Rating: 
Summary: SCARIEST HAUNTED HOUSE FILM EVER.
Review: I saw this movie as a child & have rented it at least 10 times, so I had to buy it as soon as it came out on DVD. Warning you better have someone to watch this movie with or you wont sleep, you will think you are being chased by a turn of the century wheel chair. George C Scott is at his best along with his real life wife as his co star. I would also reccomend the move Ghost Story with Fred Astire. I agree the card board case this movie is shipped in is crap, especially for collectors. But the movie it self is flawless.
Rating:
Summary: Best Haunted House Flick Ever Made
Review: Since the first time I saw this film when I was 6, I've been trying to find a haunted house film to top this. I still get chills in certain scenes (not going to spoil it for anyone) 20 years later. They don't make 'em like this anymore, only wish they did. Until they do, nothing will beat this one in the haunted house genre for me (and I've seen a bunch).
Rating:
Summary: Classic Well Made Scary Ghost Story
Review: The Changeling is not a Horror Film, it is a good old fashioned Ghost Story that is done so very well. The film, for its somewhat low-budget and minimal use of Hollywood stars, except for Scott, has managed to transcend all of its restrictions into an almost Oscar winning vehicle and yet still remains independent in look and feel to give it that cult vintage appeal.The music, set design, script and acting are all on top form however the cinematography is what makes this film stand out. Nowhere since Rosemary's Baby has a house looked so creepy and yet still remained homely at the same time. What is upstairs in this house is the kind of the place that you would never want to visit with a group, yet Scott goes up there by himself alone. Most other films of this type do silly things like putting people in haunted places when obviously they would run away in two second flat but Scott is a BIG MAN and looks tough. He could probably walk down any alley in the world unscathed. So Scott is free to roam his house and live there on his own. The audience does not disbelieve it for one second and this is why the film manages to transcend many for its type. It is that kind of eye of direction and storytelling that makes Peter Medak's little haunted house tale really shine. This film has it down-pat in atmosphere and haunting ambiance. It does scare. Just make sure that you turn off the lights and watch this one late for full impact. Watching this one during the day almost had me walking around the house looking behind doors and jumping a mile into the air when frozen icicles broke off the roof and landed on my windowsill. The premise is good - John Russell (Scott) a music professor and composer, loses his wife and family in a terrible accident. Seeking consolation, he moves into an old mansion vacant for twelve years, but a child ghost occurrence seems to be sharing the house with him. The ghost is trying to tell him something. Russell investigates the house's history and discovers a horrific secret. This movie is in the same vein as What Lies Beneath (2000), Others, The (2001) and Ring, The (2002) but is done so much better. If you like to watch intelligent "horror" or a really good Ghost Story yarn then hands down this is what you need. Even though it was made in 1980 it is still bloody scary and tops many a scare movie list. Go on - I Dare You to Watch It.
Rating: 
Summary: "Did you die in this house? Why do you remain?"
Review: Director Peter Medak's THE CHANGELING is a highly entertaining and very creepy old-fashioned ghost story. It stars award-winning actor George C. Scott as John Russell, a musical composer who still grieves over the tragic deaths of his wife and young daughter (the film opens with the accident in which they are killed). In an attempt to put the loss behind him and move on with his life, Russell accepts a teaching position and moves to another town, where he also rents a rather dilapidated old mansion. It doesn't take long for him to realize that his new domicile is haunted, and when he learns that the ghost is that of a young boy who was stealthily murdered in the early 1900s, he throws himself wholeheartedly into the task of solving the mysterious crime. He is assisted in the endeavor by the real-estate agent who arranged his rental contract, played by Scott's wife Trish Van Devere. This film follows the old-school, Hitchcockian method of sucking the unwitting audience into the fantasy and thereby creating a genuine visceral horror. Unlike a lot of more contemporary genre fare, THE CHANGELING subtly builds tension by first concentrating on character development. Then, once the audience has some empathy for the protagonists, the details of the haunting and the related crime slowly unfold as the film's atmosphere becomes more & more eerie and more & more unsettling. So when the film's scariest events finally take place, the audience has been psychologically primed for being genuinely spooked. The acting in this film is superb. In contrast to the arrogant, flamboyantly self-assured characters that Scott is generally famous for playing, his John Russell is a sensitive and vulnerable man who seems truly concerned with the plight of others, and Scott delivers an exceptional performance that is just this side of stupendous. It's a shame that he wasn't offered more roles such as this. The always beautiful Trish Van Devere does a great turn as the real-estate agent who assists Russell, and she does an especially good job and exuding terror when she is confronted vis-à-vis by things that go bump in the night. Also turning in a wonderful performance is the highly revered Melvyn Douglas, here portraying a rather smarmy politician in one of his last roles. Genre fans will recognize Mr. Douglas from an early performance as Roger Penderel in another spook-house film, James Whale's classic THE OLD DARK HOUSE. Like some of its notable predecessors, this old-fashioned ghost story creates lots of gooseflesh and increases the heart rate without resorting to lots of gratuitous gore or stomach-churning make-up effects. So keep in mind, then, that fans who prefer only blood-and-guts horror may find THE CHANGELING a bit slow going. However, anyone who enjoys great acting, great story-telling, and deep-in-the-pit-of-your-stomach psychological scares will really enjoy watching this oft-overlooked gem.
