Watch The Changeling For Free

You won't be disappointed!

Wonderful character development!

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

I remember the first time I ever saw THE CHANGELING. It was on a double bill at a drive-in and I can't recall the other feature. I was impressed with the film at the time and was stunned that it didn't do better business. It featured one of the biggest stars at the time in George C. Scott, was a horror story at a time when they were on the rise and was actually quite well done. And yet it got lost somewhere along the way. It was even rare to find a copy on a video shelf when it came out in that format. All of that changes with the release of the film in blu-ray format from Severin.Composer John Russell (Scoot) is on vacation with his wife and daughter when their car breaks down on a snow covered road. Pushing the car they come across a payphone (the movie was made when those existed) and he walks across to call for help. While he does so an oncoming car crosses the path of a truck that veers and plows across Russell's wife and daughter.Fast forward months later and Russell is still trying to cope with his loss. He moves to Seattle where a friend has set him up to teach at the local college. Looking for a place to stay an agent of the local historic society, Claire Norman (Trish Van Devere) finds him just the place, a Victorian mansion that is secluded and offers him the solace he needs. But things aren't quite what they seem. Russell begins hearing a banging every day at the same time. He has the pipes checked but the noise continues. One night when he hears water running he goes to turn it off and has a vision of a young boy drowning. As he begins investigating the history of the house he finds out more happened there than anyone has realized.Following noises in the house he finds a hidden attic. The doorway is sealed over, boarded up and shelves placed over those boards. Removing them he enters through the door and finds a room upstairs where it appears a young boy lived alone. His diary is there as well as a ball and a wheelchair he would have used. Russel continues to investigate the history of the house with the help of Claire. The noises, breaking glass in windows and more occur. He finds that the history of the house leads to a sitting Senator (Melvyn Douglas) as well as a young boy who was murdered and buried elsewhere. As he continues to discover more he still can't figure out why these images, these spectral visions are attaching themselves to him. What is it they want him to do and how can he follow through?The film is one of the best ghost stories ever committed to film. And like those that are the best it never puts everything on display for all to see. There are no floating sheets flying from one end of the house to the other, no million dollar special effects shots of walls/doors/furniture visibly changing into another form and no zombiefied corpses roaming about seeking revenge. Instead the majority of the hauntings taking place here involve the use of sound, of darkness and light and of things as simple as a bouncing child's ball to create an unsettling tale that holds the viewers interest from start to finish.Directed by acclaimed director Peter Medak who had already directed THE RULING CLASS and would go on to direct THE KRAYS, and ROMEO IS BLEEDING, the film uses a light touch rather than an in your face method of provoking scares and telling a complete story. With a combination of wonderful cinematography, a fantastic script and the acting abilities of the film's stars the result is a ghost tale that is second perhaps only to the 1963 version of THE HAUNTING, one of my all-time favorite films. The movie is an amazing film and one that I'm delighted to see saved from obscurity by Severin. It deserves it. If simply saving the film weren't enough Severin has gone the extra mile and included some wonderful extras that make you want to go back and watch the film a second time just to apply the things learned in those extras. Included in the extras are an audio commentary track with Medak, producer Joel B. Michaels and moderated by Severin Films' David Gregory, THE HOUSE ON CHEESMAN PARK: THE HAUNTING TRUE STORY OF THE CHANGELING in which we learn the facts of the actual case that the film is based on, THE MUSIC OF THE CHANGELING: AN INTERVIEW WITH MUSIC ARRANGER KENNETH WANNBERG, THE BUILDING OF THE HOUSE OF HOROR: AN INTERVIEW WITH ART DIRECTOR REUNBEN FREED, THE PSYCHOTRONIC TOURIST: THE CHANGLING which returns us to the various locations the film was shot at, Master of Horror Mick Garris talking about the film, a poster and stills gallery, the original trailer and TV spots for the film. After watching the pieces here about the real story and the construction of the sets you just want to restart it all over again.I would be remiss if I didn't mention one small item that Severin did here that deserves tremendous praise. I'm sure we've all grown weary of having to put in a disc only to sit patiently while we see the standard FBI warning about copying the film. That doesn't happen here. Instead once the disc loads on your player we see George C. Scott and Trish Van Devere sitting and looking at a microfilm machine taken from the movie. They scroll and stop and we're allowed to see what they're reading. It's the FBI warning written as a news item. What an ingenious way to insert that onto the disc! And it makes viewing the warning seem less a chore than normal, something you'll want others to see when watching the film again.Having the opportunity to watch this film again was such a joy. Having the chance to see it presented in such a way that it was clean, clear and crisp made it even more so. Previously all prints had seemed washed out and slightly off focus from seeing it on an outdoor screen to watching it on sloppily transferred video tape. Now I and many others can enjoy watching it along with the well-made extras again and again. Congratulations Severin on a job well done.

