Review of The Changeling (1980) by Blake P — 19 Nov 2014

People in haunted house movies seem to have the same problem. Though the doors in their extraordinarily massive homes slam by themselves, though there are ominous staircases that lead to nowhere, though there are attics that are covered in cobwebs and red flags, they never stop and think "maybe I should go somewhere that isn't haunted." The family in "Poltergeist" stayed until their house was sucked into the depths of Hell. In "The Conjuring," it took a possessed mom and battered kids to make that realization hit home.

The haunted house movie is already a faulty genre because no person in their right mind would stay in a home filled with apparitions and ghostly noises. But when it's done right, it can be enormously effective, even if you have to clench your teeth to stop yourself from telling the leading character to stay away from that closet.

"The Changeling" nearly goes too far, but it manages to work. George C. Scott stars as John Russell, an aging composer who has recently suffered the loss of his wife and daughter in a car accident. After three months of numbing mourning, he decides to move into a secluded mansion in Seattle to get away from it all and allow himself to restart. It's too bad that the house itself doesn't seem to want him there.

Every morning at 6:00 sharp, he is awakened by enormously loud bangs on the walls, rhythmic and foreboding. The attic seems to be cloaked with malevolent energy. John is the kind of man that heads few haunted house movies: he is scientific, intelligent, and not one to believe that something as silly as ghosts could create such a ruckus. But one can hardly blame him when the house seems to have a mind of his own. He teams up with a historical society worker (Trish Van Devere) to figure out exactly what's wrong; as they delve deeper into the mystery, it seems the haunting of John's newfound home is rooted in a conspiracy that crosses generations.

Scott carries a kind of presence that feels comfortably authoritative. You feel you can trust him, with his bitchy resting face and intellectual voice. In the haunted house genre, the characters are unbelievable because there doesn't seem to be many reasons why they should stay and hang out with spirits. It's as if they live their lives miserably simply to entertain the viewer. But John Russell is a man who has lost everything; if anything, he is so intent on discovering he house's history because he can't have another batch of loss or failure in his life.

The reason for the haunting involves a murder for profit, a money-hungry father, a replacement child, and a senator. "The Changeling" seems plausible because the plot is so tight and the ghost does have a reason to haunt someone. The camerawork likes wide shots and sharp angles; it makes the house feel eerily spacious. While the film is classy and well-made, especially for a genre film, however, I never found myself truly terrified. It's a creepy movie, but there isn't much of a sense of worry. Scott gives a good performance, but his character is written in a way that makes it clear that he won't die at the end. Towards the middle, the film leans towards the idea of a supernatural episode of "Cold Case.".

"The Haunting" or "The Innocents" were more successful because you truly felt that the leading characters were in danger. Julie Harris began to connect with Hill House, somehow passing her loneliness into the walls. Deborah Kerr's sanity goes into question. Scott is more like a detective; he is somehow detached from the situation around him. A haunted house movie works best when most of its events cannot be explained; our imaginations should be able to run wild and we shouldn't be able to put all of the pieces together. "The Changeling" might be a bit too tidy for my taste, but there is something about it that draws you in with compelling force. I wanted to see what happened next, even if the film never is exactly textbook chilling.