Some exciting news from our friends at Exclusive Media/Hammer!

Actor Jared Harris has been cast to portray university physics professor, Joseph Coupland in the supernatural horror film, THE QUIET ONES to begin filming this summer. 

Inspired on true events, the story revolves around an unorthodox, but charismatic professor who uses controversial methods and leads his best students off the grid to take part in a dangerous experiment that creates a poltergeist from human negative energy with disastrous results.

Jared Harris is an excellent choice for this role. The son of the famed, late, great Richard Harris, he has an incredible acting range. Anyone who has seen his previous work in THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON; SHERLOCK HOLMES: A GAME OF SHADOWS and the television series MAD MEN, it’s obvious that the apple did not fall too far from the tree in the talent department. 

Also, on Exclusive Media/Hammer’s slate is the story of the world’s most haunted mansion, THE WINCHESTER MYSTERY HOUSE which is currently in development.

Having lived in San Jose, California and taken the Halloween midnight tour, armed with only a souvenir flashlight, I can tell you its one of the most peculiar structures ever constructed, not to mention the odd sounds of doors closing and floors creaking for no apparent reason.

Sarah Winchester, heiress to the Winchester fortune, whose late husband, William Wirt Winchester manufactured the Winchester repeating rifle; the gun that won the West, was persuaded by a spiritualist after her husband died of tuberculosis and her infant child prematurely of marasmus that she was cursed and become the victim of avenging spirits who died violently from the Winchester rifle.

Settling in the Santa Clara Valley in 1884, she ordered construction on what was originally to be an eight room house, workers toiled round-the-clock for thirty-eight years eventually turning it into a seven story mansion with secret passages, stairways that lead nowhere and open areas that are two stories down.

Sarah Winchester would roam the grounds, dressed in black with a veil over her face so that no one would see her. Any servant or worker that did get a glimpse of what she looked like, was immediately dismissed.

She also had a preoccupation with spider web designs and the number 13. There are thirteen sinkholes, thirteen windowpanes, a thirteen candle chandelier and wall clothes hooks numbered at thirteen. Her last will and testament was written in thirteen sections and signed thirteen times.

The oddest story though is the secret room. Once, Mrs. Winchester found a wine bottle with a black hand print on it. She immediately ordered the door to the room sealed.

To this day, no one has ever been able to find it. 

After her death, strange sightings of a woman in black seen around the grounds as if she were floating in the air late at night were common. Today, people still see ghost sightings and hear many unexplained noises that defy logic.

Expect both films to arrive 2013.

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