Maika Monroe Studied Real-Life Serial Killers for Victorian Psycho [Exclusive Interview]

We all go a little mad sometimes.

That’s the case for Maika Monroe (Longlegs, It Follows) in Victorian Psycho, arriving in theaters on November 13th via Bleecker Street (Friday the 13th, to be exact).

In the twisted horror-comedy set in 19th-century England, Monroe plays Winifred Notty, a governess who arrives at the remote Ensor House with some deeply disturbing impulses she’s trying to keep under control. Soon, members of the household begin to disappear, and the bloody trail leads to Winifred.

Zachary Wigon (Sanctuary) directs from a screenplay by Virginia Feito, adapting her own novel. The cast also includes Thomasin McKenzie (Last Night in Soho), Ruth Wilson (The Little Stranger), and Jason Isaacs (A Cure for Wellness).

Demented, delightful, and damn mad, Victorian Psycho allows Monroe to flex her muscles as an actor. She unleashes one of the more memorable performances of the year in a portrayal that I can all but guarantee will crawl around in your brain for the foreseeable future.

Dread sat down with Monroe, Isaacs and Wigon, discussing Maika’s wicked transformation into Winifred Notty.

Early on in the process, Monroe tells me she met with Wigon to discuss how to bring Winifred to life on screen. Said the actor, “With the tone of this movie, it’s this very heightened reality. And, I mean, all the performances are really eleven out of ten. We wanted all those things where it was over the top and dramatic, but coming from a very grounded, real place.”

Part of what I enjoyed so deeply about Monroe’s performance is that it at once feels like this wild, swing-for-the-fences portrayal, and yet contains a good deal of truth. Turns out, Monroe did some unsettling research to help discover the character…she watched clips of real-life killers on YouTube. “It was very helpful to watch these actual psychopaths or serial killers and how they would communicate and manipulate. I’d never really studied that before. I don’t normally just sit around and watch YouTube serial killers. [laughs].”

‘Victorian Psycho’: Maika Monroe Introduces a Wickedly Funny, Spoiler-Filled Final Trailer

So, how did Monroe’s co-star, Jason Isaacs, feel seeing her in character for the first time? “I thought, oh, she’s going for it. I guess I better try and match.  [laughs]. When you’re acting, you’re trying to reflect life. You’re trying to look like if someone were looking through the keyhole, they’d think they were watching a real situation.  And in this, we knew we were telling this outrageous Gothic story. The characters are outrageous. But we had to make it real enough, so you didn’t think you were watching a comedy sketch. And she’s the lead of the movie.  She carries the whole thing on her shoulders. And in many ways, she set the tone. I was anxious myself about how big to go, how small, how to make it relatable, but also being in this surreal universe that Virginia had created.”

That’s a tough challenge indeed, but one that Wigon knew Monroe would manage wonderfully. Said the filmmaker, “Micah brought an X quality with her that I thought would be essential for the character. I’ve been a huge fan of hers for many years. She has this ability to convey that a character is deep in thought, but also keep you at arm’s length with respect to what those thoughts are. It makes you want to lean forward. It makes you want to know what’s going on in her head.  So, I thought that would be fantastic for a serial killer, because naturally, we’re always curious about what a serial killer’s thinking. That’s why we sort of obsess over them in culture the way that we do.“

He’s not wrong. While I’m not one to partake in the serial killer-obsessed side of culture, I do understand the curiosity. People want to know what goes on in the minds of history’s most infamous psychopaths. And Monroe does an excellent job of inviting you in, while also keeping you nervous about venturing much deeper.

Continued Wigon, “And then I read that she [Monroe] was a huge fan of Jack Nicholson. And I had long thought about this role in a kind of expressionistic, heightened fashion, very much like the work that he did in The Shining. So, to be able to combine things at opposite ends of the performance spectrum, you know you’re gonna get something really interesting, because Micah has a natural sort of opaque quality, and an expressionistic quality.  Those are on opposite ends of the spectrum. And then if you thread it together in one actor, in one performance, theoretically, you’re probably gonna get something interesting.“

I’d argue interesting doesn’t even begin to describe it. While Victorian Psycho isn’t my favorite film from Monroe, it just might be my favorite performance of hers. This weekend, you can see for yourself just why that is.

But be warned…you may go a little mad in the process.