The Changeling

I rented The Changeling ages ago, and when I saw it on Amazon for 5 bucks, I snatched up the DVD to add to my collection. This movie made me jump even though it was the second viewing and I already knew the story. The Changeling must be one of the best haunted house movies I have ever seen.

George C Scott is John Russell, a composer who has just lost his wife and child in a car wreck. He moves to Seattle and into an old house owned by the historical society. As he settles in to the house, he starts hearing strange noises. He spends time digging through the house and discovers an old room filled with children’s toys. Since he identifies with the lost ghost child as a substitute for his lost daughter, he then decides to solve the mystery of the house. Creepiness ensues, noises and furniture moves, and he digs deep into the mystery with a séance and a sidekick, Claire (Trish Van Devere, Scott’s real life wife).

I love the atmosphere in this movie. The house is huge and full of opportunities for scariness. The somber Seattle weather makes for a beautiful color palette. The story of the lost child and a lost birthright isn’t groundbreaking, but it is well written and well paced. George C. Scott is just excellent, as usual. He plays the grieving father and the curious intellectual with aplomb.

If you like haunted house movies, especially ones with a good mystery at the heart of it, you should definitely check out The Changeling. It’s definitely one of the better ones out there.

Rating: 5 Purrs for that first loud noise that made me jump out of my seat and the scene at the end with the wheelchair – wow!