Review of Winchester (2018) by John M — 05 May 2018

Leave crazy alone. So this is about a doctor in the early 1900s (Jason Clarke). He gets tasked with evaluating the mental health of the heir to the Winchester Company and fortune (Helen Mirren). He goes to pay her a visit to do so, and it has to be mentioned that she lives in a sprawling mansion that is constantly having additions made to it.

.. so that the ghosts of the people who are killed by the Winchester rifle all have somewhere to stay. The coolest thing about this is the actual premise, because believe it or not, this isn't entirely fictional.

This is inspired by true events, and this house does actually exist in real life. I thought I was going to be getting a diamond in the rough movie, because Winchester starts off surprisingly strong with scares that don't play out like you think they will.

Well, it's almost entirely downhill from the start, and this ends up being pretty run of the mill. What I had hoped to get from this was something along the lines of the 2012's underrated The Woman in Black.

It has the same foundation with it being a period piece horror film, and with a strong opening, I don't feel that I was wrong to get my hopes up. The thing about this is that it doesn't aim terribly high when all is said and done, and this doesn't even end up being on the same level of something like Crimson Peak.

When this slows down, it grinds to a halt, and there are extensive stretches of dialogue that are all but certain to make your eyes glaze over. It could have most definitely benefited from a better script or if it just had more going on than the intriguing Mad King Ludwig premise.

I know the word "inspired" in the opening titles just gives the makers carte blanche to make things up, but I really feel that they could have even made more things up to give us a more compelling story.

This is just a lesser horror movie. It's not going to make you angry as it never dredges the depths of being terrible, but you will likely feel like you could have made a better use of your time. None of the actors like Jason Clarke or Helen Mirren walk away from this looking terribly good even though they do place forth the effort, and the only actor I really appreciated from this was Angus Sampson in a very minor role as a house staff member.

Winchester really could be been so much better, all things considered.