For more than a decade, actor Maika Monroe has been a favorite among the horror crowd. Thanks to The Guest and It Follows, she starred back-to-back in movies that immediately impressed genre audiences, with both movies growing a passionate following once they landed on streaming services. Despite taking a bit of a break from the genre, she returned in a major way with titles like Significant Other, Watcher, and Longlegs.
After starring as Lee Harker in Osgood Perkins‘ Longlegs, Monroe was planning on taking a break from horror. That break was quickly interrupted when she was presented with the opportunity to play Winifred Notty in Victorian Psycho, a role she knew she had to pursue.
Speaking with Bloody Disgusting, the actor admitted that Winifred only reignited her passion for her career.
“To be honest, being on this film and being on this set just made me re-fall in love with my job. I hadn’t had such a challenging role in a minute, and this really pushed me out of my comfort zone,” Monroe shared of the impact of the role. “It’s really taking a big swing, which is terrifying, because then it is put out into the world and people are going to watch it and judge it and have their opinions. But it was just such a joy doing something like this, so, if anything, I was just excited and feeling very lucky to have this as my job.”
Victorian Psycho is set in Victorian England, as eccentric governess Winifred Notty (Monroe) takes a position at a remote gothic manor. As strange occurrences plague the house, the staff and the family, suspicion stirs that Winifred is not what she seems.
The movie was directed by Zachary Wigon and written by Virginia Feito, with Feito adapting her own novel for the screenplay. Isaacs shared what made the script so unique and that he was excited to pursue the role because of how much it scared him.
“Virginia did a fantastic adaptation of her own book. Authors always think they can make the screenplay [of their own novel], they very rarely can, and she really could,” Isaacs detailed. “The truth, I guess, is that I was scared of it, because I thought, ‘Wait, I don’t know what this is. Is this horror? Is this comedy? How were we meant to act it?’ This is entirely a question of getting the tone right. I know that something really freaky is going on here. Something outrageous is going on. This is a big swing. It’s either going to hit or miss.”
He continued, “And, although I loved making it, I had no idea whether the film worked or not. It turns out, it works incredibly well, which is mostly down to the mixture of everybody’s contributions. Sometimes the souffle rises, sometimes it doesn’t, but it’s exciting when you’re nervous about something, you don’t know what it is. Most things you read, you know exactly what they are by page two and how it’s going to turn out. This felt like an adventure.”
It’s safe to say that Monroe’s Winifred is the titular psycho, and the character doesn’t hold back. In many previous efforts, Monroe has played the vulnerable target of nefarious forces, though this time she got to embrace a darker side.
“As actors, you need to fall in love with the role and you can’t really have any judgment, and I remember reading the script and I felt for her. She’s been through a lot in her life and, that’s the question,” Monroe recalled. Isaacs pointed out, though, that secrets about the character are revealed, with Monroe continuing, “Absolutely. You start piecing together her life … I absolutely love her.”
Isaacs was dealt the challenging task of playing Mr. Pounds, the head of the household Winifred moves into. On the one hand, you had to have empathy for him, but on the other, you had to root for his demise.
“He’s such an unusual … everything that came out of his mouth, everything he did was so unusual,” the actor expressed. “I liked the mix of it all. I loved that it was going to be Maika … I met Zach in a hotel in New York. He seemed really interesting to me and really interested in making a film that he seemed to have in his head, but very collaborative. And I just thought, ‘I’ve been around a long time, I’ve done a lot of stuff.’ So I’m blessed when I get offered work, so I really try only to do things that interest me and excite me, and this felt like an adventure.”
Speaking of Monroe’s planned break from horror, a Longlegs sequel is already on the way from Perkins, which will bring back Nicolas Cage. As far as whether Monroe is returning as Harker, we’ll just have to wait and see.
“Oz and Nick are doing something. And we’ll see what happens,” Monroe teased. “I would love, love, love … people ask roles that you would want to go back to, and I would love to play Lee again. She was such a joy. And working with Oz and Nick was an absolute dream. So we’ll see.”
Victorian Psycho lands in theaters on November 13.
This interview was edited for length and clarity.
