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The Changeling (1979)

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4 reviews

Movie review

From Time Out Film Guide

Murdered by his father 70 years ago, the outraged spirit of a small boy makes it known through his haunting of Scott, a lonely composer, that his real grudge is not against the killer but The Changeling (now an elderly senator), who took his place and inherited his fortune. In an atmosphere that resembles the electrocardiogram of a corpse, the administration of shocks (murderous wheelchairs, mysterious bangings and firebolts) becomes risible rather than disturbing. And the leaps made by Scott's agile mind in identifying both victim and usurper leave logic and credence on the starting block.

Author: FF

Time Out Film Guide

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User reviews of this film

Russ C said...

Posted on Sep 26 2010 20:43 This film is a masterpiece. It eschews brashly acted gore in favour of a more genteel pace which slowly yet surely invites the viewer to join it's deftly played protagonist on his journey into a supernatural unknown and tragic historical mystery.
Watch this with the lights turned low and whilst in receipt of a recent central heating service certificate.

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Tom Camfield said...

Posted on Nov 30 2009 05:30 I agree with FF; if a mysterious ghost has the power to throw a ball down the stairs, it's hardly unnerving when it magically moves a wheelchair, plus, if Scott is so convinced that the house isn't out to get him, why should we feel worried on his behalf?
Add to this the terrible acting (this is hardly the Scott who was so convincing in Patton), hackneyed dialogue ("No-one's been able to live in it. It doesn't want people", to which Scott replies with a Roger Moore eyebrow raise) and bizarre reliance on reams of exposition to explain why the senator is related to the haunting, and it all seems pretty crummy. Not nearly as bad as Blood Feast though, so an extra star for that.

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William Jones said...

Posted on Oct 12 2007 10:23 Thank you David F.! You are the only person I've seen who mentions "The Uninvited" in reviewing this genre. I grew up on that film and it became a collective family "shiver" to even pretend to smell the scent of 'mimosa'. The only film to raise my hackles since that experience is "The Changeling". Certainly there are flaws when coldly performing a film maker's autopsy, but as a gripping, intelligent, carefully crafted work, "The Changeling" continuously stands as a one of a kind film, guarranteed to raise the hackles when the imagination is allowed to roam unfettered. I wholly support your review, David. Thanks!

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David Fowler said...

Posted on Sep 22 2007 14:59 I must refute the ridiculous and indeed offensive review of Peter Medak's masterpiece "The Changeling" by "FF". I consider it, even more than "The Uninvited" and the original "The Haunting", to be THE greatest haunted house film ever made. Aside from my admiration the vast majority of critical opinion puts it at least in the top five of it's genre. The reviewers of this site seem to be taking pages from the likes of Dave Kehr and Christopher Null in their trashing of films that are otherwise almost universally acknowledged as great. Maybe it makes them feel more intelligent than the pack....kind of a reverse "Emperor's New Clothes". They claim to see nothing when everyone else sees something. Very sad.

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