The Changeling
DVD FEATURES: Interactive Menus, Cast & Crew Bios, Subtitles, and Chapter Selections
Starring...George C. Scott, and Trish Van Devere
Directed By...Peter Medak
My Rating:
Finally! I have found a movie that is scary as hell and holds your interest till the very end! I don't have a SINGLE complaint about this film, I really needed this after watching that drek SPIDERS 2: Breeding Ground and this film was just what the doctor ordered. George C. Scott is a incredible actor, he proves it with this film, and he proved it to me in Exorcist III (sorry, didn't mean to rhyme) This whole film's atmosphere is what gets you, honestly, I couldn't believe it made me SCREAM at like 3 in the morning TWO TIMES!!!!! TWICE!!! NO FILM DOES THAT TO ME!!! Anyway, here is the story to this amazing film....
John Russell (George C. Scott) is pushing his car up a hill to get to a pay phone with his wife and daughter. He tells them to wait and the 2 begin having a snowball fight. When John is in the phone booth, a speeding truck comes barreling down the road, it crashes into John's car, killing his wife and daughter. John tries to get to them before but he is locked inside the booth.
Now he wants to retire to a new place, to get away from his home and everything. He takes a lease out on a very old mansion that seems to be perfect for him. He can practice playing the piano and bring his classes to practice at his place. It has a people come in to clean it so what could be wrong? How about the fact the place is HAUNTED!?!? For the first 2 nights, at exactly 6 in the morning, he hears a giant banging sound that goes on for 30 seconds and then stops. Weird things begin to happen, when a window breaks from the inside out, he finds a closet with a boarded up wall upstairs. He removes the boards and then breaks into the room, he goes up the creepy stairs to find a room, the window was broken up there there was a wheelchair and a journal. The specter of a little child that was wrongfully murdered is calling out to John, but why is it? What does it want from him? Could it have a strange link with him having lost his daughter? Only one way to find out!
The movie is incredible, the director knows what he is doing. His camera angles are creative, and impressive. The house is creepy as hell, especially the stairs to getting up to the little boy's room. The mystery that unfolds keeps you glued to your seat, and when all is revealed, it fits together PERFECTLY! The atmosphere is there, making each scene even more scary then the last.
George C. Scott shows us he can be as powerful an actor as ever. He sends out a incredible performance in this film that I thought was awesome. And his future wife...Trish Van Devere did very well to. But George is the one, when he gets angry in these movies, he shows it and boy is it ever entertaining!!!
No gore or nudity in this film, but to be quite frank, it didn't need it. This film is perfect the way it is, and the fact that it didn't have limbs flying or tits popping out every which way didn't phase me in the least.
The DVD is pretty good, wide screen AND a crisp and clear transfer. The sound is awesome, it is clean with no hissing and best of all, it sounded great through my speakers. Why these films say they are just Dolby Surround is beyond me, they sound better then some of these 5.1 Dolby Digital surround sound flicks!
I say, this is a horror film that should be seen by everyone who wants a good scare. Don't let it's age fool you, it may be over 23 years old, but it's better then most of the shit we get today. This is when horror movies relied on creepy ATMOSPHERE rather then big names and CGI special effects. Those days seem to be long gone now. . .sad really . . .
Special Guest Reviewers:
George Newman
"It's about time we got something decent in here! We all needed that to cool our jets after watching Spiders 2, wow, even Ernest was ready to kill on that one...right guys? Ummm guys? Hey where the hell is everyone? Whats this? Went to kill director of Spiders 2. . .be back soon... Oh great! NOW they tell me!!!"