The Changeling
|
List Price: Our Price: $3.16 You Save: $2.78 (46%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $2.49 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Canada
Movie Reviews of The Changeling
Movie Review: Possibly the best in the genre
Summary: 5 Stars
Why "The Changeling" is not more well known among fans of the genre is beyond me. I saw it first as a kid and couldn't sleep for a week. I saw it later as a perfectly grown adult, with a mature ability to differentiate between real world and made up horrors, and still find myself awake in the dark and wondering about dusty secrets in the attic above me.
This is a powerful ghost story, one that will cause your muscles to tighten into knots and force your imagination to betray you. George C. Scott looks and feels like a sad man living alone in an old, sprawling house. Strange things began to occur and those things are sensed more than seen. It happens at the edge of your vision and that will unnerve you like no big time monster ever could. The fright of this movie is of the crawling variety, the kind that makes you tense with anticipation. That fright is rivaled only by the story that unfolds, and it unfolds brilliantly and at a masterful pace.
This is one hell of a scary movie and one hell of a story. That's a double punch that makes this a must scene for horror fans and the people who love them. "The Changeling" ranks at the top of the list with "The Exorcist," "Halloween" and "The Amityville Horror" for outright terror. With writing, presentation, acting and other considerations, it may be the best of them all.
Movie Review: One of the Best Ghost Story Films made to date!
Summary: 5 Stars
Long before scary movies involved blood and gore, George C Scott starred in this horror film that is very spooky, indeed! Scott plays a composer who, having just lost his wife and daughter, moves into a very atmospheric old house in New England to get some serious writing done. Shortly after moving in, Scott is contacted by the spirit of a young boy who died in the house. But what is it the boy is trying to tell him?There are scenes in this film that never cease to make my hair stand on end, no matter how many times I have seen the film (and that's alot of times...). The scene with the ball which belonged to Scott's daughter which wont go away, the chair at the top of the stairs, the ghostly voice superimposed on the tape recording of the seance, the chase through the attic... my skin crawls even now.
One can empathise with the rage of the spirit of a child, crippled and confined to a wheelchair in life, and his desperation and frustration when he tries repeatedly to convey a message which Scott, though all ears, continues to fail in understanding. Oh, and the film is supposedly based on true events.... hopefully dramatised for effect.
While the ending is not anywhere near as gripping in conclusion as the road to it, the film is certainly one you do not want to watch alone at night in a very big, spooky house.
Movie Review: One of the Best Ghost Story Films made to date!
Summary: 5 Stars
Long before scary movies involved blood and gore, George C Scott starred in this horror film that is very spooky, indeed! Scott plays a composer who, having just lost his wife and daughter, moves into a very atmospheric old house in New England to get some serious writing done. Shortly after moving in, Scott is contacted by the spirit of a young boy who died in the house. But what is it the boy is trying to tell him?There are scenes in this film that never cease to make my hair stand on end, no matter how many times I have seen the film (and that's alot of times...). The scene with the ball which belonged to Scott's daughter which wont go away, the chair at the top of the stairs, the ghostly voice superimposed on the tape recording of the seance, the chase through the attic... my skin crawls even now.
One can empathise with the rage of the spirit of a child, crippled and confined to a wheelchair in life, and his desperation and frustration when he tries repeatedly to convey a message which Scott, though all ears, continues to fail in understanding. Oh, and the film is supposedly based on true events.... hopefully dramatised for effect.
While the ending is not anywhere near as gripping in conclusion as the road to it, the film is certainly one you do not want to watch alone at night in a very big, spooky house.
Movie Review: Good Intro to Horror Films
Summary: 5 Stars
I won't bother with a plot rehash; plenty of those already. The point I want to make is that this is a great film to watch with kids who are begging to see scary movies but aren't ready for the "hard stuff" yet.
My girls are 7, 9, and 11 and I made them sit down and watch this "old" movie with me. They're constantly looking through my Netflix queue and asking to watch whatever has the most disgusting cover. I don't think they're ready for "Dead Snow" yet.
"The Changeling," along with "The Others" and "The Sixth Sense" have gone over really well. They get all tensed up at the appropriate times, they giggle after big scares, they squeeze your arm, but in the end they're not freaked out and life goes on. And now they have a taste of what a well-made scary movie should be.
Af for content, this is probably the mildest R-rated movie I have ever seen, as it could be run during the daytime on any channel with no edits these days. I'm not sure what the MPAA standards were in 1980, but I don't believe anything in this film would be damaging to kids, unless his/her parents have overprotected and coached them that scary = bad.
This is a great film for adults who want an intelligent, moderately scary ghost story and a great primer for little wannabe horror fans.
Movie Review: A truly frightening film, don't watch it alone!
Summary: 5 Stars
This film frightened the Bejeus out of me when I first watched it on video many years ago. I foolishly watched it on my own and got so frightened I had to call up my friend and make her come over for the night!The wonderful George C.Scott plays a troubled musician, John Russell whose tragic past has made him crave solitude. He rents a beautiful but remotely located house that is hiding a terrible secret that calls out to him, begging him to help, to unearth a terrible sin committed by its previous owner.
What is causing the hollow banging noise that John hears nearly every night and why does a small wheelchair creak its way across the attic and the glimpse of a child that cannot exist haunt his dreams?
Forced by nightmares and a compulsion that he cannot ignore John starts to dredge up the past but in doing so he is taking on a powerful man, a man whose very childhood is built on lies, lies that he cannot afford to be exposed because if they are, a horrific crime will be exposed and his world of privilege and wealth will come tumbling around his ears.
A truly frightening masterpiece with a haunting musical score and all round good acting from the talented cast which includes Barry Morse and Jean Marsh.