Saturday, January 23, 2010

The Haunting of Winchester House (2009)

When I saw the title, I wondered if this was about the infamous Winchester House in San Jose. But then they showed a horrible CGI house down a dirt road in the middle of the woods, which isn't anything like the real one so I figured it wasn't.

A family arrives at the Winchester house to become caretakers and finds there is something supernatural going on. When the family approach the house, due to a problem in perspective, they appear to be walking up to a structure the size of a child's play house. The other problem being it does not appear to be the same house shown in the opening shot, and is in the middle of a dirt lot. Plus the interior is a normal old house rather than an upscale home built by the rich. Then they start talking bout the legend and I knew I was in for a bad ride. (see this review for pics of the bad CGI house)

So it turns out it is supposed to be the home owned by the heir of the Winchester rifle inventor, who continuously built onto her home to confuse the spirits of those who were killed by the guns that provided her family their fortune.

The family consists of mother, father, and a daughter who appears to be around 12. I don't know if it was really bad writing or if the daughter is supposed to be developmentally challenged, but she acted like she was about five years old. She whines, is easily confused, and constantly wants her mommy.

The strangest and funniest exchange occurs when the parents find an old Winchester family photo which includes a man wearing chalk and a slate around his neck. The woman explains that this was how the deaf communicated during this time period. The man responds, "I hate the eighteenth century." Huh?

Be prepared for the twist ending which will make you wish you'd stomped on their fake little house, crushing it flat and avoiding this whole mess in the first place.

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