Helen Mirren to star in the Spierig Brothers’ Winchester

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Having delivered their own take on zombie films with UNDEAD and vampire movies with DAYBREAKERS, sibling filmmakers Michael and Peter Spierig are now preparing to show us what their version of a haunted house movie would be like. As announced last week, the brothers are at the helm of WINCHESTER, 

the strange and dramatic tale of Sarah Winchester, who was heir to the Winchester firearms fortune. Her husband and child died suddenly, and Sarah came to believe she had been cursed by the lethal legacy of the “gun that won the west” and all of those who ended up on the wrong end of the gun barrel. She consulted a medium, who sent her to San Jose in 1884 to begin a massive construction process that took 38 years and resulted in a 24,000-square-foot, 160-room Gothic mansion.

This is a true story, and not only can you take tours through the actual Winchester Mystery House, which is considered "one of the most haunted places in the world", this film will also be shot on location in the massive mansion. Some filming will also take place in Australia.

To star as the woman who lives amid the perpetual construction that she believes will keep her safe from evil spirits, the Spierigs have cast one of our greatest living actresses: Oscar-winning fifty year veteran of the screen Helen Mirren.

With Mirren signing on, the prestige of this picture just got a substantial boost.

Filming on WINCHESTER is expected to commence in early 2017. In addition to their horror films, the Spierigs also directed the mind-bending time travel movie PREDESTINATION.