Winchester

Starring: Helen Mirren, Sarah Snook, Jason Clarke, Finn Scicluna-O'Prey, Emm Wiseman, Angus Sampson, Bruce Spence
Directed by: Michael Spierig, Peter Spierig
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Horror
2018

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A doctor (Jason Clarke) is hired to diagnose a wealthy heiress (Helen Mirren) who believes her house is haunted by spirits.

Review:

Tim: I believe there were some truly solid ideas in Winchester. It takes a true-life story of the odd, eccentric Winchester Mystery House (and the verifiable facts surrounding the house are amazing enough) and it uses that as a platform for its horror film. I love the concept of leveraging real-life events for horror movies, even though all the films take extreme liberties with the idea of "based on a true story". When it works well, you get a great movie like The Conjuring. This film is helped by that approach, but ultimately, this film by the Spierig Brothers fails to live up to expectations.

Besides having a cool, real-life bent to the story, the other big plus in this film is the cast (or portions of it, anyway). I actually thought Jason Clarke did a good job in the lead role. His performance was solid and believable. He was someone we identified with and to some extent cared about. That's essential for horror movies and we got that here. Helen Mirren was a steal for this film to get. She's such an accomplished, talented actress. I'm not sure why she signed on for this, though. She never really seems all that comfortable in the role and she tends to over-act in her discomfort. It's an odd miss for Mirren. However, the fact of the matter is that even a C-level performance by Mirren is still significantly better than the average horror movie cast member. Even though this is a weaker effort, she's still decent and contributes to the film. I can't say the same for Sarah Snook. I guess you could say she was okay, but her performance felt bland to me.

While the movie boasts some cool "true" qualities to it, the story ultimately breaks down. It does a good job of establishing characters and the creepy atmosphere in the strange Winchester house. There are some decent visual effects and a few chilling scenes. The movie started off decently well. We get a little mystery and I felt more or less engaged in the first third of the film. As the answers to our questions start to come, things start going off the rails. There's a twist that I guess is kind of cool, but even though unexpected, it didn't elicit a whole lot from me other than, "Huh, that's kind of neat." The movie starts to feel more and more like every other average horror movie that rolls out of Hollywood. By the end of the film, any stylistic layers get pulled away and you see Winchester for what it is- just another horror movie. It has a few strengths, but those are overcome by the generic scares we're eventually left with. Now, there's nothing here that's terrible- everything is fine. However, for a movie that starts with such promise, it's a letdown to see the movie's faults on full display in the third act.

Horror movie fans will probably have a fine time with Winchester, but it's a forgettable movie. It feels like the elements were here for a really special film, but that never materializes. We're left with something that leaves much to be desired.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: The Woman in Black, The Others