Having been born in San Francisco, I am familiar with stories behind the Winchester Mansion, Sarah Winchester and “revolutionary repeated action” rifle. Although I have never been there, after seeing the movie, I suspect that many will be will inclined to check it out.

Staring one of my favorite British divas, Helen Mirren plays the leading role of Sarah. She is joined by Jason Clark, a man I was not familiar with prior to this movie, as Dr. Eric Price.

Set, of course, in San Jose, Ca., the movie begins on a breezy night in early April in 1906. The camera pans over the Winchester mansion and comes to the room of Henry and his mother, Mary. Henry, who is Sarah’s great nephew, is suddenly awoken by “something” and follows it. His mother, Mary then wakes up and goes to look for him. She finds him in a hall of a dead end staircase, pointing upward and in strange voice says “he is coming”.

The movie then cuts to a house in San Francisco of Dr. Eric Price. The good doctor is entertaining unsavory ladies and indulging liquid “poison”. He immediately begins to have hallucinations and starts preaching about how one can not trust their own eyes, while putting on a parlor trick for his unsavory lady. Then his doorbell rings.

On the other side of the door is an attorney for the Winchester Company requesting the doctor’s services. The good doctor explains that he is on “sabbatical”, though the movie does not go into detail why, and is not taking on clients. The attorney offers double the asking amount for “the correct diagnosis”, as Sarah owns 51 percent of the Winchester shares and is in control of the company. The “correct diagnosis” gives other shareholders the right to remove Sarah from her position of the company. So, at that price the good Dr. can not decline, and off he goes to Winchester.

With the basic premise before you, off to my Kitty Paw Rates:
One Kitty Paw for Ms. Mirren’s performance. She shines as Sarah Winchester.
One Kitty Paw for the decent jumps you get and ghostly “plot twist”.
One Kitty Paw for the pace the movie takes in revealing both Sarah and Eric’s personal ghost stories. Very nice.
One Kitty Paw for wonderful interactions between Sarah and Eric, during her sessions.
One Kitty Paw for their interesting telling of purpose behind the Winchester Mansion rooms.
And finally One Half of a Kitty for the Australian brothers/directors for their clever little tie-in to California’s history. (If you are familiar with California’s history and picked up on the information I’ve already provided, sorry to spoil it for you.)

However, I did have some definite problems with this film.

My first and major is issue is the storyline surround Henry. Where do I begin with this mess? The kid is clearly possessed but no one really cares, despite Mom repeatedly finding him with glazed over demon eyes, until he tries to kill Sarah. Ignoring a possessed kid, ummmm, not good. And not good story telling. I basically felt that they tried too much with Henry’s storyline and Sarah’s storyline. It was a waste of time that didn’t really go anywhere and they totally could have arrived at the same ending without it.

I truly felt that the movie would have much been better strictly focusing on Sarah, Eric, their interactions, and their own ghostly stories. So, I take away One Kitty Paw.

I also take away One Half of A Kitty Paw for it’s lack of humor. To my recollection, Sarah’s got one line that funny’s and that’s it. Scary movies need comic relief. Very little here.

I also take away One Half of A Kitty Paw for some it’s “tense” scenes. Scared kid checking out under the bed has been DONE. Do something different. Also, I wasn’t impressed with the role of the roller skate either. Please excuse the pun.

I also have to take away One Half of A Kitty Paw because the Spierig brother’s leave the audience to assume things, like why is the Dr. on sabbatical? How did Henry’s father’ die so violently? Not important gaps granted but still, something a tighter script would have nailed.

Currently, Winchester is not being well received by critics. I would argue the Henry line might be the cause. But it does seem to be holding well with audiences. I recommend it at 3 Kitty Paws.

So, if you are in the mood for decent scary movie, local to California, then consider Winchester your next scary movie.

csk

As a non critic who sees a lot of movies i enjoyed this movie alrhough felt it was far fetched at times - i would see it again

I will see it for Helen Mirren and because I am fascinated with the house. I visited as a child in the 1970's and it made a HUGE impression on me. Was probably my favorite part of visiting my cousins!

Amanda from Seattle

I was just there at the house and did both tours last December. Also left a little gift behind at the last moment.., *wink*wink. I loved the house, the mystery behind Sarah’s sanity/fears. Haven’t seen the movie yet but I’m sure it’s going to be Hollywooded-up.

Deecee - that box is on my list :-)

I haven't seen the movie... but I loved the Winchester Mansion. Such a quirky place!! My kid still talk about that one and it was 10 year ago. (they were 3-11 at the time)