Victorian Psycho

Young Winifred Notty is the new governess of Andrew and Drusilla, the two heirs of the Pounds family fortune, enjoying the sunnier side of Victorian England in their noble Enson House. Soon after the arrival of the lady—who in candid moments seems subtly deranged—more and more members of the staff go missing. Nomen est omen in Victorian Psycho, an unseemly cross between an idealized British “stiff upper lip” period piece and juicy psychopath cinema, realized with splendid costumes and sets, interleaved with the finest violent excesses and animated by a fearless Maika Monroe at its center. Monroe’s Winifred lustfully breaks free from the restrictive social conventions of the time, embracing her madness instead of hiding it, making the movie a liberating triumph—and a genre-loving extravaganza. (Markus Keuschnigg)