Review of Winchester (2018) by Kevin F — 23 Apr 2018

Are tedious replication and habitual creative absence ghosts for a resurrected horror genre?

Aiming to be one of the scariest delectations in the first film semester as far as supernatural horror sub-genre is concerned, Lionsgate's movie ended up being, from a very personal perspective, the first fiasco of the year. Openly, it's shameful and disappointing to accept that two filmmakers, creative goldsmiths for their work, have wasted such colossal talents in a horrible way, with tremendous assembly it's inconceivable that a film of such punishable caliber has been released in theaters.

With the arrival of the 21st century, no one or nothing could conceal the fact that the genre was experiencing a harsh decay and fatigue, because it was what screenwriters and studios implanted in scripts, recycling abominable prototypes, and models that already were negligible. However, suddenly and violently a fantastically positioned boom provoked that in 2017- a year in which a safe flow of monumental film disasters was predicted -it's not exaggerated to say that the horror genre returned as a living dead, burying the turgid faith that was preached every fanatic about this kind of audiovisual art that almost everytime meant hollow and short-lived entertainment. Worldwide audience got a kick out of watching "Get Out" by Jordan Peele, "It Comes at Night" by Trey Edward Shults, "It" by Andy Muschietti, "Happy Death Day" by Christopher Landon, "Split" by M. Night Shyamalan, "Gerald's Game" by Mike Flanagan, "mother!" by Darren Aronofsky last year, becoming a box office and streaming successes, realizing that a good bunch of talents and original ideas can portray realities through disturbingly true fictions. Each of these movies shared a common denominator- not just exorbitant grosses -that delighted fans, and without a doubt, was the most remarkable and laudable thing that emerged from the genre for quite some time. Nonetheless, the indie field took a chance with "The Killing of a Sacred Deer" by Yorgos Lanthimos, "The Blackcoat's Daughter" by Oz Perkins, "The Devil's Candy" by Sean Byrne, "Raw" by Julia Ducournau, "The Void" by Jeremy Gillespie and Steven Kostanski, "Thelma" from Joachim Trier," Hounds of Love" by Ben Young," Super Dark Times" by Kevin Phillips and "The Lure" by Agnieszka Smoczynska, the main and most dignified bets projected throughout the same period of time, one of the few years in which truly offered new features to evolution, or at least, maintenance of horror, since, although their box office results and budgets have not been crushing, meant an essential part in this postmodern revival of my favorite film genre, so it's a huge joy to find, by surprise, oustanding jewels setting the bar too, too high; And what a better way to get it, a fantastic amount of productions achieving during all the previous year. The risky and challenging stuff is that with smash-hits as "It" from New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. or universal-acclaimed blackly-satirical "Get Out" from Universal Pictures, the upcoming film deliveries must handle the exact quality and surprise dimensions, and even creating opportunities for improvements, but, though the Year when Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway announced the wrong Oscar winner was a golden period for any kind of terrifying entity, not everything ended with shreds of perfect solvency.

Small and major production companies have already relighted the engines and have released their first bets in cinemas, many of which play for high stakes with a little. There is a wide variety of theories about the spell film flying over the inaugural month of a new year, as the most recognized machineries choose to release execrably popcorn throw-away poor-quality feature films throughout these cold times, belonging mainly to the nowadays-valued horror genre. However, such a superstitious period has been somewhat buried with unprecedented speed, giving way to a wonderful February, personally, one of the best months in film releases. Among many potential projects, one excelled, which from last year, exactly in October when the first teaser trailer was launched, created a considerable interest not only because of the actors and the visual section involved with the idea but the hope to prolong the winning streak for horror buffs. Going to the movies with minimum information is an exclusive code I choose to apply to movies that I consider feasibly original and significant; today, after watching the film, I summarize it in a simple nominal sentence about what I perceived: "A disturbing potential loss.".

Sarah Winchester, heiress of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company, is a creepy but heartfelt widow. This gothic lady believes that someone put a spell on her, as marauding spirits, which, she considers, are deceased because of her deadly rifles. They oblige her to build a kind of rambling dwelling where each entity determines how will be the intricate architecture of the structures that, in some way, will allow the full repose of their souls as they leave the dark demonic world. At the same time, Dr. Eric Price will have to stay for a whole week at the house to assess the mental health of the owner, as a banking institution set its sights on appropriating the unique place, in which thousands of vengeful souls wander the hallways and no-exit rooms, a mix between a house of horror and a house of mirrors, just that mirrors are replaced by gnashing wood and excitement by bland predictability.

Nowadays, movies are a consumer industry, which often passes over artistic priorities and cultural experiments, so many times most of these audiovisual productions inherently need to be judged from a more synthetic, less enriching perspective. At this time, it's mandatory that this kind of films shows off suggestive wrappers, enough attractive to become box office hooks according to the production company. At the box office, "Winchester" works great, because of thanks to fabulous promises, its gross increase at the speed of light. And it was no wonder, as their promotional posters are led by the glorious figure of Helen Mirren, a veteran actress who incredibly accepted the superficial brilliance of a hollow, rough and lacking opportunities role to stand out. The idea of a house with intrinsic divisions, corridors intercepting the way to a haunted labyrinth motivates any regular genre fan or any curious cinephile to buy a ticket.