Rating:
Summary: Good classic scares and creepy!
Review: ***WARNING: A few plot spoilers follow!*** First of all, I must say I am reviewing this film as a jaded horror fan which has seen the best and worst of horror that Hollywood has had to offer. It seems that over the past 20 years that the trend has gone from genuinely frightening to ho-hum to laughable. Therefore, I love it when certain "new classics" arise to prove that trend is not always correct. "The Changeling" gets the formula right on so many levels. A haunted house done in the style of "The Haunting" (the Julie Harris version, not the trash that was done on the remake), but with original elements. George C. Scott (who later went on to star in a great version of "A Christmas Carol") plays "John Russell", a musician who tragically loses his wife and daughter in the blink of an eye one fateful day. He choses to move to a vast, empty mansion in Seattle where he resides alone. Or so he thinks. He soon learns that he has an uninvited guest when unexplained clanging and drafts occur on a regular basis. One might argue that if this film was made today, the director may have resorted to CGI for this film, thus ruining some of the ghostly apparitions. Maybe so, but thankfully, no cheap tricks or special effects gore clog this movie's veins. What we encounter is a dark, melancholy house which slowly and almost imperceptibly builds an atmosphere of tension and suspense. This atmosphere leads to a stratospheric climax in the famous "seance scene", which as one previous reviewer noted, was borrowed in totality by Stephen King for his miniseries "Rose Red". For that matter, while watching this film, I noticed quite a few similarities from "The Others" as well. I mean, come on, a groundskeeper named "Mr. Tuttle"? Also, the idea of the "seen" vs the "unseen" history of the house (for example, the piecing together of the history of its inhabitants prior to the 1920s). "The Others" accomplishes this similarly with the hidden photo albums in the attic, in addition to the deliberately vague information provided by the three strangers who appear to take care of the house. And "Rose Red" has the main "villianess/heroine/protagonist" (depending on your point of view) actually "living" in a hidden part of the house (whose ever changing geography was a brilliant conception of King and King alone, so far as I know). Anyhow, the thematic similarities between these three films ("The Changeling" of course long preceeded the other two) does nothing the sully the reputation of the two newer films. On the contrary, I think the writers and production teams were paying homage to this film, and each of those films has many distinctive elements which make them extraordinary on their own. Trish Van Devere puts in a strong performance as Scott's co-star, "Claire Norman". It did not surprise me later to learn that she and Scott (were, Scott died in 1999) husband and wife, as their scenes together seemed very warm, natural, and convincing. Of course, in the end, she gets the wits scared out of her and gives quite a few hearty screams. Melvyn Douglas, an accomplished actor himself, stars as "Senator Joseph Carmichael". We learn that he has an intimate connection to the occurrences at Chessman House, though I must say I was completely surprised by exactly how he fits in the puzzle. And that is something else worth commenting on. This is in fact a detective story of sorts, a mystery entertwined with a haunted house. I found this very interesting, and refreshing, much in the style of "The Others", the magnificent film I alluded to earlier. There is no "dramatic irony" here because we literally find out what is going on as the character does. I think that some parts are a bit predictable, but it is safe to say that every viewer will be at least slightly taken off guard by the twists and turns this film takes. And this is a good thing. The only weaknesses in this film were the insertion of the "conspiracy angle" with Mrs. Huxley and the rather hokey ending with the figure of Senator Carmichael ascending the flaming staircase. I found myself thinking of the Apostle's Creed, saying, "(Jesus) died, and ascended into hell" (read that carefully). It is made clear that this is a hallucination of Scott's as another shot shows Douglas sitting at his desk at home, clutching his chest in the throes of a (fatal) heart attack. Still, I think a much stronger ending would have had Douglas drawing a bath, then found later in his tub, dead, of a heart attack. No special effects. No earthquakes. Just a frozen expression of sheer terror on his face. And wearing his medal. After seeing the film, you'll see what I mean by this. Anyway, I shouldn't second guess the writing/direction team on an otherwise flawless effort. Ideally, I would rate this at four and a half stars, but five does not misrepresent the quality of the film. Yes, it is definitely a period piece, but what horror movie isn't? I think that if you have reasonable expectations that don't involve buckets of blood, gore, and a sensory overload of CGI, you'll really enjoy this film.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: This movie was one of the most well thought out I have ever seen.
Rating:
Summary: This movie stills scares me to death
Review: I first saw The Changeling when I was 13. I was so horrifyed but at the same time I wanted to watch it again. It gave me nightmares and kept me awake for many hours. I didn't see it again until I was 26 when I bought it from amazon. I was so excited that I had found it and thinking it probably wouldn't be as scary as it seemed to me at 13, I watched it as soon as the UPS truck dropped it off. Even in broad daylight I was so freaked out I jumped several times when my d*mn cat came around the corner of my couch. I have watched this movie so much that my best friend made a joke that Wednesday night was The Changeling movie night at my house. I loaned the movie out and lost it which is why I am re-purchasing the film again. I may even buy several copies just so I always have one. To start out the house creeped me out, very dark and huge as it was, I was always thinking that someone (or something) could be hiding anywhere in that monsterously big house. Then the music really gets you. It is so perfect for the movie, makes your hair stand on end and gives you horrid chills. I absolutely love this movie, it still gets me every time. I read that this was based on a true story...I would love to know more on that. I encourage anyone who loves a good scare to watch this one. The best scary movie of all time!!
