There’s a prolonged tension through the whole film. “The Spiriegs did their own draft of the script after me, and they did a beautiful job directing as well. But in an email, Winchester scriptwriter Tom Vaughan describes the film in one word. The film hasn’t been previewed for the press. “Insanity and blood” promise the advertisements, along with an A-list leading lady: Dame Helen Mirren as the wealthy Sarah Winchester. As early as 1939, the WPA Guide to California, an early tourism reference book, described the mansion as “the externalization of a psychopathic mind.”Īfter a few weeks of location work last year, the Spierig brothers≽aybreakers’ Peter and Michael, twin directors from Australiahave finished a feature film about our local portal into weirdness. Since the reclusive Sarah Winchester’s demise of old age in 1922, the place has had an enthusiastically cultivated bad name. The guides put you in a susceptible frame of mind as you climb the strangely angled stairs and walk the dim corridors. The famous Winchester House stands as a contrast between the valley as it wasa place of delight, sure, then as now, if you have the moneyand the latter-day Santa Clara County, in all of its incredible sprawl, where the hammering and sawing never stops.Īt night, lit up, it draws people driving past on Winchester Boulevard with its potential for horror. A new film about the Winchester Mystery House reminds us about the power of myth.

Sara winchester mystery house