Back in 2012, it was first revealed that Hammer was developing a film based on the Winchester Mystery House, widely considered the worlds most haunted house. Now, Hammer has announced that filmmaking brothers Michael and Peter Spierig (Daybreakers, Undead) have been tapped to rewrite and direct Winchester. The filmmakers are rewriting a script originally penned by Tom Vaughan that tells the story of Sarah Winchester, heir to the Winchester firearms fortune. The company is eyeing an early 2015 start date.
After the sudden deaths of her husband and child, Sarah Winchester came to believe she was cursed by the rifle’s victims and the lethal legacy of the “gun that won the West.” At the instruction of a spiritualist medium, she moved to San Jose in 1884 and began round-the-clock construction that would last thirty-eight years, and result in a 24,000 sq. foot, 160-room Gothic mansion.
We cant wait to see what the Spierig brothers unearth as they delve in to the mysteries of Sarah Winchester and her infamous haunted house, said Tobin Armbrust of Hammer. As the first feature film ever shot inside the Winchester Mystery House, we are excited to have these fantastic filmmakers bring their unique vision to the table.
Brett Matthew Tomberlin and Antonia Lianos of Imagination Design Works are producing Winchester alongside Andrew Trapani and Brian Gilbert of Nine/8 Entertainment. Tobin Armbrust and Simon Oakes are producing for Hammer.