I'm normally not a big fan of horror films but The Changeling is certainly a unique experience in viewing that genre. No unearthly ghouls, no scenes of blood and gore, The Changeling is a film of horrifying and crushing sadness as the ghost of a child tries to communicate with George C. Scott who recently lost his wife Jean Marsh and their small daughter in a car accident.Had that not happened, I'm sure that Scott who is a music teacher and composer would have thought renting this huge rambling mansion would have been great for a wife and child. As it is he's rattling around this big house though the only sounds he hears are from the house itself and they're not from this plane of existence.The mansion was formerly the property of the Carmichael family and it's the kind of place the Vanderbilts and Astors would have found adequate for their needs. The heir to the Carmichael family is none other than United States Senator Melvyn Douglas a most powerful player in our nation's capital. It's through a seance attended by Scott who learns of the identity of the child and what he wants. In life he was the victim of the foulest kind of murder done for greed and profit.Great performances all around from the entire cast. It certainly is one of George C. Scott's best roles and one of the best horror films. The final scene as the child ghost wreaks a terrible vengeance on this house and those who occupied it will stay with you forever.

I love a good old fashioned creaky haunted house story, and HBO's The Changeling is one of the best, and most under appreciated spooky tales out there. Like I say time and time again (no doubt sounding like a broken record at this point), real effective horror lies in atmosphere and the buildup of tension, chilling our spines instead of bombarding us with tasteless dismemberment. The Changeling takes its time in establishing cozy atmosphere and engulfs us in a gigantic New England mansion (actually Shaughnessy for anyone who can tell), inhabited by the lonely, desperate ghost of a young boy who met a tragic fate there many decades earlier. George C. Scott is the musical composer who moves in all by himself, seeking solitude as he nurses the grief of losing both his wife and daughter in a car accident. He's barely there one night when strange things begin to happen; rhythmic banging from some far off room, eerie crying noises, doors opening and closing of their own accord and a mysterious toy bouncing ball that ominously follows him around. Saddled with an already troubled mind, he sets out to learn the origins of the ghost and resolve the situation, putting it to rest. The story is smart and succinct, involving ancestral deception and an elderly US Congressman (Melvyn Douglas, stealing every scene) with ties to the past. It's never too complicated or busy, always keeping it's cool and reigning in the frightening moments in a minimal fashion that pays off greatly. The lush, overgrown Vancouver locale makes a great setting, almost Stephen King like, and the house itself is a towering cluster of dusty hallways and wide open ceilings that shield ancient secrets and watch over anyone who sets foot inside with an unseen eye. I never thought a bouncy ball and a small children's wheelchair could raise such goosebumps, but when used as well as they are here, in scenes which set up the creep factor wonderfully, they'll get to you big time. Scott is weary and wary, but has a strong sense of compassion for the restless spirit that shows in his baleful, ice blue eyes and gives him the charisma a horror protagonist needs. HBO original films are almost always hidden gems of humble craftsmanship and breezy, effortless skill, whatever the genre. Here they've tried their hand at the ghostly fright flick, and wrought one of the best I've ever seen.

I first saw the Changeling in 1981 I was 11 years old and this movie has stayed with me ever since. a Better horror story then the Amityville horror . And a greater ghost story then the Haunting.John Russell is a world famous composer and conductor who loses his family in a tragic auto accident. four months later Russell decides to make changes in his life. He is given a teaching job at a university in Seattle. Russell decides to look for a house providing the rent is cheap and a friend suggests the historical society that would rent him a older historical home cheap. With the help of the lovely historical society agent Claire Norman John finds the perfect house at Chessman park road. t s a sprawling four story mansion. The kind they don't make anymore. Russell falls in love with the house and signs the lease. Almost as soon as he moves in mysterious things happen. And these things lead to a unthinkable end. John finds a old room a child's room hidden in a attic. a wheelchair fitted for a small boy sits in a corner. the ghost shows John how and reveals why he was murdered and demands vengeance even at the cost of John's life.The Changeling is that rare instance of a horror movie so full of suspense and fear. and it stays with you. the originality of it is still fresh even 35 years after I first saw it. a true guilty pleasure. Very few films in my mind can even equal it. Worth seeing again and again.