The Changeling (1980) – Movie Summary and Review
The Changeling is an 80s horror movie starring George C. Scott, Melvyn Douglas, and Jean Marsh.
After his wife and daughter are killed in a road accident composer John Russell (George C. Scott) moves out of the family home and leases an old mansion. It’s a big house for the old guy to be rattling around in on his own, but it turns out that he isn’t as alone as he thinks. The house is haunted.
The first indication the viewer gets that the house is haunted is when one of the keys on Russell’s piano is pressed down by invisible fingers. The first indication that Russell receives is when he is woken up one morning by the sound of banging reverberating throughout the house. Then a little later, in true haunted house fashion, a door opens itself. These things are only the beginning though, and when the composer hears the sound of a dripping tap and goes to investigate, he finds that the bath has filled with water. Russell turns off the tap and the manifestation of a young boy appears in the bath and floats to the surface. It has to be said that Russell handles this unexpected occurrence a lot better than most people would. He is one brave, old guy.
A seance conducted in the house reveals that the young boy’s name is Joseph and he died in the house 70 years ago and wants Russell’s help.
Russell later has a vision that reveals the way Joseph died. His death, like his short life, was tragic. With the help of his friend Claire, Norman Russell tries to uncover the truth about Joseph’s death and upsets some wealthy and influential people in the process.
The Changeling is an excellent haunted house story that terrified me the first time I saw it. That was many years ago. I was in my teens at the time. However, I have watched The Changeling several times since then, and, even now, it never fails to raise a few goosebumps whenever I watch it.
Special effects in the movie are minimal when compared to today’s standards, but that does not matter because the general creepiness of the film is more than enough to keep the viewer’s attention, and one of the scariest things in the movie, strange to say, is an old wheelchair that moves around on its own. I think one of the reasons that the wheelchair idea works so well is because it isn’t overused. The chair moves slightly a couple of times in the film, and then, when Joseph has a tantrum, it is thrown down the stairs. The scene in which this happens is probably one the most terrifying ones in the entire movie, but is not, by any means, the only scene that sends a cold shiver down the spine.
If you like watching horror films about haunted houses, there’s a good chance you will enjoy The Changeling. These days, it’s an easy film to get hold of on Blu-Ray or DVD. It’s also possible to stream The Changeling via various platforms including Peacock and Amazon Prime Video.