Winchester(2018)
Lionsgate- PG-13Rated PG-13 for violence, disturbing images, drug content, some sexual material and thematic elements
- 1h 39m
Feb 2, 2018
Ensconced in her sprawling San Jose, California mansion, eccentric firearm heiress Sarah Winchester (Dame Helen Mirren) believes she is haunted by the souls of people killed by the Winchester repeating rifle.
Release Details
Original Release | Feb 2, 2018 | Wide
Box Office Results
2025-01-31T13:00:56.245Z
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$9,307,626
$25,091,816
$18,927,772
$44,019,588
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Technical Specifications
Aspect Ratio: 2.35 : 1
Other Details
Country of Origin: Australia, United States
Language: English
Summaries
Plot Summary
- Sarah Winchester (Helen Mirren) is the widow of famed gun manufacturer William Wirt Winchester. Her husband's sudden death and the previous death of their child Annie have left her in grief. Sarah wears black and covers her face with a black veil, except at times of meals. Having received more than $20-million dollars in inheritance and a 51% stake in the company, Winchester convinces herself she is cursed by the ghosts of those who died at the hands of Winchester firearms.After seeking advice from a medium, she moves to San Jose, California and purchases an 8-room house. She proceeds to spend the next 20 years expanding an enormous, seemingly never-ending mansion that would eventually be named the Winchester Mystery House. The Winchester House is now a huge 7 storied structure, with no master plan, and each floor a maze of halls more confusing than the next. Sarah has become more and more reclusive.The house is under constant construction (that goes on day and night) and Sarah's relative Marion Marriott (Sarah Snook) lives in the house with her son Henry. At night, Henry (Finn Scicluna-O'Prey) is possessed by a mysterious entity. Sarah watches as Henry points to the sealed attic and proclaims that "he is coming for us".In 1906, the Winchester company Board of Directors hires Doctor Eric Price (Jason Clarke) to stay at the house and assess Sarah, believing she is mentally unfit to remain in charge of the company. They believe that Sarah's mental state is a chaotic as the house. Sarah had allowed Eric to stay at the mansion even though she knows the purpose of Eric's assignment. Eric accepts the job as he is under tremendous debts with the mortgages, the hospital and medicine expenses. Eric is paid $600 for his work.Eric is grieving from the death of his wife Ruby (Laura Brent) and reliant on drugs. He arrives at the house and has a ghostly vision that he believes is a side effect of the drugs he has taken. Later, he spots a ghost in the basement and witnesses a possessed Henry jump off the roof. Eric saves him. Eric discusses the superiority of Winchester rifles with Sarah and finds that Sarah has an oddly debasing opinion of what her own company does.Only the grand ballroom of the house is made completely without nails. There are now 100 rooms in the house. Sarah has designed a state of the art inter room communication system by installing a network of pipes that take sound from the bedrooms to the intended recipients in the kitchen, or the butlers.The next day, Eric begins to conduct his assessment of Sarah's mental well-being. Sarah admits her fear of ghosts and believes she can help them move on. She reveals that she knows about Eric's drug problem and confiscates his supply of Laudanium (a tincture of opium containing approximately 10% powdered opium by weight, which is the equivalent of 1% morphine). That night, Eric witnesses a seemingly possessed Sarah draw a plan for a new room. He is startled by an entity and flees back to his room. The next day, Sarah shows Eric that she keeps records of people killed by Winchester rifles.It is revealed that Eric had actually been shot and killed by a Winchester rifle before being revived, and he keeps the refurbished bullet with him. Sarah explains how the spirits of all the souls killed by the Winchester rifle possess and guide Sarah on the rooms they want her to build for them (these are replicas of the rooms they died in). The spirits use the rooms to enter the mortal realm to complete their unfinished business. But Sarah can't tell if the spirit is benign or harmful. Thirteen nails keep spirits sealed in rooms and Sarah uses this to lock the harmful spirits till they come to peace and can be released in the world. Lately Sarah has felt a presence in the house, that she feels is threatening her family.A possessed Henry attempts to kill Sarah with a rifle but is stopped by Eric and Marion. Realizing how violent this spirit is, Sarah sends her staff away and decides to personally remove the ghost from her home. Eric encounters a butler who reveals himself to be a ghost. He and Sarah identify the ghost as Benjamin Block (Eamon Farren), a Confederate States Army soldier who lost his two brothers in the American Civil War, killed by Winchester rifles. A devastated Ben proceeded to shoot up a Winchester office, massacring the workers before being shot dead by police. Ben has been the one possessing Henry; the constructed room with the Winchester guns is the room where he was shot dead.The 1906 San Francisco earthquake takes place, devastating the house and separating Eric and Sarah. In the chaos, a possessed Henry escapes his room and is pursued by Marion. Eric encounters several ghosts before seeing the ghost of his wife Ruby. It is revealed that Ruby could see and hear ghosts but was misdiagnosed as "delusional" by Eric. Depressed that he would not believe her, the unstable Ruby shot Eric before killing herself with a Winchester rifle. Ruby's ghost comforts Eric, inspiring him to help Sarah.Eric reunites with Sarah, and they manage to trap Ben in the room. Marion and Henry are cornered by Ben's brothers. Ben attempts to murder Sarah, but the pair realizes that Ben is scared of the bullet Eric kept. Eric has been able to see the ghosts in the house due to him dying from that bullet beforehand. Eric uses the bullet in the rifle that Ben used in the shooting and banishes him. Henry and Marion are saved, and the other spirits return to their rooms. Eric pronounces Sarah sane, allowing her to remain in control of the company. Sarah announces her intent to build more rooms to help more spirits. As the house is being repaired, a nail falls out of one of the boards that is sealing a spirit in a room.The Winchester house remains the most haunted mansion in North America
Storyline
- Inspired by true events. On an isolated stretch of land fifty miles outside of San Francisco sits the most haunted house in the world. Built by Sarah Winchester (Dame Helen Mirren) heiress to the Winchester fortune, it is a house that knows no end. Constructed in an incessant twenty-four hour a day, seven day a week mania for decades, it stands seven stories tall and contains hundreds of rooms. To an outsider it looks like a monstrous monument to a disturbed woman's madness. But Sarah is not building for herself, for her niece Marion (Sarah Snook), nor for the brilliant Dr. Eric Price (Jason Clarke), who she has summoned to the house. She is building a prison, an asylum for hundreds of vengeful ghosts, and the most terrifying amongst them have a score to settle with the Winchesters. Sarah Winchester (Dame Helen Mirren) is the widow of famed gun manufacturer William Wirt Winchester. Her husband's sudden death and the previous death of their child Annie have left her in grief. Having received more than twenty million dollars in inheritance, Winchester convinces herself she is cursed by the ghosts of those who died at the hands of Winchester firearms. After seeking advice from a medium, she begins building an enormous, seemingly never-ending mansion in San Jose, California that would eventually be named the Winchester Mystery House. The house is under constant construction and Sarah's relative Marion Marriott (Sarah Snook) lives in the house with her son Henry (Finn Scicluna-O'Prey). At night, Henry is possessed by a mysterious entity.
