1/5 Sarah Winchester would be rolling in her grave...
  by Shannon L. Yarbrough (St. Louis, MO USA)
...if she saw this horrible film very very very loosely based on "true events" surrounding her infamous house. I hate when movie makers give a movie the tag line "based on true events" but then they take no care and consideration in even getting the story close. While the story of Sarah Winchester herself is true, and it is believed that a medium told her that the spirits of people killed by the Winchester rifle were haunting her, this interesting true life tale has little to do with the film. Neither is the story of her house which she continued building and adding on for years until she died.

Instead, we are presented with three bad actors with bad haircuts - a father, mother, and daughter - that move into the Winchester Mansion for a few days. It's not really explained why they move into the house. Like most haunted house films, they start finding newspaper clippings and photos that might help them explain the haunting, but this is just barely tapped into. The best of these explanations is a photo of a man with a small chalkboard hanging around his neck; he's deaf and uses the chalkboard to communicate. But like I said, the directors and writers of this film barely scratch the surface.

Instead, we're taken on a dark, frightful run around the house as the parents panic when their daughter goes missing. Odd spirits with facial deformities appear and attack the parents, even Sarah Winchester herself attacks policeman who show up after the father calls in his daughter's disappearance. The special effects are horrible, actually there weren't really any special effects. Just running around and panic, scary music, and bad lighting. Let's not forget the horrible script. Some of the conversations between the actors don't even make sense, responses seem delayed, and some lines are just downright stupid.

The family is aided by a paranormal investigator - another horrible no name actor with bad hair - who lives down the road who shows up to help them find their daughter. He explains to them the types of spirits there are and their purpose, and then magically all of his explanations start to take place, including his own demise (which is a laugh if that). After an hour of running around and not really accomplishing anything, the movie comes to a sad climax and everything is resolved. At this point, the film comes to an actually nice and surprising close which was a lot like The Others or The Sixth Sense. I actually liked the ending and thought it was pretty clever and it's just too bad the rest of the movie didn't live up to it. Overall, the film is stupid, predictable, and a big let down. The surprise ending came too late, or not soon enough if you decide to sit through this trash.

3/5 So bad, it's almost good!
  by J. K. Hinton (TX USA)
3-D glasses in place, we settled ourselves down for a bit of a fright---we thought. Who wouldn't love to visit the spirits inhabiting the haunted Winchester House, in 3-D. Instead, what we experienced was a blast from the past, which led to uncontrollable giggling and a room filled with rib-splitting comments. The hairstyles, and setting, looked straight out of the late 60's. The only give-away, that this film wasn't from lost archives, was the daughter's iPod. Unfortunately, the acting was about as bad as some of the low-budget horror films, playing the outdoor screens, of bygone years. Only then, we didn't complain; it was a dollar a carload.

As bad as we found this movie to be, credit is due for the moment of backward, time-travel, and the campy feel of the film, hence the three stars, but I suspect this was not the producer's intention. Or, maybe it was; they couldn't have been serious. Could they? I would recommend a viewing for baby boomers who would like to reminisce about the past, particularly with a group of friends who also experienced some of the early 3-D movies. It could be fun with the right crowd.

The 3-D option was rather disappointing, though. It was dark and hard on the eyes and did not add any scare factor. We actually had to turn it off before the end, because it became headache inducing, when our eyes suddenly started crossing from the strain. But, many of the new 3-D films have been sub-par, the exception being Coraline, which I consider the best of the recent bunch, and quite eerie, in a subtle way.

Unless you're a serious collector of retro, or retro type horror films, I'd recommend you rent this one first, and give it a go. I also think everyone that refuses to answer the doorbell on Halloween should be made to sit through this film. That would teach 'em!

4/5 fun little horror flick
  by Norah (Los Angeles)
Great to see the Asylum getting back to it's horror roots! This is a wonderful little low budget horror flick. Creepy in an Alfred Hitchcock sort of way. More of a ghost story than horror. The cast was very likable, especially the mother and abducted daughter. The handmade fx gave it a cool retro feel. You could tell the filmmakers and crew had alot of fun with this one.




3/5 This should be at the gift shop at Winchester Mystery House !
  by guestar57 (Porterville,Ca.USA)
theasylum.cc
Written by Jose Prendes,Directed by Mark Atkins.
This has some elements to behold.
Scary moments aplenty,Make-ups on victims of the Winchester Rifle are great and spooky.
The cast is very real in their performance and story comes to logical conclusion.
The 3D version is OK,Im not sure if it added something.
What was great was this-Based on truth and WHO hasnt been to Winchester Mystery House ?

Wow factor,Is how come didnt use the Real House instead of CGI mockup ?You know copies are gonna end up in gift shop,LOL.
Great box art as usual and whole film has a `Retro' vibe of exploitation films that baby boomers can remember.

1/5 Really, Really Bad Cheesmo Garbage
  by David Holt (Hell)
I just rented and watched this 2D 3D movie and it's REALLY bad! I felt bad for some of the actors that gave it there all but this should never have been made and released to the public. If you think some guy walking around behind the actors like 6 times and people standing around in the dark is scary then go for it. I will give them credit for trying a twist but this whole thing was SO SO unoriginal in a terrible way.

The first CG shot of the house and the bad acting really set the stage for more of this bad movie. I fast forwarded through to see if anything was worth watching and it just kept getting worse. The one black actor who was the ghost hunter was HORRIBLE! 45 minutes of my life now gone...