Victorian Psycho review – Maika Monroe has a blast in unsteady horror romp

The It Follows and Longlegs star tears into the role of a murderous governess in this hit-and-miss adaptation of Virginia Feito’s gory novel It’s not that hard to figure out why a lower-class woman toiling away in Victorian England would be so easily driven to violently murder ev

The It Follows and Longlegs star tears into the role of a murderous governess in this hit-and-miss adaptation of Virginia Feito’s gory novel It’s not that hard to figure out why a lower-class woman toiling away in Victorian England would be so easily driven to violently murder everyone around her. If it’s not the brittle entitlement of those who employ you, it’s the unending misogyny of the system you’re forced to be a subservient part of, all the while being underpaid and undervalued and at the mercy of sexual violence, a multitude of diseases and an average lifespan of just 42. As Winifred Notty (Maika Monroe) fills the frame in Victorian Psycho, heading to a new job as governess for a rich family, it’s easy to be on her side.

Even as her murderous impulses start to rear their head, they’re made somewhat understandable, although Winifred isn’t just a woman reacting to the various injustices of the time – she’s one responding to a demon within her, a darkness she has chosen to embrace rather than resist. Darkness is her friend, a protection against harm, and a way to possess some sort of control in a world that has denied her any of it. Continue reading...