When it comes to gothic horror, we’ve been seeing something of a small resurgence since movies like Guillermo del Toro’s Crimson Peak breathed new life into the Victorian ghost story. There’s something about the atmosphere of giant haunted houses and lacy, antique costumes that modern horror doesn’t have. February’s upcoming ghost story Winchester combines gothic horror with historical fact for Helen Mirren’s most chilling role yet.

The premise for Winchester has its roots in history: Sarah Winchester, wife of William Winchester whose father built the Winchester Rifle fortune, becomes convinced that her giant mansion is haunted by the ghosts of people who have been killed by the famous guns following the sudden deaths of her husband, child, and father-in-law. The house in the movie is real, now a California tourist attraction called the Winchester Mystery House, full of doors that open onto walls and staircases that lead nowhere.

Here’s the official plot synopsis:

Inspired by true events. On an isolated stretch of land 50 miles outside of San Francisco sits the most haunted house in the world. Built by Sarah Winchester, (Academy Award-winner Helen Mirren) heiress to the Winchester fortune, it is a house that knows no end. Constructed in an incessant twenty-four hour a day, seven day a week mania for decades, it stands seven stories tall and contains hundreds of rooms. To the outsider it looks like a monstrous monument to a disturbed woman’s madness. But Sarah is not building for herself, for her niece (Sarah Snook) or for the troubled Doctor Eric Price (Jason Clarke) whom she has summoned to the house. She is building a prison, an asylum for hundreds of vengeful ghosts, and the most terrifying among them have a score to settle with the Winchesters…

Winchester is directed by Peter and Michael Spierig (Jigsaw, Predestination), stars Helen Mirren and Jason Clarke, and hits theaters February 2.

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