‘Victorian Psycho’ Crowns a New Queen of Horror

Detailed summary

Director Zachary Wigon’s follow-up to his sterling debut Sanctuary (starring Margaret Qualley and Christopher Abbot) is a gothic nightmare indebted not only to Bret Easton Ellis’…

If American Psycho’s Patrick Bateman had a kindred-spirit ancestor, she’d look a whole lot like Winifred Notty (Maika Monroe), the murderous 19th-century protagonist of Victorian Psycho.

Director Zachary Wigon’s follow-up to his sterling debut Sanctuary (starring Margaret Qualley and Christopher Abbot) is a gothic nightmare indebted not only to Bret Easton Ellis’ 1991 novel but also to the works of Mario Bava and Hammer Horror films, even as it signs its own distinctively deranged signature in blood. A superb period-piece horror show, it delivers precisely what its title promises, except with an unexpected dose of delirious wit.

Written by Virginia Feito (adapting her novel of the same name), Victorian Psycho (Nov. 13 in theaters) opens with wavelengths of blurry, indecipherable fire—manifestations, it’s implied, of the mind of Winifred, who arrives at a remote English estate known as Enson House to commence employment as a governess. A rude welcome awaits her, although the unnerving look on her face as she glances over her shoulder while entering the mansion suggests that she’s the place’s truly nasty (new) resident.

Victorian Psycho is narrated by Winifred, whose placid inner monologue makes clear that she’s not altogether there. Additionally contributing to that impression is the fact that, upon unpacking her belongings in her quarters, a severed ear falls from her clothes onto the floor and her response is to pick it up, tilt her head toward the ceiling, and drop it into her open mouth.

This is the first of numerous instances in which Wigon’s camera assumes the perspective of grotesque and/or deadly objects, and those dexterous POV shots, along with scary in-your-face close-ups of his oft-smiling main character, create hilarious intimacy with the lunatic.

Winifred is stark raving mad, as she demonstrates in all sorts of (first small, then big) ways. With inapt intensity, she announces at the dining room table to Enson House’s owners, Mr. (Jason Isaacs) and Mrs.

Becaus…

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