Seeing the words “Based on a true story” Is always so enticing. Why, yes. I’d absolutely love a huge steaming cup of that legit spooky shit I can google about after this watch (See the end of this review for some resources/info on the true Winchester house). My first brush with this film was while I was flipping through Netflix looking for horror review worthy movies and encountered that trailer. A distressed possibly drugged up man is trying to get his shit together when A brutal pop up of a fucking terrifying dead guy plasters the screen. “Oh yeah.” I remembered saying to myself. So that’s where I got into this old-timey demon flick. Alright, for the sake of keeping this short, sweet and to the point, I'm going to trim the fat on this and stick to the points to avoid spoiler alerts, except this one: It’s aight. DUN DUN DUN!
The film is based on Sarah Winchester, the heiress to and Owner of Winchester repeating arms company AKA RATATATA Pow Pow-dead. Her fortune was built from bloodshed, but it weighs heavily on her conscience. If living in guilt isn’t bad enough, this broad is haunted as fuck. The Winchester line is cursed and she has felt its wrath by loosing her 1 month old daughter and her husband. Yeah, every single soul who was killed using Winchester guns is haunting Sarah and her whole bloodline. Which includes Marion, her niece and Marion’s son, Henry who are living with her in her massive eerie mansion when we meet the family. So Sarah is convinced that the only way to make these demonic spirits chill out is replicating the rooms that each and every single person who succumbed to death by Winchester gat died in. YEAH, you read that right. So money-bags sarah did what any reasonable person would do and bought an eight-room mansion outside San Jose, California, in 1886, and began using her vast fortune to expand it. Twenty years later, the place has grown to seven stories and nearly 100 rooms; the building continues day and night, 365 days a year. Sarah believed This would totally nullify the vengeance these demons possessed.
Obviously, the shareholders in her company were pretty perplexed by her eccentric behavior and wanted to make sure their cheese wasn’t going anywhere. They hired a psychologist to evaluate her in this house.. this haunted ass fucking house. Enter Eric Price, a grief stricken, alcoholic psychologist. Sarah is well aware everyone thinks she is coo-coo nut lady right now but is standing firm in her openness with the demonic presence and curse in the home. Price, however, thinks that shit is concocted from Sarah’s deranged mind. He just cannot seem to be convinced even when he is faced by some real ass ghosts! So you can already see how this goes, he’s gon’ learn today and Sarah will eventually make a believer out of him. Now, as the movie goes on price is faced with some gnarly evil ghosts and he convinces himself its his love of Laudanum (a toxic, narcotic tincture derived from opium.) causing these distorted imaginary events. Then this little ass boy gets possessed as FUUUUCK. I hate kids in a horror movie, man. They’re even worse when there’s some negative entity compelling them to grab a shot gun and whoop Auntie Sarah’s ass! Thats about all I can give you without spoiling this film, but I hope thats enough to depict an accurate short film in your head about Winchester.
As far as the review goes for this I feel I am too lenient at times when giving my 2 cents about horror films. I give the benefit of the doubt for all the elements that go into the development of a great horror film and give lots of credit but here goes nothing. It was a low-fright affair indeed. Despite all the cheap pop-up scares foreshadowed by suspenseful music and the fantastic effects used it was a deflated scare. This movie lacked a truly spine-tingling atmosphere and the grotesqueness levels I crave. While the film is quite violent and horrifically supernatural those missing elements were a huge let down. On a good note I appreciated the acting, the direction and the effects tremendously, it was undeniable a lot went into this production in the visual sense. The unraveling of the story is really great and slightly unsuspecting. The use of really terrorizing demonic voices and the use of child possession is absolutely petrifying to me so ill give them that. Would I watch this again? Most likely not. Would I recommend? Not unless you’re open to a drawn out not so bloody and gore filled supernatural horror film with roots in a true story. Overall this movie receives a 3.5/5 stars from me.
Overall Rating: 3.5/5 stars
Acting: 4.5/5 Stars
Storyline: 3/5 stars
Spooks: 3.5/5 stars
Gore: 1/5 stars
Creep factor: 4/5 stars
Effects: 5/5 Stars
Period correct/
Research: 4/5 Stars
Laughs: 1/5 stars
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