Winchester
CBS Films | Release Date: February 2, 2018 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
28
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 18 Critic Reviews
Positive:
1
Mixed:
5
Negative:
12
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
RogerEbert.comSimon AbramsFeb 2, 2018
What Winchester lacks in originality its creators amply make up for in execution. Read full review
50
We Got This CoveredMatt DonatoFeb 4, 2018
Winchester is a familiar haunted house shuffle about an infinitely more interesting topic, but you must play with the hand you're dealt - win, lose or draw. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Feb 2, 2018
The real problem is that all that speculative fun has been shaped into a rather clunky, derivative bit of supernatural claptrap: a haunted house movie curiously low on mystery or honest scares. Read full review
49
IGNWilliam BibbianiFeb 2, 2018
You won't lose yourself in this haunted house, even though that was supposed to be the whole point. A film about a labyrinth filled with ghosts quickly becomes methodical and familiar, stranding a great cast in an inert supernatural thriller. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangFeb 2, 2018
No matter how many non-sequitur jolts they manage to squeeze into these jumpy proceedings, the ability to sustain a sense of dread, to create tension that lasts beyond the immediate moment, seems dispiritingly beyond their grasp. Read full review
40
EmpireBen TravisFeb 2, 2018
Despite an intriguing premise, Winchester misses the mark. Its anti-gun message is a shot in the right direction, but lazy fright tactics and a contradictory ending leave it firing blanks. Read full review
38
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsFeb 2, 2018
As a period ghost story, it’s pretty pallid. Read full review
38
TheWrapJason SolomonsFeb 1, 2018
Whichever way you wield it, Winchester is a misfire. Read full review
38
Movie NationRoger MooreFeb 1, 2018
The first major movie disappointment of 2018. Read full review
30
Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovFeb 7, 2018
You’d think the sordid history of the Winchester house would have inspired a more evocative or even entertaining haunted house story but the Spierigs rely far too much on the sort of shock-cut du jour that has become the lazy and boring norm for so many PG-13 “horror” films of the past 15 years. Read full review
30
The New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisFeb 3, 2018
Despite the typically elevating presence of Helen Mirren, this super-silly feature (the fifth from the Australian brothers Peter and Michael Spierig) stubbornly resists being classed up. Read full review
30
The Hollywood ReporterStephen DaltonFeb 2, 2018
Mirren always brings a touch of class, of course, even to deluxe schlock like this. But Clarke is something of a blank leading man while the secondary characters are mostly pale phantoms sleepwalking through a thinly drawn plot. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChroniclePeter HartlaubFeb 2, 2018
Although it isn’t a top-flight horror movie — too slow for thrill-chasers, too ridiculously fictionalized for historians — the film serves as a proper 99-minute commercial for that San Jose tourist spot. Read full review
20
The GuardianPeter BradshawFeb 2, 2018
A staggeringly pointless supernatural non-chiller featuring some very tiresome jump scares. Read full review
20
Total FilmMatt GlasbyFeb 2, 2018
For all their technical competence, the Spierig brothers don’t show great understanding of how ghost stories actually work. Read full review
20
The TelegraphTim RobeyFeb 2, 2018
The film has about five sets and they never feel like they connect together, but this is less an attempt at disorienting the viewer than simply cutting corners; the grisly, overdone lighting, meanwhile, makes you want to hide behind your fingers for all the wrong reasons. Read full review
20
VarietyOwen GleibermanFeb 2, 2018
Winchester is the supernatural-schlock version of a liberal think-tank paper. Read full review
12
Rolling StonePeter TraversFeb 5, 2018
It shouldn't happen to anyone, much less a Dame – not a movie of such barreling awfulness as Winchester, which strands the great Helen Mirren in a gothic house of cards that collapses on actors and audiences alike. Read full review
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