The Changeling



Composer John Russell has just suffered a tragic loss. While on vacation with his family, he witnessed his wife and daughter killed in a horrible accident. Desperate to escape the painful memories, he packs up his New York home and moves across the country to Seattle for a fresh start as a guest college lecturer. He rents the old Carmichael Mansion from realtor Clair Norton, who reveals she knows very little about the house, other than it’s been empty for 12 years. John thinks the solitary house will be the perfect place to get his work done, but he soon discovers that he’s not as alone in the building as he originally thought. What starts out as strange noises slowly escalates into voices, and then visions of a young boy in a bathtub. After discovering a blocked-off passageway leading to an abandoned child’s room in the attic, John is determined to find out the cause of the strange occurrences going on around him. When he allows a seance to be conducted in the house, he thinks there will be a simple answer to his predicament, or at the very least that it will reveal some kind of bizarre hoax. But the answer he gets instead reveals a dark family secret and decades of deceit, and all of it conveniently leading directly to the door of one of the state’s most powerful and influential politicians.


Rule #1 in Horror Movies: Never cross anyone who wears a housecoat.

After finally getting around to watching Pieces last week I noticed there were a couple other rather well-regarded films that had been on my watch-list for far too long. So I decided that this month’s self-imposed theme shall be “Movies Michi Should Have Probably Watched Long Before Now.”

The Changeling has been on my watch-list for so long that it literally fell to the bottom of my watch-list, because I’ve already watched everything I put on the list before and after it. And I’m not really sure why I haven’t gotten to it before now. Maybe I just forgot. Maybe I didn’t care. Maybe I should stop adding so much shit to the damn list so I don’t lose the shit that’s already on there. Or maybe – despite my complaints – I secretly do like all the horrendously dumb, schlocky movies I keep watching because I subconsciously find their stupidity more entertaining than some of the internet’s more decent offerings. Whatever the case may be, I have now rectified this oversight and I’m glad I did because, as I thought…this movie isn’t schlock. I mean, of course it isn’t. It has George C. Scott in the lead, for gods sakes, and while Scott did many things in his career, starring in dreck certainly wasn’t one of them. Which is nice for me, because even though the movie does have a couple of quirks to keep my subconscious entertained, it’s still nice to be able to watch a good horror movie for a change.



I shouldn’t need to say this, but the acting on display is overall excellent. Scott’s performance not only carries the film, but it also manages to really ground it, even during what could be considered some of the movie’s “sillier” supernatural moments that could have easily gotten out of hand if they had been foisted upon less capable shoulders. But it also has people like Academy and Tony award winner Melvyn Douglas, as well as Golden Globe nominee Trish Van Devere in supporting roles. So, suffice it to say, the film does not lack in the sufficient talent department. Hell, it even touts Emmy Award winner Jean Marsh rather prominently on some of the posters. Which, honestly, I think seems like serious overkill considering she got killed off about five minutes into the film. But hey! Talent! In a horror movie! What a concept!



Also overkill: The house they set up for this thing. Because the house you see in the film is not an actual house, but a very elaborate construction of interwoven sets that the production built specifically for the film. They used around $200k to build those set-pieces (they had a budget for their horror movie, can you imagine?) and it looks absolutely lovely. Like, they really nailed their high-end, classy “haunted house” aesthetic, and up until the end when they start knocking/burning everything down you likely wouldn’t have even guessed that it was a set, because some of those damn interiors were intricate as hell. So between that, and the excellent lighting and cinematography, the film is truly visually delightful.





Other than a couple of questionable motivations towards the end that were brought about by the ghost (why were you attacking the people who were trying to help you, you little asshole?), the movie’s plot is solid and well put together, and I personally really enjoyed it. But this is where some of the “dings” may start to appear for some people. The film’s pacing is consistent, but for much of the movie it can also be easily described as “leisurely”. It actually kinda reminds me of watching someone run a marathon. It starts off with a bang, but then very quickly slows to a steady, progressive pace, right up until it puts in that last burst of energy for the big finish. Even with all the mini revelations that are scattered throughout the 100+ minute runtime, the tension rarely rises above a low simmer. It may spike occasionally, but then someone immediately comes around to turn it back down to a rolling boil. So this really isn’t the type of movie to look towards if you want to watch something that’ll give you an adrenaline rush. It’s more the type you watch for that slow build-up of tension that eventually combusts (in this case rather literally). So while fans of subtle, atmospheric horror will likely find this enjoyable, those looking for more blood or action may find this boring.


Goodness, honey. It’s a chair. Calm the hell down.

One other minor ding against this movie (for me anyway) is the damn sound. Which I actually didn’t have a problem with for the most part, but once the ghost shows up that little bugger likes to whisper talk…like, a lot. And for the life of me I could barely understand the damn thing. And yes, I realize that I probably wasn’t meant to understand what the hell it was saying most of the time (hence why we have to watch Russell play that one ghost recording over and over and over again). But after a good while of dealing with that, not being able to understand what the ghost is saying stops being eerie and very quickly starts to become rather annoying. I was kind of hoping its dialogue would become clearer and clearer as the movie went on, but it didn’t. It just continues to talk in this weird, kinda squeaky whisper voice, that doesn’t even sound like the voice of a child, but rather a grown-ass adult that’s trying (poorly) to mimic one. So no, I wasn’t particularly fond of that thing, even though I suppose it satisfactorily served its function of being an annoying ghost.


Which is odd, because the title of “most annoying” usually falls on the medium in these stories.

But other than those small nitpicks The Changeling is pretty great. It looks great, the acting is excellent, and the story is good (once it finally gets going, anyway.) I mean, there is a reason it’s regarded as one of Canada’s best horror films. So if you’re a fan of spooky, slow-burn ghost stories then this one is really a no-brainer. But if you’re looking for a horror movie that’s a little more fast-paced, then you may want to think twice. Cause though the film may be good, “fast” it certainly is not.

The Changeling is available on a variety of streaming services.

The Changeling is also available on DVD and Bluray.

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