Living in a fairly old house for a decent chunk of my life, Haunted house movies were something I grew up loving right into my teen years, then I dunno what happened but I just couldn’t jive with them anymore... until recently, and The Changeling was a well regarded classic that I’ve seen a handful of times, always liked, but never really loved... until now.

I’ve been wanting to revisit this for quite a while, luckily I held out for the Severin Blu-ray because this time around I really got lost in this atmospheric retribution haunt and all of its ambient whispers and large airy corridors. George C. Scott kills it (as always) as John Russell, I felt for him—that opening…

1980 In Review - December

Composer John Russell (George C. Scott) is vacationing with his family when a car accident kills his wife and daughter. Distraught with grief, Russell leaves his home in New York City for a giant, secluded house near Seattle. Soon Russell starts to feel the presence of a ghost, a boy who drowned in the bathtub there. Russell seeks the assistance of Claire Norman (Trish Van Devere), who led him to the house initially, in uncovering the secrets of the boy's death.

This is an interesting, suspenseful and horrifying story that is partially based on real events which supposedly took place at a house in Denver. It’s a classic ghost story, almost a classic of the…

Hoop-Tober, Film 2 of 31:

Hmmm...

Hmmmmmm......

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm............

Well, the only way that I can properly state my opinion on this film is by saying that it both did, and didn't, meet my expectations. I went in looking for un ultra-creepy, atmospheric, dread-driven haunted house flick, and I got one... kinda. See, the first two acts of the film were incredible. It was a deeply saddening tale of a grief-stricken man, and I wasn't even sure if what I was seeing and hearing, in terms of the haunting, was real, because I couldn't be sure of the man's sanity after the tragedy that he was forced to endure. The cinematography and the editing were both stellar; rarely do you see…

Part 4 of Hoop-Tober

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"It doesn't want people."

I started watching The Changeling at about 11:15 PM because I knew that everyone in my house was fast asleep. I turned off the light in my room, kept the door open just a crack, I slipped on a pair of headphones with the volume cranked up, and I started the movie.

The movie ended at about 1 AM. I had to pee so as I stood up from my chair and walked into my hallway, I realized how creepy everything seemed to be. Our hallway is short and is shaped like a DVD case. In the bottom right corner of the hallway is where the door…

That house is not fit to live in. No one's been able to live in it. It doesn't want people.
-Minnie Huxley

I can't recall who it was, but someone, either my parents (doubtful) or a babysitter let me watch this movie at a very young age. Way too young. Every time I saw the cover of this film over the years I'd remember how it had messed up my young mind.

I hadn't watched it since, so when I first started this time I had my doubts it was actually the same film but then as soon as George C. Scott made it to that damn house it all started falling into place and my memory started placing things…

The more I grow to enjoy ambient Grown-Up Horror that's ultimately a little anticlimactic and most focused on the inner workings of life wearing long coats and dealing with sinister senators, the more I worry I'm just getting old, but if that means I'll get to spend my time wandering around my big old house and befriend a ghost in the process, inevitable tragedies notwithstanding, I'm probably okay with it. Like a lot of Respectable Horror of the 70s-80s, this film has a deceptively odd approach to telling its story, delivering all the goods we tend to want from ghost stories but doing it in a way that's almost unidentifiable as such. George C. Scott is perfect as a man…

A cold, creepy & chilling haunted house horror that comes equipped with a dark, disquieting atmosphere and is all the more boosted by George C. Scott's assured performance, The Changeling is a smartly crafted slow-burn chiller that takes its time with the premise but nonetheless keeps us interested & invested in its story with consistent delivery of thrills & frights.

Directed by Peter Medak, the film opens with a gut-punching scene that instantly sets up the underlying tone of this story but as plot progresses, it develops into a different tragedy by switching from the psychological to the supernatural. Medak makes sure the drama remains character-driven while eerie camerawork & spine-tingling sound design add to the mansion's unwelcoming quality.

A hint of mystery, an…

Being aware of The Changeling for years now, I felt it was time to finally sit down and watch it. Interestingly enough, I have tried to do this on one other occasion, a few years ago, obviously unsuccessfully as I only watched about the first 10 minutes before deciding on something else.

George C. Scott was pretty good as the grieving husband and father trying to find his footing after the terrible accident which took his family from him. He plays a man named John Russell, a composer in tune to the sounds around him, so when his newly rented house starts waking him up with loud noises the movie truly begins. Unfortunately this haunting tale fails to scare me…

Okay, so this movie definitely has pacing issues and the character of Claire Norman is completely useless, but hot fucking damn, the thematic shifts, unsettling imagery, dementing camerawork, and the entirety of the third act makes up for it.

When the very first hints of a haunting started to happen, I really thought it was going to turn into a semi-generic haunted house flick, but when it started to take a much darker turn, that shut me up.

More subtle but still great acting from George C. Scott who truly has a unique arc of emotions from the very first scene to the last with much noticeable differences in behavior. I will say Melvyn Douglas’ performance as the senator was…