Maika Monroe’s New Horror Movie Is an ‘American Psycho’ Meets ‘The Shining’ Nightmare [Exclusive]

Hannah covers horror, sci-fi, and games at Collider, where she writes news and features, reviews new releases, and interviews the people who make them. She’s helping build out Collider’s gaming coverage, with Pokémon as one of her specialties. If she isn’t writing about a monster, she’s probably watching one on a tape from her VHS collection.

Maika Monroe has spent enough time running from monsters. Between It Follows, Watcher, and Longlegs, Monroe has built a horror resume full of creatures and criminals who should never be allowed within 500 feet of her. Her next role gives someone else a reason to check the locks, although unfortunately for her employers, the threat already has a room in the house.

There are plenty of reasons to be suspicious of a new governess in a gothic horror movie, but in Victorian Psycho, Winifred Notty makes that list considerably longer. Teaching children and maintaining a respectable appearance are part of the job, but keeping her violent impulses to herself is apparently going to require a little more effort.

Collider can exclusively debut a new behind-the-scenes featurette for Victorian Psycho, the upcoming horror movie starring Monroe, Thomasin McKenzie, and Jason Isaacs. Directed by Zachary Wigon, the adaptation of Virginia Feito’s novel follows Winifred as she enters the service of the wealthy Pounds family in 1858. Their remote estate, Ensor House, gives her a fresh start, provided she can control the urges that make her a particularly questionable choice for childcare. The featurette introduces a woman with a considerably warmer relationship to her worst instincts than anyone around her would probably appreciate. “Most fear their darkness. But I feel tenderly towards mine,” Winifred says, offering an early indication that the household’s hiring process could have used another round of interviews.

Four franchises, four completely different ways of getting underneath your skin. This is the one built out of your particular fear, why it works so well on you, and what it would leave behind.

Your nightmare does not wait outside the door. It waits for you to close your eyes, which you are going to have to do eventually, because nobody has ever won that particular argument.

Your nightmare is not really the doll. It is the face of the person you tell, and the way they decide, very kindly, that you have imagined all of it.

Your nightmare has your number, knows your name, and has almost certainly been inside your house before. The worst part is that you already know them.

Your nightmare is not really about you. It is about the people asleep down the hall, and the feeling that whatever is here is not interested in leaving.

The preview also names two useful reference points for the madness awaiting the Pounds family: Jack Nicholson’s performance in The Shining and American Psycho. Both suggest that maintaining appearances will only get Winifred so far. The featurette specifically draws a connection to the latter movie's central antihero and descent into madness, placing Monroe’s governess in some deeply unpleasant company. That combination leaves plenty of room for humor alongside the bloodshed. The featurette describes the movie as “a very violent, bizarre, grotesque tale,” while the footage lets Winifred’s disturbing behavior collide with the manners expected of her. One particularly chilling exchange has a child telling her, “Miss Notty, you’re scaring me," and for someone whose continued employment depends on concealing exactly how dangerous she is, that hardly qualifies as a glowing performance review.

Monroe’s ability to move between apparent innocence and something much nastier is another focus of the preview. Horror fans already know how convincing she can be when her characters are terrified, and Winifred gives her the opportunity to provoke that reaction in everyone else. As for whether audiences should expect to laugh or be scared, the featurette offers a third prediction: “I think they’re gonna be wildly entertained.”

Victorian Psycho premieres in theaters November 13. Stay tuned at Collider for more.