Helen Mirren's new film is based on one of America's most haunted houses

Supernatural thriller Winchester will unravel the disturbing story behind California's eerie Winchester Mystery House

A woman driven mad with guilt - haunted by the spirits of those killed by the firearms she owes her fortune to.

Whether literally haunted, or metaphorically, is a matter of personal opinion when it comes to the eerie history of the Winchester Mystery House. A sprawling mansion built in San Jose, California by one Sarah Winchester; who unravelled at the death of her husband and child. attempting to build the house to appease and ward off the spirits of those killed by her husband's invention, the Winchester rifle, or "The Gun That Won the West".

Promised by a medium that the ghosts would never harm her as long as she kept building, the house soon became a sprawling enterprise, seven stories tall and consisting of 160 rooms.

The house as it stands now is seemingly filled with bizarre traps - stairs that lead to nowhere and doors that open to nothing - a result either of haphazard construction plans, or a deliberate attempt to confuse the evil spirits.

Now, CBS Films has acquired the rights to bring this strange story to screen in Winchester, Deadline reports. Directed by Presdestination's Michael Spierig and Peter Spierig, Helen Mirren will take on the role of Sarah Winchester, here pitting her against skeptical psychiatrist Eric Price; dispatched to discern Sarah's state of mind, only to discover that her delusions may not be so fantastical.

Production on Winchester will begin next March, shooting on location at the house in San Jose, as well as in Australia.