The Changeling

The Changeling is one of the scariest movies I have ever seen! Mind you, I do not make this remark lightly, being an avid fan of horror movies.After reading some of the few negative reviews that exist on this film, I wondered what constitutes `scary' for these critics. I myself find the majority of today's horror movies too full of gore and consider many of them to be more gruesome than scary. That might be what today's audiences are interested in, and for many, perhaps all they can relate to, but I don't see anything quite scary about that. I think that ghost stories are the scariest of all horror movies because they deal with the unseen dead. What can possibly be scarier to a human being than that? (Especially, if that entity is directing itself to you, and only you). The only ones who might take exception to this would be children. It is easier for their partially developed minds to relate to boogiemen with masks and knives than to the much more intangible and often invisible afterlife.Then there are those who would not appreciate or would find boring the intellectual dialog used to uncover a murder mystery (i.e. The Uninvited -another great scary thriller). Hey, not every scene in a scary movie will be scary. The background of the events is key to understanding why what is happening is happening. If the story is interesting and the acting is good (as with The Changeling), then viewer interest should be maintained.One reviewer described the musical warning signals preceding scary occurrences as taking the scare out of the scene. But I see this technique as a cue that...yes, something scary is indeed about to happen, but we don't know what? The high-pitched strings used for this effect are in their own right a haunting prelude and I applaud the director for showing respect for his audience. To me, those haunting preludes add suspense and fright to the film. --- In any horror movie, a girl can open a door quite suddenly and a ghost can pop out to scare both her and the audience...or a girl can open a door slowly with an eerie creaking sound, alerting the audience that there's a possible fright or danger ahead. The latter effect has tendency to build tension causing the truly scared to cover their eyes, leaving a slight opening for curiosity sake. It takes a little more talent and pizzazz to do it the latter way.The scene where the young girl leaves the safety of her mother's room and lets her curiosity get the best of her is not ruined even though a similar experience has already been described by her mother in the previous scene. The actual happening of the event coupled with the haunting sound effects that prelude it are indeed full of fright and tension. There need not always be a sudden shock to scare people. `Enjoy' the suspense!I believe this same negative reviewer criticized the overly loud pounding noise that would wake John Russell from sleep. I should think that one can make a direct association between it and the dramatic drowning scene in the attic. How loud would you bang if you were being drowned?!And what about his daughter's ball bouncing down the stairs (the 2nd time). Yes, we hear the high-pitched cue a split second before it happens, but remember people, not only is the haunting effect still with us, but the message is made clear that something is trying to communicate with this man. It is not trying to frighten him out of his wits (although it does a damn good job at that too!). You can't tell me that watching that ball descend from the upstairs darkness is not scary. Knowing what Russell had already done with the ball in fact makes it doubly surprising, shocking and yes...scary!I find it difficult to watch this movie alone. The eeriness of the scene with the close-up of the boy's face in the bathtub is horrifying and I still try to get up the nerve to view it. The effectiveness of frightening aspects of a film is largely subjective. This is due to their basis resting in the viewer's imagination. We all have different levels of imagination and some have none whatsoever.I think what it comes down to is that films such as The Changeling, The Uninvited, The Haunting and others are just not suitable for today's spoiled audiences. Directors now give them the gore they've become accustomed to. The Shining probably marks the bridge from intellectual, suspense, scary - to - gory, woman-chasing, deranged killer...as that classic film contains elements of both. Hey, it's okay to show a little blood sometimes (or an elevator full of it). But I'll tell you this...blood and guts can never substitute for suspense, tension, and intangible fright. But again, I think that gore is what people want to see these days. Even the kid's video games are full of it.It is quite possible that The Changeling could have been shot in B&W and been just as or perhaps even more effective. Some of those classics I've mentioned didn't need color to deliver their superb frightening effects.I've come to realize that everyone has their own opinion of what is scary, including some who don't get scared of any movie simply because they are not open-minded to the supernatural (perhaps even subconsciously). For these people no horror movie will suffice. Okay, that's just not their thing. But for those with even an inkling of imagination, The Changeling is one creepy, scary movie with a haunting score. And though its ending does not involve a shocking surprise twist (i.e. Psycho) it is nevertheless quite dramatic and delivers some satisfaction for both the ghost's and the viewer's aching for justice and vengeance (I'll admit though, it would have been more satisfying to see the ghost's father pay for his heinous actions).

