Winchester (2018)

* * / * * * * *
I remember seeing previews of this last year (its release in February), thinking, "Mirren in an early 1900s ghost story portraying an eccentric rifle company widow who continued to add onto a mansion estate until death seems quite intriguing". Then I forgot about it. It was on late last night, so I thought, "Why not?" It suffered from extensive critical ridicule, Razzies spooking the film, Mirren couldn't even escape from the wave of bad press. I'll have to agree with some of it, particularly its cliche jump scares and telegraphed sound effects and editing. It's formula especially when telling its paranormal back/forward story of exactly what/who haunts Sarah Winchester (Mirren) and the halls, rooms, closets, grounds, and relatives (mainly taking hold of her niece's son). Sarah continues to add rooms to the mansion, as more stories and extensions recreated by ghosts that possess her into drawing exact places they died in sketches serve as the architectural plans her always-working construction crew and builders use throughout days and nights. It is definitely of the what goes bump in the night? & who goes there? variety. Included in the story as our guide into this eccentric's story is a laudanum addicted therapist hired by the Winchester arms company to determine if Sarah is too mentally incompetent to be 50% in charge...is her claims about the ghosts of Winchester rifle victims haunting her estate ravings of a madwoman or legit? Jason Clarke (the father in the upcoming reimagining of Pet Sematary) is the inquisitive therapist who suffered a near-death experience we later learn was caused by his wife, shooting him accidentally before turning the Winchester rifle on herself. Sara Snook is Marion, the widow niece of Sarah Winchester, and Fin Scicluna-O'Prey is Henry, Marion's son, often possessed with a sack over his head and eyes albino and colorless. The seeming manservant, Ben Block (Eamon Farren), becomes an important character even as he seems relatively minor for a bit. The house come-apart and main ghost going after (and into) Sarah are to be expected, with Clarke's Dr. Price having his own experiences, of course, following closely to the formula. The film is not just a slow burn, it's molasses-out-of-a-jar paced. This is what draws out the boring criticisms, along with the kill me please exclamations in between the languishing periods of investigation by Clarke throughout the house and desperate attempts to jolt you. Still, I credit the technical achievements that fit this film nicely in the conversation with The Crimson Peak and The Woman in Black. The house--its decor, furnishings, period bannisters, architectural design, and endless places to walk and escape into and out of--is incredible. The camera and editing brings the house to life impressively. Costume and art direction, first-rate. Money was well spent. I was surprised to see that the budget was slight considering how everything looks quite exquisite and expensive, but turned quite a profit. It's just this film feels much longer than it is and really doesn't reach out from its genre formula requiring necessary viewing. If you like the old traditional ghost story with Hollywood bells and whistles (and modern film tricks), this might serve as a forgettable diversion. As far as Mirren goes, she isn't as bad as her Razzie nom might lead you to believe. She's serviceable and does her due diligence to get over her character's situation, emphasizing the balance between hysterical and tormented.  We need to see the toll her guilt and lingering haunting has weighted upon her. The climax is the effects heavy paranormal tsunami you come to anticipate.

****Clarke's addiction is a subplot of itself as Sarah wants him clear-minded, Marion isn't fond of her deceased husband and doesn't even try to hide her contempt for him, Henry has scenes possessed where he drops two stories and is saved by Dr Price and later firing a Winchester at Sarah, and Marion takes great displeasure for how her aunt is reputed. The company out to get her through Price's diagnosis is a sticking point in the film****