My love for horror, particularly supernatural ghost stories started young, very young. One of my favourite books to thumb through before I could even read very well, was The Hamlyn Book of Horror by Daniel Farson as the beautifully macabre illustrations would give me the heebee-jeebees; but I also couldn’t take my eyes off them! Somewhere along the way in my early love for horror movies, stories and devouring of books containing ‘real life‘ ghost stories, I learned about Sarah Winchester and the Winchester curse.
Not only was Sarah Winchester‘s story tragic but she also sounded as though she was an incredibly strong woman who commanded authority – and this I also liked! So when I saw that a movie was going to be made about the Winchester curse and house I thought “Finally” as I’ve been wanting to see this story on screen since I was about 11 years old!
As a really basic sum up for you, Sarah Winchester the widow of gun magnate William Wirt Winchester; was lonely and looking for solace after she also suffered the loss of her child; so often sought the help of physics to explain the terrible misfortune she’d suffered in her life since marrying Winchester. During one of the many seances Sarah conducted; Sarah was told that she must sell her property and “head towards the setting sun“. Sarah was told she would be guided by her husband and when she found her new home in the west, she would recognize it. “You must start a new life,” said the medium, “and build a home for yourself and for the spirits who have fallen from this terrible weapon too. You can never stop building the house. If you continue building, you will live. Stop and you will die.” For more on the Winchester Curse and Mystery House check it out here.
Winchester follows firearm heiress Sarah Winchester (portrayed by Academy Award® winner Helen Mirren) who was convinced that she was haunted by the souls killed at the hands of the Winchester repeating rifle. After the sudden deaths of her husband and child, she threw herself into the 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week construction of an enormous mansion designed to keep the evil spirits at bay. But when skeptical San Francisco psychiatrist Eric Price (Jason Clarke) is dispatched to the estate to evaluate her state of mind, he discovers that her obsession may not be so insane after all. Winchester will take audiences inside the labyrinth-like house that is believed to be one of the most haunted places in the world. Filmed in Melbourne, Winchester also stars Aussies Sarah Snook (Predestination) and Angus Sampson (Insidious and The Conjuring films).
OK so a crazy curse, scores of angry ghosts that have fallen by the weapon that gives Sarah Winchester her opulent lifestyle? Chuck Helen Mirren in it? Go on then! Sounds like just the perfect blockbuster horror movie I’m looking for in 2018, check out both of the trailers for Winchester below…
OK so looks good right?! Love Jason Clarke in there as a skeptical academic, Scully to Sarah’s Mulder if you will. I can’t wait to see this spooky flick in NZ Cinemas from February 22nd. For more on Winchester check out the entry on All Horror here. Tell me in the comments, what’s your favourite horror movie or ghost story of all time? 
