Victorian Psycho is directed by Zachary Wigon, whose previous features Sanctuary and The Heart Machine were small-scale character pieces. This is a different register for him.
Maika Monroe plays Winifred Notty, with Thomasin McKenzie, Evie Templeton, Ruth Wilson, and Jason Isaacs rounding out the cast. The film is set entirely in 1858 at a fictional gothic estate called Ensor House and runs about 90 minutes. It’s gory in a real way: axes to the head, murdered infants, buckets of blood, all played with a straight comedic face.
The ovation ran somewhere between 5 and 7 minutes depending on who was counting. Variety clocked it at 5, Deadline at 7. Either number puts it among the strongest genre reactions of the festival, in a section that doesn’t always generate this kind of heat. Monroe walked the premiere in a blood-red dress.
Early reviews are landing in the positive column. IndieWire called Monroe “a very different kind of Final Girl” in a “deliciously dark adaptation.” Screen Daily described her as “gloriously gonzo” and pitched the film as “Pride and Prejudice with zombies, but with Michael Myers.” Collider gave it 9 out of 10 and called it “vivid, violent, and dangerously funny.” Mashable called it “a hoot, wildly fun, and unapologetically deranged,” reading it as an eat-the-rich comedy sitting on top of class conflict, sexism, and trauma. A few outlets (The Wrap, RogerEbert.com) said it doesn’t quite cut as deep as the novel or as sharp as Wigon’s Sanctuary. The Daily Telegraph was the lone pan, calling it “abrasively pointless.”
Monroe has quietly become horror’s reigning lead. She broke through in It Follows in 2014, anchored The Guest the same year, and shifted into a different gear in 2024 with Longlegs, opposite Nicolas Cage. Critics are framing Victorian Psycho as her switch-sides moment, the first time she’s playing the threat instead of running from it.
Virginia Feito published the novel Victorian Psycho in 2024, her second book after Mrs. March. She adapted it herself, which is unusual for a first-time screenwriter working from her own source material. The decision kept the book’s voice intact, which is most of what made it work on the page.
The Cannes slate around it includes Na Hong-jin’s Hope in main Competition, Jane Schoenbrun’s Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma opening Un Certain Regard, and Nicolas Winding Refn’s Her Private Hell Out of Competition.
The trailer dropped timed to the premiere. Bleecker Street has it for U.S. theatrical release on September 25, 2026.
