Winchester review: The Spierig Brothers follow up their Saw sequel with this original horror about an heiress who believes she is haunted by the souls of people killed by the Winchester repeating rifle.
Winchester review by Andrew Gaudion.
Winchester review
If you have never heard about the Winchester House, it is well worth wetting your curiosity with a good old fashioned Google dive. The house, which stands in San Jose, was designed by Sarah Winchester, the widower of famous gun manufacturer William Winchester. The house is filled with bizarre architectural decisions and no sense of a coherent plan, with Mrs. Winchester claiming that each room was designed specifically for the spirits of individuals killed by the Winchester rifle. You’ll be better served and more entertained reading articles on the web than you would watching this latest film which takes inspiration from the admittedly inspired story surrounding the house that the Winchester’s built.
Jason Clarke plays psychiatrist Dr. Price, a troubled man still reeling from the death of his wife. He is assigned the task of providing a psychology evaluation of Mrs. Sarah Winchester (Helen Mirren) by the board members of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company who believe she is no longer of sound mind to run the company. Price heads out to visit Mrs. Winchester at her unusual and ever-changing home at the Winchester Mansion, where he soon discovers that there may be something stranger and more supernatural at play.
Winchester review
There is undoubtedly a creepy story to be told here. Who doesn’t love a good haunted house movie, particularly one that has as rich a history as this one!? Winchester also has the potentially to be an incredibly timely horror movie, what with the film focusing on the vengeful spirits of those killed by firearms. The Spierig Brothers do seem aware of this potential, as for the most part there is a well-intention-ed anti-gun message at play. But before too long, anything all that promising about the premise soon falls away as it becomes apparent that there is little in the way of imagination at play here, or all that much concern in such an allegory.
Related: Jigsaw review
The Spierig Brothers, whose previous credits include Daybreakers and last year’s Jigsaw, simply do not have it in them to do anything all that visually inventive with the unusual structure of the Winchester Mansion. They appear content with just occasionally demonstrating how weird t look from the outside, yet they never fully grasp the potential that these winding halls and staircases could have to generate fear. AS it stands, we often visit the same rooms over and over again, more than likely a result of budgetary restraint and lack of visual panache.
Winchester review
The scares themselves play by a very well worn rule book. Creaking floorboards? Check. Shaking furniture? Check. Scary demon face jump cut? Check. There’s an apparent reverence to Hammer horror of the past with the opening titles typeface, but that’s pretty much where the reverence ends, with much of the horror on display coming across as lazy and uninspired.
Clarke does his best as the psychiatrist that enters with scepticism but leaves as a believer, but you could pick his character arc out of countless horror movies. Mirren looks positively embarrassed throughout the proceedings, a fact that even her black veiled appearance cannot hide. Everyone seems painfully aware that what has been developed is the very least one could do with such rich material, one which is just dripping with potential, potential which has been well and truly squandered in the hands of the Spierig Brothers.
This is no the place you want to come to learn about the Winchester Mansion, or indeed to get a thrill surrounding that strange and mysterious landmark in San Jose. You will probably find you get more of a fright from reading the Wikipedia page than you would watching this misfire. There’s a great horror movie to be made about the Winchester Mansion, but you will find the spirit is lacking in this attempt.
Winchester review by Andrew Gaudion, February 2018.
Winchester is now playing.
