By Taryn Donovan

Winchester is a horror movie directed by the Spierig brothers that focuses on the famous Winchester Mystery House of San Jose. This house is known as one of the most haunted areas in the United States. Even though it’s not the most anticipated horror movie of 2018, Winchester is still worth a watch.

Helen Mirren stars as Sarah Winchester, a widow and heiress to the Winchester fortune. She owns the mansion and believes she is cursed by the ghosts of people killed by the Winchester rifle, a firearm developed by her husband and the most popular rifle of the late 1800s. Mirren is as good in this film as she is in her other films. It’s interesting to see her in a horror movie, as she tends to take on more serious roles. Her performance in Winchester is oddly reminiscent of her role in The Queen (2006); Sarah Winchester has a very dignified demeanor, but it is unlikely that ghosts haunted Queen Elizabeth.

The movie itself isn’t as scary as it was hyped up to be. A lot of the focus of the movie is on story and character development, which makes it seem more like a dark historical film than a horror movie. Even when the movie is going for scares, it sort of falls flat because they use a lot of outdated and predictable scare techniques. It’s more or less a lot of a character hearing a noise and music getting louder to build suspense.

One of the best scares appears in the beginning of the film. The main character looks into a mirror, and the movie lets the suspense linger just a little longer than normal so that you begin to think nothing is going to happen. That’s when they get you.

Overall the movie is good. If you’re a veteran horror fan, it’s probably not the best idea to go in with high expectations. If you’re new to horror and don’t want to start with something too frightening or a diehard Helen Mirren fan, I would suggest you give this movie a try. It’s a nice introduction into the world of horror films, but nothing spectacular.