2018 is set to be another huge year for horror, with releases like Halloween, The Purge: The Island, The Conjuring 3 and more all coming down the pipeline. But one flick that’s perhaps flying a bit under the radar is Winchester, which is due out on February 2nd and stars Helen Mirren.
The iconic actress is set to play Sarah Lockwood Pardee, who married William Wirt Winchester in 1862 and, after the death of both him and their only child, became the heir to a fortune built upon the success of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company. According to legend, Sarah was informed by a medium that her family was cursed to be haunted by all those killed by Winchester rifles, and she moved to an 8-room Californian farm house in 1884, for the purpose of protecting herself from the spirits of the dead.
Believing that she would die if construction on the house ever stopped, she spent her ever-increasing inheritance expanding her home into a bizarre labyrinth with doors leading to nowhere, among various other odd design choices. In other words, confusing the spirits was the goal.
Now, in an age where franchises such as The Conjuring have proven to be box office gold, Hollywood is taking this idea to the logical conclusion by serving up one badass-looking movie and today, Lionsgate has offered up four new clips for us to feast on. Seen above and below, they show off various scenes from the film and tease what appears to be a compelling slice of gothic horror.
As we mentioned before, 2018 is looking to be a massive year for the genre and as such, Winchester may have a bit of a hard time standing out. Still, that in no way means you should skip it. After all, Mirren is one of the finest actresses around and with co-stars like Jason Clarke and Sarah Snook, there’s much to be excited about here. Not to mention that directors The Spierig Brothers know a thing or two about horror, having helmed Jigsaw and Daybreakers, among others.
We’ll let the footage in these clips do the rest of the talking, but you can bet that we’ll be heading out to catch Winchester when it opens next month.
