First of all, I highly recommend this. You can read all the other reviews to hear just how good and scary this thing is. I agree. I just want to get something off my chest.It's not much of a spoiler, but there is the ghost of a young boy in this movie who is never seen, only heard, and the voice is absolutely terrible! It sounded like a grown man poorly trying to imitate what he thought a weak and sickly boy sounded like. It's the worst, most annoying, and least terrifying voice you could imagine. If this were some kind of comedy farce, it might be perfect, but that's far from the case in this movie.When the rest of the movie is so good, including casting, how in the world could they get this so wrong?? Unbelievable.There. Rant over. I really do recommend this movie but that one thing just really bugs me.

I saw this movie as a kid and it stuck with me enough that I bought the DVD many years later, probably 2001 or 2002. I forgot about the film until this past October (2017). My kids are getting older and they now want to see scarier movies, but there is just too much blood and gore in most movies these days. I am glad I remembered I had that DVD in storage somewhere. Every-time I see the movie it holds up well and remains surprisingly good for being produced in such a different era. The only thing I will mention; which is probably a spoiler, is the ghostly voice saying "Father" "My Father." It still produces the same chills that are rarely commonplace in most of today's horror films.

I love this movie a ton, it's an all time favourite of mine, and for me is easily the best ghost horror movie that's ever been done, it's just of a pure great quality that can't ever be done the same way these days, at least never so incredibly well, not even close. It's approach to the supernatural horror aspect of its story is very restrained and traditional, relying more on slowly building up the story and characters to keep one engaged, and it uses its few genuine jump scare moments wisely and at just the exact right moments that they all feel earned. It's a very subtle kind of horror, one that carefully tantalises the imagination rather than bludgeoning it. And as is often the case, it's the horror that you don't see that proves the most effective. The powerfully emotive music, immersive atmosphere and magnificent lighting and cinematography are all excellent, and I can just get absorbed in the compelling mystery and rich dark ambiance and oppressive mood that the film was going for. This movie truly proves better than most in its genre that having nonstop action and flashy special monster effects doesn't necessarily always have everything to do with a scary picture turning out great. All of the elements of this conservatively constructed film that takes the time to build up its suspense and so carefully plays its hand are in perfect balance, and I don't think anything feels really out of place with it and it all just comes together to make something that's such a brilliant classic. The setting is so spot-on and fantastic, it actually looks like a place that would be haunted. I was so surprised when I found out that it wasn't a real location! Absolutely phenomenal production design, it looked and felt completely real. There are many moments and scenes woven into it that are so very haunting and downright chilling, the mesmerising seance sequence where the medium goes into a trance and begins auto-writing just cranks up the tension so well until you see that glass fly across the room, the dusty old wheelchair attack which should probably feel vaguely silly but really doesn't, the little girl's recurring nightmare of the dead boy staring up at her who lurks underneath her floorboards, and the spine-chilling baseball that comes tumbling down the stairs is a sight that always makes my flesh creep. And that's something that I love about this movie as well, that even though it's scary it's not a story of monsters or demons, and the ghost isn't an evil one, it's the tormented spirit of a long dead little boy who was cruelly murdered by his own father out of pure greed and who's full tragedy is slowly revealed as the film goes on. And the ending doesn't remotely feel like a positive one, as even though the ghost of Joseph can finally rest in peace with the truth revealed and justice served, the scene feels cold and very saddening as the music box plays it''s mournful tune one last time. And it frightfully feels true to me that peace after death isn't some golden glow of heaven but something altogether different and as distant and forlorn as a scene of burned ashes, with the only thing to signify the event being music that no one would ever hear... I was surprised to read complaints but I love the way that the late great George C. Scott's character shows his fear at the events around him, and that he doesn't freak out and react in a typical horror movie way. He is very stoic but if you watched it right you'd know that the character is supposed to have already gone through a lot in a short amount of time and that he's open to the supernatural. He's shaken, but you see how he's determined to fight through his fear and find the answers to the grim mystery no matter what and maybe bring himself a little peace by the bitter end. He was brilliant, he brought solid sensibility to his every scene and made the whole movie seem more grounded and real. What a great film, it will make you fearful of venturing up the darkened stairs of your own home late at night alone... Thank you very much, take care, and farewell.

Sometimes a movie can have everything at its fingertips, then get its fingertips chopped off in some horrible crash. I can imagine Peter Medak as the 1970s ended and the 80s began, reflecting on how horror had developed in the previous decade, the removal of censorship twenty years ago opening the door for blood and guts to splatter all over the industry. Medak decided to turn from the new and look back on a much quieter old, directing The Changeling, a haunted house flick relying, as the tradition goes, on strange noises, unexplained occurrences, communications with the dead, and, most of all, the absence of splattering bodies.George C. Scott plays John Russell, a composer, professor, and family man who loses his wife and daughter in an auto accident. To escape their memories he moves to a new house and tries resuming his life, but strange events begin, and something in the house won't let him forget his dead family. It follows closely in the footsteps of Don't Look Now, if Don't Look Now had more genre and less sense, then butchered its own ideas.Medak handles his film with spectacle. Gothic architecture, golden walls, a large stairwell winding to a mysterious attic, and various antiques all decorate John's new home, shot beautifully with the camera floating from room to room in a never-ending pan, wide shots showing the vastness of the mansion, and later there's a shot of a well, looking first in from above, then out from below. Also, Rick Wilson composed a nice piano score. So even the film strikes its logical bottom, everything looks at least aesthetically pleasing.But as far as the plot goes, the crash is horrific, and then my heart ripped in half as the camera and John both loomed around the city, now so lonely and small. John has a counseling session, where conversation turns up some great quotes about recovery, and I truly rooted for John as he went from his compositions to his jobs, making an effort to grasp the goods in life. Then as the supernatural creeps in, the emotions go poof and never come back, no matter how many things remind John of his family. Medak attempts to juggle John's recovery with supernatural occurrences, as well as an investigation, and weaving these lines together is easy enough—after all, everything connects to John's tortured memories and difficult recovery—and yet somehow Medak manages to end one thing the second another begins and strips his story of every promise except its spookiness. John eventually isn't even the protagonists anymore, and unlike Psycho, the shift has no meaning.The scriptwriter really screws himself over by writing an emotional story about an emotionally reserved person's emotions, and then failing to give him any scenes to show his emotions, but George C. Scott does best he could have, interrupting his stone-cold, no- shits-given expression with occasional looks of vulnerability. But when the scriptwriter has John try to cast away the spirits by going to a bridge and angrily tossing a ball, there's not much Scott can do in the way of bringing some sort of continuity to the writing's madly flapping strands.Thankfully, even though The Changeling promises to elevate the genre and then disappoints, it still has enough of the horror within to hit home. Medak hides enough threats behind corners and darkness for the atmosphere to get in your belly, and the bathtub scene is terrifying. So when the ghost goes to outstanding lengths to achieve basically nothing, hints pop up of a possible possession then completely disappear, a relationship starts and never blossoms, and the most interesting character doesn't enter until we've stopped caring, at least doors hide behind bookshelves, wheelchairs come to life, and things light on fire.