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The Changeling

The Changeling

List Price: $14.98
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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: NCSukie
Review: This is probably the scariest movie I've ever seen. I watched it at home alone one night, and I honestly was frozen to the couch. I was scared to even get up to go to the bathroom. Super scary!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Not your typical Hollywood ghost story
Review: ...
This movie is a diamond that shines among coal dust. A truely haunting tale that will have you hear that ghostly voice over and over again in the dark of the night. A seance, teleportation of objects, stange noises and voices...... I get shivers just thinking about it! The house has a tragic and cruel secret that it hides. The mystery of who this lost soul could be is revealed in a spine tingling manner that makes this the best ghost movie ever made to date.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Creepy and interesting
Review: I have the VHS version, after renting it several years ago I begged and begged for one to own and finally got it for Christmas! I am a big fan of the horror genre, and am always on the lookout for some new and interesting concept . . . zombies, vampires, aliens, YAWN! Ghosts and haunted houses are my favorite, but so rarely done well. The Changeling is a HUGE exception that stands the test of time! The story is so solid, with a great mystery that doesn't really get old after many viewings, and the creepy haunting stuff is some of the best ever! You get immune to gore, bored with *twists* and immune to "BOO" after so long. This is a truly original, truly spooky haunted house tale. Ghostly afficionados, don't miss this one!!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: An Eerie Ghost Story That Is More Than Just Ghosts...
Review: After an accident where John Russell (George C. Scott) losses his wife and daughter he tries to rebound by taking a teaching job. In the city where he is teaching, he rents an enormous house where odd things begin to happen. He wakes up to banging sounds and doors are opening without the use of the human hand. The mysterious happenings begin to escalate and it is becoming intensely alarming. John tries to understand what is going on, but is it too late for him to decipher the occurrences? The Changeling is horror story that builds up a frightening atmosphere that keeps the audience on their toes from the beginning to the end as they can feel the chilly draft blow across their neck.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Creepy
Review: The trip down memory lane continues with my recent purchase of The Changeling DVD. It was one of the first horror movies I say. While considered a horror movie, this is movie is more downright creepy than horrific.

This George C. Scott, Trish VanDevere, Melvyn Douglas vehicle is well produced and well acted, depending on story rather than effects, which there are virtually none. It is a combination haunted house/ghost story/murder mystery that evokes a feeling of terror without any gore.

In summary, Scott plays a composer who loses his wife and daughter in a traffic accident in the first scene. He moves into a huge historic mansion where a murder was committed around the turn of the century. VanDevere works for the historic society that rents him this expansive manse that bangs and rumbles mysteriously making sure Scott gets up in time to teach his classes. After discovering a secret room behind a closet (shades of Rosemary's Baby?) he investigates the nasty things that happened in this personable house's past. It's takes a seance to find all the missing pieces as the ghost tells the story of his murder by his father. Seems daddy like money more than his son and would loose it if the sickly stripling kicked it before he turned 21. Daddy disposes of the inferior model and acquires a healthier one through the local orphangae. (Thus the changeling.)

The spirit is well portrayed almost exclusively through the plot. It's only physical manifestations are as a dead body floating in a bathtub. At times it's lonely, other times it's pissed off, and when it seems that things are gonna fall apart, it's downright malevolent, knocking off a police captain that threatens to put the kibosh on Scott's machinations to expose this whole torrid affair. Just like a six year old boy.

The film suffers less as a fashion victim than Scott's film of the previous year, Hardcore. Hey, it was the seventies. We all had those wide lapels. Unfortunately, the ending is muddled and the now senator changeling appears to try and make peace with terror tantrum ghost boy who is tearing down the house by this point. Senator changeling then drops dead of a heart attack. Or did he kick it first. It's not too clear. Aside from this, it's a great movie.

The DVD has a crisp picture with the slightly washed out color you'd expect of a seventies movie and the sound is clear. The only special features are some cast and crew bios.

What's the creepiest scene? Follow the bouncing ball...

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Master Creep-Out
Review: If you're looking for a creepy movie with a brilliant performance from a great actor, then look no further than The Changeling. Buoyed mostly by the bravura performance of George C. Scott and the scarily haunted house his character buys after the death of his family, this movie is a testiment to theatrical lighting, use of shadows, eerie sounds, unseen forces, and the facial reactions of a master actor. Very little if any gore, The Changeling is still as frightening as any all out horror gorefest -- probably moreso. Rumors have been circulating lately of a remake -- I'd hate to be the actor who had to try and fill those shoes.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Good filmaking
Review: Good haunted house story, an example on how to do a great movie without spending big bucks on special effects. Genuine and old fashioned chills all around. The DVD quality is fine too.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Be Prepared To Lose A Little Sleep If You Dare Watch This...
Review: Ok...honestly. I've seen a lot of movies...especially horror movies, and I've never had one affect me like this one did. On the recommendation of my father, I watched it for the first time about 4 years ago...at night, of course (like a dummy).

George C. Scott is amazing in this film...and the tragedy that befalls him in the film's opening sequence is sure to suck you right in. Following this, Scott is forced to make a single life for himself and he moves into an extremely large and historic house to compose and teach music. The house is a character in itself...perhaps one of the creepiest I have ever seen (the night scene of Scott walking across the front yard still chills me...very, very spooky). As another reviewer mentioned, the house is so vast that it is unimaginable to think of ONE person occupying it. Well, in this case, it's actually one person...and one supernatural murdered boy who has one heck of a story to tell. I don't want to tell that story...but it will be revealed to you sure enough if you can make it through the unrelenting and horrific duration of this film.

But not to give away too much...Certain scenes in the film chilled me to the very bone (the seance scene, the quest for the leaky faucet sound, and many more.) Just when I thought I had survived it...the scenes kept coming...scaring the breath out of me. In a nutshell...if you are bothered by ghosts, darkness, ghostly voices, or anything paranormal...you WILL without a doubt be scared stiff by this one. I had trouble sleeping for at least 3 or 4 nights...and I was about 22 at the time.

The film makes excellent use of camera angles and movement, darkness, and sound effects...in essence scaring you with what you can't see but know is there. The music is also extremely unsettling at times. But enough said...the only true way to understand the horror of this film is to experience it. BUT BEWARE...YOU WERE WARNED.

I am almost 28 now, and still would not sit alone in my living room at night and watch this...unless I felt like forcing a little case of insomnia. EXCELLENT FILM THOUGH...A MUST SEE!
IF YOU CAN TAKE IT.

THANKS.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A timeless horror classic...
Review: I love this movie, but there's one gripe I have. They let out the reason for the haunting way too soon in the movie. Other than that, I have no complaints. What can I say? If you have never seen this movie you might want to rent it or wait for it to show up on TV.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: One of the Best Haunted and Haunting movies ever...
Review: George C Scott suffers the tragic loss of his wife and young daughter and moves to Seattle to teach music and compose. He rents an enormous old house, (the house is so vast, it is hard to imagine one person living in it, or spending one night in it alone)which turns out to come with a ghostly presence. The overall mood and tone of the movie is very dark and sad, I was very moved when the real story behind the haunting came out. There is nothing, in my opinion, more horrific or incomprehensible than murdering a child, for any reason, but this was beyond my worst imaginings. There are many unforgettable images from the movie, most notably, the wheelchair, the ball and the child's voice on the tape recorder, but what I had a hard time getting out of my mind was the music box theme. This is apparently based on a true story, and one can only hope that the real child did not suffer the same fate in the afterworld that this poor little boy did. At times my sorrow and my fear were at odds with each other; suffice to say this is one of the finer, more eloquent, and more haunting of the genre that I have ever seen...


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