I have always been fascinated by haunted houses. I’ve read dozens if not hundreds of books that recount real-life tales of those places that hosted horrific events. Ed Gein. H.H. Holmes. Albert Fish. Jesse Pomeroy. Serial killers and abusers and all of those real human beings who went bump in the night. They fascinate me. They are the absolute examples of “know they enemy.”
Holmes is one of particular interest due to his absolute sinister nature. His actions are well detailed in Harold Schechter’s “Depraved” and in Erik Larson’s “The Devil in the White City.” This man was brilliant, and his intelligence was matched only by his depravity. He was relentless in his violence as he was in business. He’s an easy example of a true villain.
Stories like that of Holmes are interesting, but they come with a villain who knows that they’re the villain. In the case of Sarah Winchester, we see the opposite side of the coin. This is an individual who has inherited evil, without ever intending harm to others.
Before delving into the film Winchester, it is important to explain the legend of the Winchester Mystery House. Constructed in 1886, the property belonged to the firearm magnate William Wirt Winchester. William married an heiress named Sarah Pardee. At one time during their marriage, Sarah visited a fortune teller who told her that she would be haunted by anyone ever killed with a Winchester rifle. The only way to prevent these hauntings was to continue construction and expansion on the Winchester mansion.
The result was a deformed and chaotic building where construction was held for construction’s sake. Staircases lead to ceilings. Doors open into walls. Structural integrity is questionable in areas. This continued for almost 38 years until the then-widow Winchester passed away. The building has since been decreed an historic monument.
That leads us to Winchester. The film begins 20 years into Sarah’s grief and orders to continue building. Directed by the Spierig Brothers and starring Hellen Mirren, this is Hollywood’s first real swing at introducing Sarah and her ghosts to a broad office. Jason Clarke is excellent as the narcissistic Dr. Eric Price. Price is brought in as the ammunition to declare Sarah insane. He himself is vulnerable as he is facing insurmountable medical fees for his family. Desperate, he agrees to not only visit but to stay in the mansion, until he can prove Sarah incompetent.
The resulting experiences are not what the doctor expects.
Clarke (Zero Dark Thirty) is solid as the vehicle for the viewers’ experience. Sarah Snook (Succession) is a standout as Sarah’s niece, Marion. Mirren is delightful as expected. Her Sarah is emotionally drained but that never makes her paranoid or weak. She is intelligent and focused, even as she faces the haunting of her mansion and her life.
Fun coincidence: Winchester’s butler, Augustine is played by Bruce Spence, the gyro captain from The Road Warrior. Tyler Coppin, who plays Arthur Gates, was also in that movie. Angus Sampson, who plays John Hansen, was in Mad Max: Fury Road.
The Spierig Brothers love jump scares. They employ many right from the film’s first act. They frame these with the characters’ various mental breakdowns, including fear, dementia, alcoholism, and distrust. Peter Spierig’s score is creepy and punctuates the jump scares well.
The set design is beautiful. Many of the rooms are ornate and decorated down to the finest detail. The wardrobe creations are so well designed that the textures are visible. The visual effects are sparse, most are hardly on screen for more than a second, but that is plenty of time to invoke fear.
Winchester takes a well-known premise and builds a story around it. It takes a while to get going and uses more than a handful of tropes to advance the narrative. The back half of the film delivers a pretty cool payoff. It’s a film about theater of the mind that uses a lot of theater of the mind tactics.