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The Changeling
Customer Reviews
Rating:  - The Changeling
George C. Scott, Trish Van Devere, and Melvyn Douglas do a fine job in this chilling tale of a haunted house. Scott plays a father and husband that loses his wife and daughter to an accident. He is a composer and he decides to move to a rural community from the city. Scott is offered a Historical Society home to rent. As Scott investigates the reason a child was killed at the home he unfolds an in depth story of a families past. Scott uses all means possible to find out more including a seance. His investigation leads him to a powerful foe. The movie has great atmosphere and subtlety that makes it different than the current bleeders. The directing and camera work are excellent. It will make you feel as though you were there and it will quite probably give you a chill. This story builds suspense and horror. Well worth owning especially at the current $5.99 price. Good quality DVD and replayability. No extras. If you enjoyed this catch "Ghost Story" and "The Lady in White".
CA Luster
Rating:  - excellent movie
A must see! Like suspense? Like great acting? Like spook without gore? A classic for me and maybe you, too!
Rating: - Old-school psychological thriller
What could I say positive about this movie that hasn't already been said?
It's true that it's an aged movie and by the standards of today's younger audiences it may seem "lame" or "boring".
But if we take all the 4 and 5 star ratings and stack them up against the 3, 2, and 1, stars we've got 299 positive (this is including mine as of 8-9-08) to 24 negative. That sort of says it all right there.
If you're a connoisseur of the old-school horror/thriller type movies than "The Changeling" is right up there with classics like Romero's "Night of the Living Dead" or Hitchcock's original "Psycho." Different stories/events ... but the same chills run down your spine.
Rating: - Watching this scary flick may leave you changeling your pants
This one is truly spooky. Other movies that have scared the bee-jesus right out of me come to mind whilst writing about "The Changeling": Ghost Story, Fatal Attraction, or Shannon Tweed's Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death. This movie is right up there with them and perhaps even a little scarier than Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death (which sure is fun to say...try it, right now, go on, right there at your computer...laughed didn't ya?)
George C. Scott turns in a convincing performance and Trish Van DeVere (who sounds mostly Dutch) is winningly watchable as they play this star-crossed detective kinda couple who have to get to the bottom of the mysteries of the haunted house Scott finds himself living in. The plot starts to build on a low boil and just ratchets up the scare heat from there. What one learns when watching this movie is that little kids who die young through no fault of their own (but perhaps the fault of others...don't want to give away a spoiler here you know) and lived in Seattle (but not for long) at the turn of the century will go to any lengths to revenge their death. If this isn't a truism you have arrived at in life just yet...get "The Changeling" watch but just don't watch it alone in a dark dark house on a stormy stormy night. No, you'll want all the lights on for this one my friend.
Warning, if you are parents of young children especially boys, there may be this scene that you will have difficulty watching if not all together turn you off from watching anymore of the movie. I was Ok with the remaining 99% of the flick since there are scenes that are so truly scary that you'll be shivering in your justin ropers you will.
Since the flick was made in 1980 there are some effects that will elicit a chuckle which is just fine if your making a comedy, not so much for a horror flick. George C. Scott's character's wife and young child die, he moves to Seattle and naturally wants to live in this creepy old house that no one has live in for quite a while because well it's creepy and most likely to be haunted. Well it turns out it is; haunted. A boy died sometime around the turn of the 20th century and is spending his god-given purgatory of a ghost's half-life trying to revenge his death. He is one pissed off ghost, he is.
This boy will use others to write just as fast as he can, whisper spooky ghost-like whispering in one of those reel-to-reel recorders (you know the type that all good poltergeist hunters use), shake some chandeliers, do wheelies in a wheel chair, relieve some painful memories in other peoples minds and perhaps the coolest ghost trick of all...make jewlry squirm out of a well-grave soil underneath someone's floor just like an earthworm mind ya.
So if you like to get a kick every now and then getting your pants scared clean off...get this here "Changeling" flick. It's a little part detective story, a little part murder-mystery, a lot part ghost story, even a little part politico conspiracy power and money grab story. It's a whole lotta scary and gobs of loads of fun. ...mmw
Rating: - Still Haunts me
By far my favorite horror movie of all time, it has what so many modern "horror" movies lack...subtlety, emotion, believability, atmosphere, quality acting, and just down right creepiness. It also lacks what so many modern horror movies are filled with...outrageous monsters, CGI effects, scantly clad teenagers, blood and guts, clichéd "jump" scenes, and knife wielding maniacs who only walk and yet can keep up with running teenagers.
I saw this movie when I was very young, alone and in the dark, and while I've stopped believing in vampires, ghosts, and goblins...I still get a chill up my spine when I think back on this movie.
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