I remember the first time I saw The Changeling in the Theatre when it came out. I loved it so much I ended up seeing it a total of 4 times before it left the theatre. I think I may have seen it once when it came onto VHS. Recently I thought of it and really wanted ti again. I was not disappointed and actually saw something that confused me ever since I saw it originally. Scott is as always super adding something to about anything he is in. John Colicos as a Det Dewitt is in it very briefly but adds a tenseness with utter ease. Melvyn Douglas is great as well but will not give anything away. May not be the greatest Supernatural Ghost Story but something about it makes it one of the best to me.

Movies are so absolutely good sometimes. This was terrfying and it got me in my bones. I loved it and this Severin edition was very very good. I love the CD it comes with.

Sure I can watch this movie six ways from Sunday, but I got it for the bonuses It's nice to have the CD soundtrack and it's nice to have a few feature ads. Although the featurettes feel very cheap. One of the features having some guy in Colorado talk about the real life house sounded like a good idea The man just sounded crazy mumbling to himself with two camera angles panning back and forth. I guess what I'm saying is it didn't feel super professional but I'll take anything related to the Changeling

I have always been a big fan of the older horror movies, with lots of either then well known actors or unknowns that we know now as legends in acting, and George C Scott is one of the greats then and now!Oddly enough I had never seen The Changeling, and I thought I would have, since me and my siblings used to go to see horror movies so much as kids with our mother, but this one must of slipped past even her, I know she was a big fan of George C Scott and would have went to see it if she had known of it! This saddens me as I write this though, knowing that she probably never saw this either!This isn't gory and doesn't show a grotesque ghostly figure, like in the newere ghost movies or shows, all the chills comes from noises and things moving by themselves, among other things!Plus unlike many others, then and now, it doesn't take several days of weird things happening for Scott's character to realize he is living in a haunted house, it's also not hard to get people to believe him! Which fits really with the times, since in the 1970s people were still very much into believing in such things, people still held seances, much like they did at the start of the 1900s, so having one in the movie, made sense!The acting in this of course is where it is sold, because it's not full of a bunch of 20 somethings unknowns even then, like they do now, you know the ones that never actually amount to anything, even many years later?Not to say young actors aren't any good, I have been watching some today all from the same year, 1980, where you see a lot of ones you still know, but also a lot more who never got anywhere after that time period!But in this we have veteran actors as leads, also older actors, meaning again not in their 20s only!And the way they chose to have Scott's characters relationship with the woman in it, who he meets not long after losing his wife and daughter, I liked very much! None that bit where he just starts a romantic relationship with her, as if 5 or so months is long enough to grieve! Instead he does spend time with her, but only because she comes around him and is obviously interested in him, but he only goes out for a horse ride, because he was lonely, not horny, like they would do now!I didn't know of course the actress playing the woman was actually his real life wife! In any case they handled it well, and everything that happens with them is really more about what it happening in the house and working together to figure it out! Very refreshing!This is a somewhat slow paced movie, and isn't for everyone, if you are more a about everything just happening fast and in your face, you may find it boring, but if your more about substance, a good story, with good acting, then you should like this movie!And yes it's not like House On Haunted Hill or The Haunting, in a tiny way it is similar to the Netflix series The Haunting Of Hill House, but without seeing ghosts or gruesome deaths, well except for a couple, deaths that is! lol!In any case if you care about good acting as I said and especially if you are young and never saw George C Scott act, and you like horror or more like subtle ghost stories, then you should enjoy this!I hope my review makes sense, I'm not a good writer but I try!

