Respond to these rapid questions in our Winchester quiz and we will tell you which Winchester character you are. Play it now.
The first few jump scares appear to set the tone for “Winchester,” which is a cheesy but entertaining ghost story. Slapstick humor is infused into otherwise by-the-number shock scares in the films of horror-comedy gods Peter Jackson and Sam Raimi, who both inject slapstick humor into otherwise by-the-number scare films. “Winchester,” a period film set in a haunted San Jose mansion just before the Great Earthquake of 1906, is a difficult watch because the first few ghosts that appear are difficult to tell whether you’re supposed to laugh or not. What is the finger that appears out of a hole in the wall all of a sudden? Or the kid with a pitchfork, for that matter? Or how about that stray roller skate that was lying around? Is any of this meant to be amusing in the first place?
The majority of indicators initially point to “yes.” Many suspicious little bread crumbs are left behind by brotherly director duo Michael and Peter Spierig (“Predestination,” “Daybreakers”) and their co-writer Tom Vaughan throughout laudanum-addicted psychiatrist Eric Price’s (Jason Clarke) investigation into the sanity of Winchester rifle heiress Sarah Winchester’s (Jennifer Lawrence) investigation into her mental state (Helen Mirren). Perhaps you, too, have noticed the telltale signs: a familiar face here, a telling coincidence there, or just the generally peculiar (and forceful) reversal of expected roles between Eric’s doctor and Sarah’s patient, among other things. It doesn’t matter how actively disoriented you become as a result of them: the first few jump scares are purposefully misleading. You’re either about to see a tongue-in-cheek, or an earnestly dumb cash-in on the post-“Insidious”/”The Conjuring” trend of jump scare-heavy, sub-“Poltergiest III” haunted house films, based on the premise of the film. The Spierigs are sincere and technically accomplished enough to lean into their story’s tackiest elements and carry them off with gusto, despite the fact that “Winchester” is unquestionably trashy and fairly dumb.
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Winchester Quiz
“Winchester,” like “The Exorcist” before it, follows a head-shrinker with little faith who, after a period of doubt, comes to terms with his latent superstitions and abandons his doubt. “Winchester,” in contrast to “The Exorcist,” is completely cheesy. To give you an example, Eric lost his wife in mysterious circumstances and has taken to literally carrying his emotional baggage around in the form of a rifle cartridge with the words “Together Forever” engraved on it wherever he goes. Eric’s past is a weakness that Sarah and her otherworldly tormentors take advantage of in order to gain control of him. In comparison to her preposterous but almost true backstory, Sarah is spending a $20 million inheritance on a house whose design is dictated to her by visiting spirits at the stroke of midnight. Each new room in the Winchester mansion is designed to look exactly like the room in which the next random visiting ghost died, and the process is repeated. Unfortunately, the Winchester company believes Sarah is too insane to continue as their leader, and they have requested a medical examination to confirm what they already believe.
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Despite the fact that “Winchester” is loosely based on a true story, the film never comes too close to being a documentary. If Eric is to overcome his skepticism about Sarah’s ghost situation, he will have to deal with the guilt he has left over from his dead wife’s death in the end. This suggests that the only surprise in store for viewers is a wait to see whether the Spierigs and Vaughan will attempt an elaborate twist ending, as the screenwriters of “Jigsaw,” the Spierigs’ previous film, did, or whether they will simply confirm what you already know about Sarah’s paranormal circumstances. In my mind, I kept asking myself: is Sarah lying because the filmmakers are insane, or is she telling the truth because they are that creatively bankrupt?
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Fortunately, “Winchester” was able to lower my unrealistic expectations simply by being silly and entertaining. The majority of the film is genuinely atmospheric, thanks in part to the omnipresent construction noises (hammers on chisels, saws through planks) that surround the house throughout the course of the film. It also has a number of beautifully choreographed setpieces, such as the scene where Mirren is hit by a rifle that is fired slowly but steadily right next to her head. Aside from Clarke’s outstanding performance, even the expository dialogue is sufficiently florid to be enjoyable to the audience. Who could possibly resist an eccentrically baroque haunted house brought to life without the use of computer-generated imagery, in the end? When it comes to originality, the creators of “Winchester” make up for it with their execution.
For more personality quizzes check this: Hostiles Quiz.
