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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

George C Scott stars as a guy who moves into a giant spooky mansion after his wife and child die tragically, as one does. A truly effective and spooky ghost movie that captures the idea of the haunted house as a repository for family and childhood trauma and the "ghost" as the memories of a primal violation or act of violence that have no where to go absent any true reckoning. Left unacknowledged or covered up the stain of the act itself seeps into the walls of the place where it happened like the pores of your skin and seeks to replay its trauma over and over again.

In the British ghost story tradition, the ghost is usually an act…

My buddy Cody told me over and over I had to watch The Changeling, and boy am I glad I finally did! This movie holds up! It's 1980, so it still has those strong 70s vibes, but it is a fascinating story of loss and grief manifesting into an obsession. This is not just a haunted house story, there is so much more happening. Let me try and set up the movie without spoilers, George C Scott plays a guy dealing with a tragic loss, and he moves into this old historical home in a new town. The house has some very bizarre happenings, like rhythmic banging pipes, an overactive wheelchair and a red ball that just won't leave him…