Victorian Psycho (2026) Written Review

 

Victorian Psycho

Cast: Maika Monroe,Jason Issac, Evie Templeton

Writer: Vanessa Feito (Adapted from her book)

Director: Zachary Wiggon.

 *** and a 1/2 *'s Out of Five.

Before I began this recap of one Winifred Notty and her misadventures.  I must inform you my dear readers that I am one of the sanest film critics that I have ever known.  I’m saying this as I write this because if I was saying out loud what I am writing, I wouldn’t be sane.  I’d be stark mad and I would be naked on top of a building shouting out any mindless tribble on how there should be a movie where Anne Hathaway just eats cake for three hours while reciting the script for Secretary but she does both parts.  But since I’m merely writing this and not, I repeat not speaking this out loud.  I am perfectly sane. Oh yeah, since we are going to spend some time together. I should introduce myself.  My name is Jason and The Vern is the name of the demon that lives inside me.

 

Having read the novel by Vanessa Feito twice (once in print and the other in audio format featuring exquisite narration from Anna Burnett).  I was very much looking forward to this adaptation. It was after watching the teaser and the use of the song “Throw Yourself To The Sword” by Die Spitz that got me really enthusiastic about reading the book in the first place.  Winifred Notty may not be able to distinguish reality from fantasy but the people she encounters may be more mad than she is. The novel is a great satire on class structure and how women are treated as being crazy or as witches during the early 17th Century.  Especially if they dont abide by society's rules  Miss Notty’s employers and the way they treat their children or employees is just as crazy as our lead heroine’s craving to spill their blood.  The book also has a lot of great dry humor especially when she breaks the forth wall and speaks to it’s readers.  Oh sort of like what I’m doing now with this review.   By the way, don't ask out that one co worker for coffee.  She is only trying to make her ex jealous and has no real attraction to you.

Now for the film adaptation, there is a lot to admire about it.  First up, Maika Monroe does a really good job as the lead here.  Although I was personally wishing for an actor who was actually British.  She does do a good job at matching the character of the book.  Same goes for all the other actors who were great in their supporting roles. Jason Issac and Ruth Wilson as Mr & Mrs. Pounds are decent.  The role of their daughter Drusilla played by Evie Templeton was especially great. I wish they used her more.  The movie still uses the same chapter structure from the novel and although scenes were put together in a different way.  It ended up being just fine.  Yup the movie was fine.  It was a fine movie just fine, fine, fine, fine, fine,

Fine fine fine fine fine.  God that word, fine.  It’s really not the best way to describe something.  When you go out to eat and you pay a lot of money for a steak and it ends up being fine.  You don’t want that.  When you have sex with your partner and she leans over afterwards and says “It was fine”  You don’t want that.  Yeah the movie was fine but there could have been so much more.

Even though the script was written by the author.  I felt that it was missing a lot of the great dark humor that made the book so good.  There are longer moments of when Winifred begins imagining the paintings are talking to her. You get to know more about her past including her relationship with her mother and religious foster father that does help explain her character better.  There is even one hysterical moment in the book where she poisons her whole class.  Trust me dear readers in context.  It sounds way funnier when she tells it than I do. While the movie still keeps things from her perspective.  It also keeps you at a distance from laughing wit her.  In the book she does some seriously nasty things but the way she is discribing her actions is where a lot of the humor comes in.  I wish her narration to the audience  would have been more constant than it was.

   The trailers made this sound like this is going to have some really disturbing violence like I was expecting something along the lines of Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer mixed with the splatter humor of Dead Alive or Machine Girl. Like if this movie wasn’t going to give us a good satire about class, than at least it could do is give me a good amount of gore.  Like Troma, or Tarantino levels of massive blood sprayed everywhere.  It’s almost like the filmmakers were afraid to offend the audience and I find that kind of offensive. There is a moment where she does something pretty horrific to a child but it goes by so fast.  You barely have anytime to register what happened.  Im not saying that scene had to be graphic and be gory but they could have at least done something more than just a jump cut.  I do hope that there is an unrated version that puts in everything I described but I don’t want that on my TV screen.  I want that in my theaters.   You could have released this independently and be proud of the movie you made.  But no, you had to worry about box office.  Im not going to rant about that topic dear readers.  That is a subject for my demon, The Vern to discuss on one of his little podcast shows.

 

Let me close out by saying that If you never read the book before you will most likely say that this movie is fine.  Fine Fine Fine, No No, No, not gonna start that up again.  She only said it onc.  Let's move on. Victorian Psycho is a short ninety minutes and the performances and plot were decent.  If you read the book and are fans of it.  You’re going to be slighty disappointed but that’s the case of a lot of adaptations too.   Maybe that era of gore galore in movies is no longer popular anymore.  Maybe movies where people wander along empty hallways is the new trend like Japanese ghost stories or Torture Porn was ten years ago.  I don’t know but I really want Anne Hathway to make her movie about eating cake very soon.

I'm a proud member of the Minnesota Film Critics Association 

Check out all the other great members

https://mnfca.com/mnfca-members/