Review of The Changeling (1980) by Justin A — 08 Oct 2015
Very well acted and an amazing, moody house. The first 40 minutes or so are pretty good. When George C. Scott is just walking through the house spooked out, it's entertaining. Once it becomes a "let's solve the mystery, Scooby" kind of movie, then it sort of goes downhill a bit.
Everything up to the seance was great and one of the best I've seen, topping recent movies like Drag Me to Hell and Insidious. It's simple, but effective. Once the movie goes into Ring-territory (it's very, very similar to The Ring) then it loses momentum.
The twist isn't that compelling and I really didn't care. The ending confrontation with the "villain" felt underwhelming. And the entire thing felt off because it seemed like he could have just moved out whenever.
He didn't seem that interested in bringing down the bad guy, and if he was sick of slamming doors he could have just left. I think it had something to do with the main characters wife and daughter dying years earlier, and him feeling a need to solve this, but it felt unclear and like something I was trying to make up myself.
Anyway, it's a pretty good movie, but a bit long and honestly not that scary. There are some spooky moments, but no spooky ghosts or moments that make you jump or dig your nails into the seat.
This review of The Changeling (1980) was written by Justin A on 08 Oct 2015.
The Changeling has generally received positive reviews.
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