Winchester - Movie Review

I remember watching a television show about the Winchester House many years ago. It was probably one of those Discovery Channel type shows about the bizarre or supernatural. The show played things straight, basically looking at the story from a documentary perspective. When I saw the trailers for Winchester, it was clear the film delved further into the supernatural, but I was still not sure what to expect. Intrigued, but cautiously optimistic. You can read on to get the full details or you can heed my early caution...this film whiffed.

Eric Price (Jason Clarke) is a psychologist who appears to be drowning his sorrow and loneliness in laudanum and prostitutes. We eventually learn that Price's troubled wife ended her own life. She also shot Price, who was revived and survived the incident. Heavily in debt, Price is approached by the Winchester Repeating Arms Company to conduct an in-house evaluation of Sarah Winchester (Helen Mirren), who is a major stake holder in the company. The Winchester Company is concerned based on Winchester's bizarre behavior, constantly adding rooms to her sprawling California mansion.

Price agrees to take on the lucrative assignment. He spends several days evaluating Winchester in her home. Also present in the home is Winchester's daughter Marion (Sarah Snook) and grandson Henry (Finn Scicluna-O'Prey). Young Henry seems particularly susceptible to the...influences...in the home. In the process of determining Winchester's sanity, Price must also come to terms with his own haunted past. The journey is one that may be redemptive for both.

Where do I start? The film is set in 1906 and serves as a period examination of the mysterious Sarah Winchester. There was a lot of opportunity for exploration. The based on true events aspect of this film are tenuous at best. The story was written by Directors Peter and Michael Spierig along with Tom Vaughn. The film lost me fairly early on. The story was never compelling. I get that Price was struggling with his own demons. I get that the house is mysterious and haunted. But the delivery of the story lacked impact. It was bland and boring. The pacing was uneven, and most importantly, I just didn't care for the characters. They never managed to connect with me. They were flat and forgettable.

Worse than the weak plot was the thinly veiled anti-gun message that seemed to be the crux of the reason this film was made. Guns are bad. Not people, guns. As a second amendment advocate, I found the messaging to be weak and wrong. The idea that the gun maker is responsible for the way the gun is used is ridiculous. It is a topic that often can't be discussed rationally. So to see it in a film bashing viewers like truncheon was disgusting. At least give me some warning before purchasing a ticket to your film that you are selling political ideology at the expense of writing decent dialogue or a cohesive plot.

Helen Mirren is a talented actress. Jason Clarke is no slouch, either. But the performance could not redeem this script. The story was poorly conceived and weakly executive. The film relies on jump scares to add the only flavor this film has. It didn't work. There was an element of story here that had potential. There was an attempt to link Price to the story through his own past and reconciliation. But it fell flat. Particularly with the use of a device that seemed absurd to me. The actors tried. This film is not their fault.

"Winchester* did have one redeeming quality (aside from a decent cast). As a period piece, it worked. The look of the film was sharp, with costumes and sets that felt authentic. I didn't notice any anachronisms, although I wasn't looking particularly hard. I was disinterested early enough in the film that boredom set in and I was ready for the film to get on with it. When it became distracted by political messaging, it lost me completely. But the look of the film did offer a bit of quality in an otherwise wasted use of celluloid.

Winchester is a one hour, 39 minute film rate PG-13 by the MPAA. The film may have had some very brief nudity at the beginning of the film, but I can't recall if it was actually nudity or not. The rating is based mostly on thematic material and scary imagery. Not so scary for adults. But potentially scary for younger viewers.

I was initially bored by Winchester. My boredom turned to disgust at the weak attempt at using the film to deliver a political mantra. It wasn't even good messaging. If you are going to try to score cheap political points, it is best done with a vehicle that actually has some redemptive qualities. Winchester just wasn't good. It was a poor attempt at horror with a weak connection to reality. The ties to the true Winchester House were tenuous at best. The story failed on every point for me. Weak characters, uneven pacing, poor narrative arc, hackneyed dialogue, predictable jump moments and a tepid ending. I would not recommend this movie, even free using Moviepass as I did. You can't get this 99 minutes back. 4/10.