Is Victorian Psycho Based on a Book? What to Know Before Watching

Yes. Victorian Psycho is based on Virginia Feito’s 2025 Gothic horror novel of the same name. Feito also wrote the screenplay for the film, which stars Maika Monroe as a governess with a violent streak. Directed by Zachary Wigon, the adaptation opens in U.S. theaters Friday, November 13, 2026.

The book and film both send Winifred Notty to an isolated manor where a respectable family expects her to teach its children good manners. The fun, if you like your Gothic fiction gruesome, is hearing what Winifred thinks of the people she’s paid to please. Here’s what to know about the novel before you watch, without spoiling the ending.

What book is Victorian Psycho based on?

The film adapts Victorian Psycho by Virginia Feito, the author of Mrs. March. Liveright published the novel in the U.S. on February 4, 2025. The hardcover runs 208 pages, and the story stands on its own. If you spot a paperback with film artwork, Fourth Estate also lists a 208-page film tie-in edition of Feito’s novel.

What is the novel about?

Winifred arrives at Ensor House to tutor Drusilla and Andrew Pounds. The job calls for lessons, bedtime stories and deference to the family. Winifred can put on the right face for all three. In private, she sizes up her employers, seethes at their behavior and tries to keep her own violent impulses in check. As Christmas approaches, it gets harder to imagine her keeping up the act.

Feito makes Winifred the narrator, so readers get to hear the thoughts the Pounds family misses. That gap is where much of the dark comedy lives. A governess is supposed to teach children how to behave while navigating rules that protect the people who employ her. Winifred sees the hypocrisy in those rules, and her observations can be sharp enough to make you laugh before you remember whose judgment you’re trusting.

Is it connected to Jane Eyre or American Psycho?

The source is Feito’s own novel. The Jane Eyre comparison comes naturally from the setup: a governess enters an isolated household whose respectability hides its uglier habits. American Psycho is a useful comparison for the deadpan account of violence and the attention paid to social performance. If the governess and manor are what drew you in, expect the gore and black humor to have just as much room as the Gothic atmosphere.

What should you know about the movie?

Wigon’s film keeps the remote manor and sets Winifred’s arrival in 1858. The official Cannes synopsis puts the household’s suspicions up front: staff begin to disappear, and the owners take a closer look at their new governess. Monroe leads a cast that includes Thomasin McKenzie, Jason Isaacs and Ruth Wilson. The film screened in the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes before its U.S. theatrical release.

The U.S. film is rated R for strong bloody violence and brief sexual material. If you want to go in with as little revealed as possible, the basic premise is enough. The final trailer shows some of the violence.

Should you read Victorian Psycho before watching?

Read it first if you’re curious about Winifred’s voice. In the novel, you spend the story with a woman who can make a nursery lesson and a grotesque thought sound equally ordinary. At 208 pages, the book is a manageable read before a trip to the theater.

Watch first if you want Monroe’s performance to shape your first impression. The film introduces Winifred and Ensor House from the beginning, so the book is optional. You can go back afterward to see how it feels to spend that much time hearing Winifred tell the story herself.

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If Winifred’s narration sounds like the part you’d most enjoy, find Virginia Feito’s Victorian Psycho on Amazon.

After you watch or finish the novel: Read our Victorian Psycho book vs. movie comparison and ending explainer. That guide contains major spoilers.

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