Search - The Changeling on DVD

MPAA Rating: R Content Advisory: Violence, Adult Situations Movie Release: 1980 DVD Release: 09/12/2000 Format: DVD - Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV Audio Tracks: English Subtitles: English, French, Spanish SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 55 mins Studio: HBO Home Video Members Wishing: 3 Genres: Thriller, Haunted House Film

Peter Medak's The Changeling is among a handful of films, including The Haunting (1963), Ghost Story (1981), and Lady in White (1988), that have successfully recreated the intimate, drawing-room atmosphere of supernatural horror fiction. After his wife and daughter are killed in a snowbound car accident, classical composer John Russell (George C. Scott) relocates from New York to Seattle to teach at his alma mater. Looking for a quiet place to rest and continue writing music, he is referred Claire Norman (Trish Van Devere) at the Seattle Historical Preservation Society. Claire shows John a large, sparsely furnished estate in the outlying countryside. He takes the house, appreciating its remoteness and the solitude it might afford, and diverts himself by renovating and settling in. He even starts to compose, putting aside his older work in favor of a new, sentimental piece for the piano. It is not long, however, before he begins having nightmares about the accident that killed his wife and daughter. Possibly because of this trauma, he is open to communications from the house's ghostly occupants. Pursuing a loud, repetitive pounding noise in an upper room, he stumbles on the apparition of a young boy drowning in a tub. Working together with Claire, John discovers frightening parallels between this vision and buried events from the house's past. Horror writer M.R. James once said that his goal as a writer was to make the reader feel "pleasantly uncomfortable." Those looking for a similar experience in movies will appreciate The Changeling as a gem in the horror genre. ~ Anthony Reed, All Movie Guide

George C. Scott - John Russell
Trish VanDevere - Claire Norman
Melvyn Douglas - Sen. Joe Carmichael
John Colicos - DeWitt
Jean Marsh - Joanna Russell

Peter Medak's haunted house thriller The Changeling comes to DVD with a widescreen anamorphic transfer that preserves the original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1. A closed-captioned English soundtrack is rendered in Dolby Digital Surround. English, Spanish, and French subtitles are accessible. Supplemental materials include cast and crew biographies. Genre enthusiasts will enjoy this disc, and the film's fans will appreciate the fine transfer, but there is not much here to interest a non-fan. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide