Winchester: The House That Ghosts Built

Directed by Michael Spierig, Peter Spierig

Starring

Helen Mirren as Sarah Winchester

Jason Clarke as Eric Price

Before we begin, let’s take a moment and admire that poster. Ominous black clouds float high up in the sky like charcoal painted cotton and the house twistedly points toward the viewer, with a lurker in the window looking out. It’s about as creepy as a poster for a haunted house gets.

This haunted house in particular deserves the dial up to the creepiness factor. It’s the infamous Winchester mansion, with a backstory as spooky as they come. Sarah Winchester, after losing her daughter and husband, came to believe she would endure everlasting bad luck as a curse of the family business; rifle production. In her mind, the ghosts of those shot by Winchester rifles had a score to settle with her.

The “gargantuan house” is a result of a construction frenzy Winchester paid for to appease the spirits. So she built and built until she died in 1922. Mirren portrays the haunted Sarah with such grimness and solemnity, it’s chilling. Pale and with the eyes of a woman who has clearly been subject to sinister encounters far too often, Mirren looks stunning and ready to deliver. "I can feel it in the air. In the walls," she cautions. “It has found us.”

Clarke investigates whether the house is actually haunted or not, all the while exploring and investigating the winding seven story manor. If it wasn’t obvious enough to some of the denser ones out there, the house is a pretty big deal in this film. That’s why it’s important to give it a character (so to speak). The Winchester house must have its own feel, an eerie atmosphere of its own to revel in. What makes it different from the Amityville house, another alleged true story haunting?

By all appearances though, it looks like they have pulled it off. If that odd and insidiously eccentric backstory isn’t enough, the labyrinth of hallways and maze like structure are sure to freak you out. The Winchester house looks very much like the last place you’d want to spend a night in. It’s twisted, insidious and has a presence all of its own. The setting is clearly ideal.

While I was hoping for subtle scares and more lingering spookiness, there do appear to be a lot of wretched faces and jump scares, cheap tricks employed by far too many horror movies today. I’m hoping it defies my expectations in that regard.

For what it’s worth though, Winchester looks like it’s got the formula down pat. It’s got two directors whose last hit Predestination was a smash success, Helen Mirren lurking around and losing her mind in a house that maybe even Freddie Krueger would refuse to enter. What’s not to look forward to?

Winchester: The House That Ghosts Built is set to hit theatres on 2nd February, 2018.

#winchester #2018movies #predestination #hollywood