Movie Review: Winchester

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I’d heard Winchester was disappointing when it was in theaters. Still, I was curious about it. My dad took me to the Winchester Mystery House when I was little. Which was many, many, many moons ago now.

He was always taking me to places like that. It’s partly why my wanderlust tendencies are of the haunt jaunting persuasion.

The Winchester House was just so wacky, though. I remember thinking as a kid, “How could some lady really build such a crazy place?”

If you’ve ever been there, you know what I’m talking about. Even if you’ve just read about it, you probably do too.

Speaking of, if you can’t get enough and want to read and see more, Viva Glam recently published “Experience the History and Lore of the Winchester Mystery House.” It’s an interview with the historian of the house and includes some great photos. It’s much more satisfying than the movie.

Sadly. Because even with the negative reviews, I was excited to see Winchester was available on Showtime, which I have streaming access to via my Amazon Prime. And that’s how I watched it the other day.

Scary?

Winchester is meant to be scary, but does it succeed? None of the jump scare scenes succeeded in scaring me. They were a little too obvious.

The scariest thing about the movie, IMO, was the angle they decided to approach it from. Which wasn’t very exciting and a bit of a stretch really.

Spoiler alert: There are spirits in her house and some are unhappy. One in particular has a score to settle.

That’s what they run with. That spirit possesses her niece’s son –or try to. It’s up to Sarah and the shrink sent to evaluate her to save the boy.

Ugh. It was a very disappointing storyline.

Rating

Because it was such a one dimensional plot with so many missed opportunities, I just don’t have anything nice to say about it. The acting was okay, but there was something missing. Well, a couple of somethings: magic and mystery.

Oh well. Can’t win ’em all, right?

I give Winchester a one out of five stars.

Courtney Mroch

Courtney Mroch is a globe-trotting restless spirit who’s both possessed by wanderlust and the spirit of adventure, as well as obsessed with true crime, horror, the paranormal, and weird days. Perhaps it has something to do with her genes? She is related to occult royalty, after all. Marie Laveau, the famous Voodoo practitioner of New Orleans, is one of her ancestors. That could also explain her infatuation with skeletons.

Speaking of healing, to learn how she channeled her battle with cancer to conjure up this site, check out HJ’s Origin Story.