I love this movie. George C Scott is great. The movie has atmosphere and it’s a great movie. They did a great job with this blu ray

Bought as a present for someone who said they liked the film and had not seen it in years.....2 weeks after receiving it, the film came on tv!! Still at least he has the dvd now

Bellissimo film ! Pieno di colpi di scena !!! Qualità video del dvd discreta , consiglio l’acquisto a tutti gli amanti del genere

Considerando la edad que tiene esta película, no ha envejecido. Es una excelente película que te mantiene con los "pelos de punta" todo el tiempo. Yo la pondría entre mis películas de terror preferidas junto al Exorcista y el Resplandor.

A man moves into a haunted house. Some spooky stuff goes down. That's all you need to know.I have been a die-hard fan of this film ever since 2013. I've waited for six years for a Blu-ray version of it to come out and when one was finally released last year, I was overjoyed. You can bet I ordered it as soon as I could. I had given up hope that the film was just too obscure and unknown to be given a proper blu-ray release, but alas, I was happily proven wrong!First of all, the image quality has GREATLY improved here. Severin has done an amazing job of cleaning up this film and making it look a lot newer. Unfortunately, they couldn't completely eliminate the film grain and the first two scenes for some reason still look a bit dodgy. However, once the film kicks in it looks incredible. The colours pop more, everything looks brighter, more defined and detailed. Overall it's just a really nice transfer and I would NEVER go back to watching the DVD version after this.The sound quality has also been restored. When I first watched this version, it was hooked up to surround-sound speakers and I could hear A LOT more noises and creepy sounds than I could before. It was awesome. Both the dialogue and the music sound pretty much flawless as far as I can tell.This Blu-ray (unlike the DVD) is PACKED with new bonus content shot and produced specifically for this new release. We're talking interviews, featurettes, commentaries, the whole nine yards. It's fantastic. There's even a mini-documentary that explores the supposed "true events" that the film is based on. I have yet to hear the commentary from Director Peter Medak and Producer Joel Michaels but from what I've heard, it's worth the price alone.My only complaints/nitpicks that I have with this blu-ray are VERY minor: a couple of typos on the discs themselves. The first is on the Soundtrack CD that comes with this disc. They misspell Howard Blakes's name as "Howard Black". And they also cite this film's release as "1979" when it was actually 1980. (Although it was filmed in 1979 so I guess I understand the confusion.)Aside from those very minor mistakes, I seriously have no complaints about this blu-ray. I would have liked to have seen maybe a bit more behind the scenes footage or pictures of the actual making of the film, but I'll take what I can get. And this package gives me a LOT.And just a few quick notes about the actual packaging of the blu-ray itself. It comes in a nice glossy sleeve that you slide off to get to the actual case itself. The sleeve is the same image as the poster except it's in blue instead of red, which I actually really like. And the blu-ray cover itself is just the standard poster image. This, of course, differs from the 4K restoration from Second Sight, which had a brand new image on the front of it. But once again, I can't complain.One last thing: For those of you who can't afford the $30, plus shipping that Amazon is currently charging for this, but you still want to experience this version of the film, you can try Shudder for seven days, totally free. And on there, the blu-ray version of The Changeling is available to watch completely free of charge. You're welcome.But, if you're like me and appreciate the novelty of owning a physical copy of one of your favourite films, save up some dough and get this as soon as you can!It's so satisfying to see such an amazing movie finally getting the proper treatment and restoration that it deserves. This is an excellent transfer and well worth the money, especially for big fans of the film. And with all of the bonus material that comes with it, you'll definitely be entertained for a least a few hours.5/5.

I remember watching this movie in the 80s, it was one of the two movies that really scared me, the other was Linda Bair’s “ The Exorcist”.I am glad the company decided to release this re-mastered version and on Blu-ray version as well; The production and sounds are clear all the way throughout the movie with the exception at the start which is grainy but taking into consideration the age of the movie meaning....when the production was made, I can understand why.The movie sound tracks disc was a bonus addition to the purchase.Overall it is great to watch the movie again, and I recommend purchasing this limited Blu-ray version.