Rating:
Summary: A true classic of the horror genre
Review: I doubt I will be the last person in history to praise the enjoyable creepiness of "The Changeling," the near-peerless haunted house thriller that slithered out of Canada in 1980. To this day, I still have a difficult time watching this film alone. I can recall viewing this flick with a girlfriend on a dark and stormy Halloween night. About halfway in, she literally left the room crying, asking me to turn on the light. I think the mood is extremely important to "The Changeling." The opening tragedy that befalls the protagonist's family is about as terrifying a prologue as ever seen in film. The Canadian locale (I believe this was filmed in the Vancouver area) is dark and overcast, with an old house that looks about as far from a Hollywood backlot as any house could possibly be. The extraordinary cast, including Academy Award winners George C. Scott and Melvyn Douglas, also lend a respectable air to the eerie proceedings. Frankly, this is good old-fashioned horror that proves the great axiom - 'Less is more.' You will find no gateway's to hell or murdering witches or serial killers in "The Changeling." Just a ghost - the ghost of a murdered child. Scott plays a grief-stricken musician who moves into an old dark house, working as a professor at the nearby university. He eventually begins hearing weird sounds in his dusty abode and, after a bit of investigation, discovers a hidden room in the attic - a hidden room with a wheelchair. Scott begins to research the house's history, eventually discovering a dark secret stretching all the way to the local Senator (Douglas, of course). And did I say there was the ghost of a murdered child? Not wanting to give away the scares, let's just say vignettes involving the wheelchair and a rubber ball are some of the spookiest scenes ever filmed. And, of course, there's the seance. British director Peter Medak (having done "The Ruling Class" previously) has done a superb job in building the tension of this film. Camera angles peering around corners, leering from above and rapidly moving up the stairs towards dark, hidden rooms, cause the proceedings to be almost unbearable. And of course, you have George C. Scott, an actor who never really gave a bad performance in a film. "The Changeling" is no exception. One of the greatest American actors of all time, Scott is matching wits with an extremely indignant ghost. As a lover of the supernatural genre, I am lucky this great talent chose such an unusual project to participate in. Quite simply, "The Changeling," like "The Haunting" made 20 years before, is one of the greatest horror films of all time.
Rating:
Summary: Well-Written, Compelling Entertainment
Review: This was a terrific and substantive scary movie. I would not call it a horror movie as much as a heavy thriller. George C. Scott's character is surprisingly low-key (but effective) and the story comes off as very believable. Definitely recommended.
Rating:
Summary: It's the scariest movie I've ever seen.
Review: It's become a classic chiller that no collection should do without. It's THE CHANGELING. While on vacation in upstate New York with his wife Joanna and daughter Kathy, music composer John Russell's car breaks down and the group is forced to tug their car through the snow to a pay phone. While John makes a call, his wife and daughter decide to have a snowball fight. Suddenly, a mack truck rips through the icey landscape and directly into the two, killing them instantly. A little while later, John decides he must move out of his house due to many memories that make him depressed beyond belief. With the help of Claire Norman, a worker at the local historical society, he finds an old mansion to rent out and continue to compose. Then things get frightening. Each day, very early, there is a sound of pipes clanking throught the house. He tries to compose but finds it hard still. Then, he starts to play a song. A lullaby. He plays it seemingly perfectly. When he exits the room, a key is struck on the piano-but no one is in there. Things get out of hand when John sees a vision of a little boy drowning in a bathtub. While about to take a walk outside, John is startled by a rock thrown out of a window of the attic. A room that he had no idea about. He goes up there to find a bunch of stuff. Including a music box. The music box plays the same lullaby that he played days earlier. He and Claire decide that maybe a medium could come to the house and see what's what. Then they find out what exactly is in the house and how to stop it.... RECCOMENDED TO FANS OF:
The Haunting (1960)
The Innocents (1963)
The Amityville Horror (1979) CAST
George C. Scott..........John Russell
Trish Van Devere........Claire Norman
Melvyn Douglas..........Sen. Joseph 'Joe' Carmichel THE MOVIE: 4/4 THE PICTURE QUALITY: 9.5/10: This classic movie is presented in 1.77:1 Letterbox and is enhanced for 16X9 TVs. Some very few specs, but basically unnoticable. THE AUDIO QUALITY: 8/10: Presented in Dolby Digital Surround, 2.0. It's seemingly perfect for my tv's sound system. THE SPECIAL FEATURE: is a very extensive cast & crew filmography sheet. Very well made. Though, I would have liked to have seen the trailer or listened to the commentary available on the Region 2 edition. SUBTITLES: English, Spanish and French.
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