Everyone who has seen a horror movie thinks they could do a better job than the film’s protagonists. Whether it’s avoiding washing your face with icy cold water so that monsters can’t surprise you in the mirror or staying away from basements filled with antique porcelain dolls and rusty farming implements, there are certain terrifying and terrifyingly obvious situations that many viewers think they’d be savvy enough to avoid. Unless, of course, you’re Academy Award-winning actress Helen Mirren, in which case you’d probably offer them a spot of tea.

Unlike the hordes of people who think they would be able to recognize the telltale signs of a haunting and act accordingly to avoid an untimely demise, Mirren thinks that if she were to be haunted by a ghost, she probably wouldn’t even notice.At least, that’s what Mirren told us when our reporter Clarke Wolfe sat down with her and co-star Jason Clarke at a recent press day for their new film Winchester.[brightcove video_id=”5722800113001″ brightcove_account_id=”3653334524001″ brightcove_player_id=“rJs2ZD8x”]

Winchester tells the story of Sarah Winchester (Helen Mirren), the widow of gun manufacturer William Winchester, who uses her massive inheritance to build an enormous mansion. Believing that she is being haunted by the spirits of those whose lives were taken using Winchester firearms, the increasingly distraught heiress keeps adding to her mansion, building staircases to nowhere, hidden passageways, and all manner of labyrinthine hallways and rooms designed to trick the spirits. The so-called Winchester Mystery House is a very real place, but whether it is actually haunted remains a subject of hot debate to this day. In our interview, we discuss the Winchester Mystery House’s supernatural legacy, as well as the film’s powerfully relevant themes of gun violence, addiction, and much more.

Winchester is in theaters on February 2, 2018.

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