Probably surprising for many, there is wretchedly little to say about this huge disaster, which means a terrible false move for a genre that might well be flirting, again, with the painful irreversibility. Among the noteworthy aspects, without hesitation, the successful, gloomy and faithful cinematography of 20th century. Few films afford to have such visual marvels because of the complexity that these involve, however, now Ben Nott gives an important contribution to present-day cinema. It doesn't share the plasticity of movies as "The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death" with which coincided on thematic, since, this time, Nott and its specialized creative team set up uncomfortable atmospheres- in the good sense of the word, -brimming with visual solidity, film tension, leaning, intermittently, on the true star of the story: the house. This mansion has nothing to envy the crystal building from "Thir13en Ghosts" or the dark famous house from "The Amityville Horror," and even so it's used with lazier creative skill throughout all the runtime, sometimes reach to be moderately enjoyable thanks to the constant insecurity that denotes its walls, its doors, its imposing architecture; a triumph for cinematography of this genre, at least, the only contribution we got from this unjustifiable hodgepodge.

Besides, in the middle of its soporific predictability, an uncomplicated but acceptable sequence takes place, it never manages to produce a full impact, but it sets up a successful step by step tension that, odiously, ends with a shocking editing and an insulting jump-scare. The previous factor is the biggest flaw and disappointment of the film, abusing strident and ominous music and poorly accomplished scares that are neither effective nor terrifying, stifle the idea, have no control whatsoever, for the audience, suspense and terror are supported, by 90 percent, on such cheap and unsustainable tricks that are so common in this kind of work today. They never fulfill their function properly, as new filmmakers relegate or reproduce to the letter the masterful guidelines of maestros as Brian de Palma and Hitchcock, men who established the scriptures on building tension, on how they must anticipate audience's predictions and at the same time try to bring the surprise to the maximum point. Spreading it in small and dull pieces popping up in front of the public isn't good, on the contrary, they end up damaging irreparably. A great opportunity wasted by ambition, one with which many directors would dream and possibly with a radically different plot and directional treatment could have been the jewel that would inaugurate another fantastic year for the genre.

Now, not to mention the huge waste of acting talent. Helen Mirren and Jason Clarke should never have accepted a role in a movie like this one. It's not possible to understand Clarke's hardships regarding- spoiler! -the death of his wife or his addiction to medicine, as for the difficulties of the erratic and tormented heiress regarding her deceased husband and daughter occurs the same thing, they're illogical and cold, since their exposure is terribly insipid, the characters don't present a well-shaped background or clever introduction to get some of the principal purposes of the first act, It should be added that the character of Finn Scicluna-O'Prey, Henry Marriott, is used shamelessly as a single-use comic relief, I mean their interventions tend to the unnecessary comedy leading to a boring and incoherent pace. Also, the performance of the kid shows no spark or connection to try to justify his function, another major error.

And the worst part is coming. Despite all that, the real big mistake lies in the worst place of all: the script. The movie initially exhibits already-known prototypes: a mysterious widow resides alone in a haunted Victorian mansion; however, the interesting variable here is that, besides the fact that Helen Mirren is who interprets a terrifying lady with a lot of secrets, day after day evil spirits destroy and reconstruct the house, a twist inspired in real life events that could easily add good things to the typical haunted-house stories. It wasn't the case. The script is tempted by superficialities such as unjustified jump-scares or the development of a sub-plot coming from nowhere. Although the story seemed to explore a rich dual discovery journey between the doctor and the widow, it ended up being a family demonic plot, returning without cause to the usual gloomy horror tropes. There are also missed opportunities about really unexpected twists, especially in the ending, where everything loses order and the minimum plot consistency fades away, introducing shamelessly the reused formula from "The Others" by Alejandro Amenabar or "The Sixth Sense" by M. Night Shyamalan. The audience isn't able to assimilate the catharsis of the character since it never got a point of connection with his motivations, the spectator sits down without hesitation for a hour and forty minutes in order to be on alert to react to the next sudden sound or appearance of a nasty-looking creature. Actually, the only disgusting creature is the film itself.

"Winchester" by The Spierig Brothers (Michael Spierig & Peter Spierig) is a misleading invention that means a false step in the triumphant streak of horror movies, as it drowns itself in a sea of jump-scares and traditions, from which we have wanted to escape for many years. Poorly-structured characters, nugatory sequences, emotionless editions and oversaturation of sound effects and goofy jump-scares compose the real first horror film hodgepodge of the year. What was predicted as a Magnum opus for the genre in the first half of the 2018 just encompassed all a horror movie buff really fears: a wasted story, a wasted high-scale actors, a fantastic but wasted mise-en-scène and endless and repellent successions of jump-scares. To be honest, at the end, it did turn out to be a real horror experience, but not those that make you suffer with pleasure, but those which you want to lock in a mansion with thousands of passageways and no-exit rooms. Although, all in all, it's doomed to the worst fate: oblivion.