Washed out and wimpish

This horror film (and I use the term horror very lightly), is “Inspired by true events” (Spierig, 2018), based on the Winchester Mystery House in San Diego California.  This mysterious house was built between 1883 and 1922 continuously, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for 38 years. Why you may ask? This is because Sarah Winchester, the heiress to the Winchester Rifle fortune from her late husband, believed she was being haunted by the victims of the rifle. Looking back at the unfortunately luck that followed Sarah Winchester.

HISTORY

1866 – First Winchester rifle created

1866 – Annie Winchester – Born and died at 6 weeks old

1881 – William Winchester died

1883 – House was started to be built

1884 – Sarah Winchester bought the unfinished house

1906 – San Francisco Earthquake

1922 – Sarah Winchester dies and construction stops on the house.

HOUSE

According to folklore, Sarah Winchester kept building the house because she consulted a Boston medium who said when channelling her husband “He says for me to tell you that there is a curse on your family, which took the life of he and your child. It will soon take you too. It is a curse that has resulted from the terrible weapon created by the Winchester family. Thousands of persons have died because of it and their spirits are now seeking vengeance.” (Taylor, 2013)

The film is set in April 1906 just before the San Francisco earthquake on the 18^th April. Before the earthquake the house was 7 stories high, the earthquake brought it down to the 4 stories we know today.

The house itself has 161 rooms and it includes a varied use of the number 13.

There are 13 bathrooms with 13 steps on the stairs that lead to the 13th bathroom and 13 windows found inside. There are also 13 wall panels in the room preceding the 13th bathroom. The Carriage Entrance Hall is divided into 13 sections. There are 13 rails by the floor-level skylight in the South Conservatory, 13 squares on each side of the elevator, 13 holes in the sink drain covers, 13 glass cupolas on the Greenhouse, and 13 gas jets on the Ballroom chandelier. What’s even more interesting than all of that is that there are 13 parts to her will and she signed it 13 times. (Group, 2011) In the film the number 13 is described as a divine number instead of the traditional idea of it being the devils number.

In the film the house is represented as a stereotypical haunted house, with the dark gothic appearance and spooky ambience. I must admit I did expect more from The Spierig brothers. Their last film was Jigsaw last year and I enjoyed that a lot more than this film. I was jumping during that film!

That is my main problem with this film. It is classed as a horror film, so I therefore expect to be scared or at least jump at some point. The one thing I noticed in the cinema was that there was more laughing than jumping. The main “scares” had already been advertised and were in the trailers. WHAT IS THE POINT TO SEE THE MOVIE!?!?

For this reason, I can’t give it a high rating. Not even Helen Mirren can save this picture. Boring, bleak and just plain bad.

2/5

Director:  Michael and Peter Spierig

Cast: Helen Mirren, Jason Clark, Sarah Snook

Crew:  Michael and Peter Spierig and Tom Vaughan (Writers)

Genre: Supernatural Horror

Rating: 15

Works Cited

Brothers, S. (Director). (2017). Jigsaw [Motion Picture].

Brothers, S. (Director). (2018). Winchester [Motion Picture].

Group, H. H. (2011, October 19). Haunted Travels: The Winchester Mansion. Retrieved from HRS Hotels Group: http://hrshotelsgroup.com/blog/haunted-winchester-mansion

Robinson, J. (2018, February 2). Winchester: The True Ghost Story Behind Helen Mirren’s Haunted House Thriller. Retrieved from Vanity Fair: https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2018/02/winchester-helen-mirren-haunted-house-san-jose

Spierig, M. a. (Director). (2018). Winchester [Motion Picture].

Taylor, T. (2013). THE WINCHESTER MYSTERY HOUSE The Haunted History of One of America’s Strangest — & Most Haunted — Houses. Retrieved from The Prairie Ghosts: https://www.prairieghosts.com/winchester.html

Williams, J. (2018, January 17). The Legend Of Sarah Winchester. Retrieved from Winchester Mystery House: http://www.winchestermysteryhouse.com/blog/legend-sarah-winchester/