I’m not sure if it’s just me, but I find it so hard to connect with a lot of these popular ghost flicks. Movies such as the Paranormal Activity films, the Insidious Films, the Annabell’s and even the Conjuring films have all had this lack luster effect.
It seems these all just focus on a shocking twist, special effects or jump scares (the more the merrier?). I can’t tell you all how predictable these movies have all become. I find myself bored halfway through the film and tend to follow through to the end just to see if I was right in my prediction and Winchester was exactly that.
The history of the house is a good story. I’m surprised it has taken them this long to finally do a feature film on it. However, it’s another film that claims, “Based on true accounts” in truth, very loosely based on truth. It had potential! But like most of these, it failed by having a poor, even a not so climatic ending.
What ruins these movies most for me is when the stories and characters become unbelievable. I’ve been in the paranormal field for close to 30 years and by now, you are aware of what ghosts can and cannot do. So when they cross the line and have spirit go beyond that, I tend to loose touch with the film.
An example of this is when the elderly Mrs. Winchester has her house pretty much fall on her, and then the ghost throws her around the room, slamming her against the walls and furniture at extreme forces. Afterwards, she’s all fine and dandy. What?! the damn woman would've been picking her teeth and broken hip off the freakin floor.
The movie itself was ok. It had a few good jump scares and a few good scenes. But I figured it out and found myself not feeling the need to ever watch it again. It’s not the kind of movie that leaves you wondering if you missed any details or the need to re-watch any particular scene again.
I’m sorry Helen Mirren, not even your academy award winning talent could make this movie memorable.