Eccentric firearm heiress believes she is haunted by
the souls of people killed by the Winchester repeating rifle.
Stars:
Helen Mirren, Sarah Snook, Jason Clarke
Inspired by true events. On an isolated stretch of land 50 miles outside
of San Francisco sits the most haunted house in the world. Built by
Sarah Winchester, (Academy Award®-winner Helen Mirren) heiress to the
Winchester fortune, it is a house that knows no end. Constructed in an
incessant twenty-four hour a day, seven day a week mania for decades, it
stands seven stories tall and contains hundreds of rooms. To the
outsider it looks like a monstrous monument to a disturbed woman's
madness. But Sarah is not building for herself, for her niece (Sarah
Snook) or for the brilliant Doctor Eric Price (Jason Clarke) whom she
has summoned to the house. She is building a prison, an asylum for
hundreds of vengeful ghosts, and the most terrifying among them have a
score to settle with the Winchesters.
Language:
EnglishRelease Date:
2 February 2018 (USA) See more »Also Known As:
The 13th Hour See more »Box Office
Opening Weekend USA:
$9,307,626, 4 February 2018, Wide ReleaseGross USA:
$9,307,626, 4 February 2018Company Credits
Production Co:
Blacklab Entertainment, Imagination Design Works
The first few jump scares seem to set the tone for the cheesy but fun
ghost story "Winchester." These eye-roll-inducing shocks bring to mind
the humor in the films of horror-comedy gods Peter Jackson and Sam Raimi,
both of whom infuse slapstick humor into otherwise by-the-number shock
scares. Still, it's hard to know if you're supposed to laugh at the
first few ghosts that appear in "Winchester," a period film set in a
haunted San Jose mansion just before the Great Earthquake of 1906. The
finger that suddenly appears out of a hole in the wall? Or the kid
armed with a pitchfork? Or how about that one stray roller skate? Are
any of these things supposed to be funny?
Most signs initially point to "yes." Brotherly director duo Michael and Peter Spierig ("Predestination," "Daybreakers") and their co-writer Tom Vaughan leave many suspicious little bread crumbs throughout laudanum-addicted psychiatrist Eric Price's (Jason Clarke) investigation into the sanity of Winchester rifle heiress Sarah Winchester (Helen Mirren).
Maybe you see the signs, too: a familiar face here, a telling
coincidence there, or just the generally peculiar (and forceful)
reversal of expected roles between Eric's doctor and Sarah's patient.
Regardless of how actively disoriented you are by them: the first few
jump scares are fittingly misleading. They suggest you're either about
to see a tongue-in-cheek, or earnestly dumb cash-in on the post-"Insidious"/"The Conjuring"
trend of jump-scare-intensive, sub-"Poltergiest III" haunted house
films. Thankfully, while "Winchester" is definitely trashy and fairly
dumb, the Spierigs are also sincere and technically accomplished enough
to lean into their story's tackiest elements and carry them off with
gusto.
Like "The Exorcist"
before it, "Winchester" follows a head-shrinker of little faith who
eventually abandons his doubts and embraces his latent superstitions.
Unlike "The Exorcist," "Winchester" is completely corny. Case in point:
Eric lost his wife under mysterious circumstances and now literally
carries that baggage with him everywhere in the form of a rifle
cartridge he engraved with the words "Together Forever." Eric's past is a
weakness that Sarah and her otherworldly tormentors prey upon. But it's
nothing compared to Sarah's preposterous but almost true backstory:
she's using a $20 million inheritance to build a house whose design is
dictated to her whenever she's possessed by visiting spirits at the
stroke of midnight. Each new room in the Winchester mansion is made to
look just like the room where the next random visiting ghost died.
Unfortunately, the Winchester company thinks Sarah is too crazy to
continue being their leader, and now want a doctor to confirm what they
already know.
While "Winchester" is loosely based on a true
story, the film is never too close to reality. Eric ultimately must
resolve his residual dead-wife-related guilt if he's going to overcome
his skepticism about Sarah's ghost situation. This suggests that the
only surprise "Winchester" holds for viewers is waiting to see whether
the Spierigs and Vaughan will attempt an elaborate twist ending, as the
screenwriters of "Jigsaw,"
the Spierigs' last film, did, or just confirm what you probably already
know about Sarah's paranormal situation. The cynic in me repeatedly
wondered: is Sarah lying because the filmmakers are nuts, or is she
telling the truth because they're that creatively bankrupt?
Thankfully, "Winchester" leveled my unfair expectations simply by
being silly and fun. Most of the film is genuinely atmospheric, thanks
especially to the omnipresent construction noises (hammers on chisels,
saws through planks) that surround the house. And there are some
well-choreographed setpieces, particularly the one where a rifle slowly
but surely fires right next to Mirren's head. Clarke gives one of his
best performances to date, and even the expository dialogue is florid
enough to be enjoyable. Finally: who could resist an eccentrically
baroque haunted house brought to life without computer-generated
imagery? What "Winchester" lacks in originality its creators make up for
in execution.
Thanks for reading and have fun watching movies.
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