Victorian Psycho
Scream queen Maika Monroe plays an unhinged governess terrorising a posh 19th-century family.
In 1858, Winifred Notty arrives on the Gothic doorstep of Ensor House, a mansion on the Yorkshire moors. Wealthy John and Emily Pounds hire the well-spoken but definitely odd woman as a governess for their young son and daughter. Courtesy of an inner demon she calls “Fred”, the impulsive carnage that’s always followed in Winifred’s wake doesn’t take long to pop up gruesomely again. Given the Poundses’ own depraved lineage, has Winifred finally found her people? But, then again, she is a very unreliable narrator …
Zachary Wigon’s gory Gothic romp – adapted by Virginia Feito from her own novel – is Wuthering Heights slash Jane Eyre slash American Psycho. Demolishing her final-girl persona, Maika Monroe (It Follows, MIFF 2014; Longlegs), exploits eat-the-rich sentiments as her gleeful sociopath, aided by Ruth Wilson (Dark River, MIFF 2018) and Jason Isaacs (The White Lotus) as Winifred’s loathsome employers. There are also fun supporting performances from Thomasin McKenzie (The Justice of Bunny King, MIFF 2021) as the nursemaid who befriends Winifred and Jacobi Jupe (Hamnet) and Evie Templeton (Wednesday) as the Pounds children. What are they learning from their super-callous, pugilistic, exterminatory governess?
“Carnage becomes pretty dang delightful in Monroe’s capable hands. Victorian Psycho [… is] an absolute blast thanks to its zany style and deranged sense of fun.” – Bloody Disgusting
Tickets
For information about the accessible services being offered at MIFF, please visit miff.com.au/access. If you require any access service, such as wheelchair/step-free access, for any MIFF session, please call 03 8660 4888 or email boxoffice@miff.com.au to book your ticket.
You might also like ...
To save Earth from an insatiable alien, this slacker will need her dad and her effing loyal mates, who make a crap planet worth fighting for.
A stressed-out young doctor suspects hostile jobs are doing something gnarly to her generation. Turns out work doesn’t just suck – it mutates.
This distinctly Māori Gothic horror, set in a haunted seaside manor, tells a terrifying tale of dark family secrets and one woman’s wrath in the face of colonial violence.