity is made clear through its behavior. The father delivers lengthy claims about phrenology, the discredited pseudoscience that associated personality with the shape of the skull. The mother punishes a scullery maid by cutting off the girl’s long hair after a strand once ended up in her soup. The result is an eat-the-rich horror comedy with some of the same gleeful social cruelty associated with Saltburn, although not every target feels equally deserving of Winifred’s brutal punishment.

Maika Monroe Turns Winifred Into a Monster

Victorian Psycho gives Maika Monroe one of her strongest performances. Monroe has been closely associated with horror since her breakthrough supporting role in the 2014 thriller The Guest, followed by her starring performance in It Follows. Her horror work has continued through films including Watcher, Longlegs, and The Hand That Rocks the Cradle.

In earlier Gothic stories such as Crimson Peak, The Others, and The Turning of the Screw, the central heroine is generally an innocent figure who relies on courage and decency while confronting an inhuman threat. Winifred reverses that dynamic. She is the threat, and Monroe embraces the role with a mixture of menace and mischievousness.

Monroe shifts easily from social politeness to rage and disgust. Her performance is especially effective when Winifred flirts with Miss Lamb or threatens a child, and when the character abandons restraint, Monroe adopts a twisted physicality that evokes demonic possession. The performance may remind viewers of Lily-Rose Depp’s work in Nosferatu, while Monroe’s unhinged movement also gives the film much of its dark humor.

Visual and Sound Design Intensify the Chaos

Cinematographer Nico Aguilar gives Victorian Psycho a deliberately unstable visual style. High-angle shots distort Winifred’s proportions, transforming her from an attractive young woman into a warped and unfamiliar figure. Whip pans, an unusual choice for a period film, move sharply from the shocked expression of a potential victim to Winifred’s face.

The film’s most striking images place the audience in the perspective of objects associated with violence, including the dismembered ear and the rock used to kill the deer. These choices create a manic sense of participation, making viewers feel either consumed by Winifred’s darkness or complicit in it.

Composer Ariel Marx supports that uneasy tone with a score that combines recognizable Gothic instruments and unsettling sounds. Plunking piano and sharp strings sit alongside slippery noises, possibly a theremin or a bowed saw, as well as distorted voices that may evoke the cries of babies. The sound design reflects how Feito and Wigon use the foundations of Gothic horror to construct something more contemporary and psychologically unruly.

Why This Matters

Victorian Psycho uses horror comedy to examine class conflict, sexism, and trauma. The film’s wealthy characters treat cruelty as a privilege of their social position, while Winifred reflects that cruelty back at them through violence. Although Winifred is unmistakably a monster, the film argues that she was shaped by a society in which brutality is normalized among the ultra-wealthy.

The result is a film that works as both a gory period comedy and a critique of privilege. Victorian Psycho was reviewed at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival and opens in theaters on Nov. 13. The review was first published on May 22, 2026, and updated on Nov. 11, 2026, at 4:15 p.m. to reflect the film’s theatrical debut.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who stars in Victorian Psycho?

Maika Monroe stars as Winifred Notty, with Jason Isaacs, Ruth Wilson, Evie Templeton, Jacobi Jupe, and Thomasin McKenzie in supporting roles.

What is Victorian Psycho about?

The film follows Winifred Notty, a murderous governess who joins the household of the wealthy Pound family and brings a violent, psychologically unstable presence to their estate.

When does Victorian Psycho open in theaters?

Victorian Psycho opens in theaters on Nov. 13.