THE CHANGELING (1980)
Label: Second Sight Films
Region Code: Region-Free
Duration: 107 Minutes
Rating: 15 Cert.
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Stereo and 5.1 Surround with Optional English Subtitles
Video: HDR10 2160p Ultra HD Widescreen (1.85:1), 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)
Director: Peter Medak
Cast: George C. Scott, Trish Van Devere, Melvyn Douglas
The Changeling (1980) has long been one of my favorite ghost stories, I saw it as a kid on VHS and it gave me the chills down deep, a Gothic slice of goose-pimpling fright starring George C. Scott (Exorcist III) as classical music composer John Russell, a man who at the start of the film witnesses the tragic death of his wife and young daughter while on vacation in Upstate New York.
Following that awful tragedy the composer rents a sprawling Victorian mansion from realtor Claire Norman (Scott's real-life wife Trish Van Devere, The Hearse), and the two strike-up a very chaste relationship, spending time together riding horses and researching the history of the mansion which has sat vacant for many years prior to the composers arrival. Alone at the mansion John is working on his latest composition, but he finds the creaky mansion holds a few surprises, beginning with a recurring banging sound that thunders through the house at the same time every morning, and then the water faucets begin to mysteriously turn themselves on. The local plumber attributes it all to it being an old house, but there's certainly more happening here than just creaky old pipes. John eventually sees an apparition, that of a small boy drowning in the bathtub, it startles him but not enough to run screaming from the house the way it should have - I would have been long gone! Later while exploring the exterior of the house he discovers a shard of broken red glass that has fallen from a stained glass window in the attic, which leads to the discovery of a long-hidden secret doorway to an attic bedroom. There he finds a child's wheelchair, a journal and a music box, the latter of which bares an uncanny resemblance to the music composition he's been working on.
You get the feeling that through his deep grief he feels that maybe it's his daughter that is reaching out to him from beyond the grave, which leads to him hosting a séance with a spiritual medium. The gripping séance reveals the presence of young boy who died in the home some eighty years earlier, and an audio recording made during the séance also captures the haunting child-like voice of the restless spirit. Afterward John take it upon himself to further investigate the death and discovers an eighty year old family secret with connections to a powerful and aging senator (Melvyn Douglas, Ghost Story) whom has family ties to the mansion.
The Changeling is a slow-burn haunter in the best way, a story that deliberately unfolds revealing secrets and tragedies along the way, it pulls you in with the shocking first few moments and then pulls back a little, allowing you to breathe with the story, building in intensity along the way right up to a shocking inferno of an ending that is a stunner. It's the sort of classical ghost story we just don't get much of anymore, an essential slice of supernatural cinema that in my opinion is right up there with many of my favorite haunters, in good company alongside The Shining, The Haunting (1963) and The Legend of Hell House (1973), Ghost Story (1981) and The Lady in White (1988).
It will surprise no one that George C. Scott (Hardcore) is in fine form here, quietly intense and deep in grief as he initially downplays the startling ghostly events he encounters in and around the home. He sells the deep grief of a man who has lost his wife and daughter in a tragedy. He never boils over the way he was easily capable of, but he's taught and tense throughout, and I never found myself questioning or doubting why he was so obsessed with solving the mystery of the film, it all ties back to his deep grief.
A few of the heroes of the film include the slow moving cinematography of John Coquillon (Witchfinder General, Straw Dogs), who gives the lensing the feel of spirit wandering the corridors of the mansion, framing every shot with precision with some skewed angles and POV shots that are quite effective, playing with the deep shadows and natural light to great effect. We also get a haunting score from composer Rick Wilkins who keeps the goosebumps coming throughout, and then there's the incredible Victorian mansion facade created by art director Reuben Freed, plus the authentic looking stage sets used for the interiors, that creepy cobwebbed attic and the the winding staircase add a lot to this one.
A few moments that have always stuck with me include the shocking car wreck at the start of the film as Scott's character stares on helplessly from inside a phone booth, I wince every time I see it, and the iconic scene of his dead daughter's red bouncing ball, few films have done so much with such so little as this one scene accomplishes, when I first saw it I was terrified at the sight of that damned red ball bouncing down the stairs again after he threw it in a river miles away. Also, the creepy kids wheelchair that chases poor Trish Van Devere's character through the house is absolutely hair-raising, the execution of this film is phenomenal from start to finish, it's reserved but bone-chilling, a total classic.
Audio/Video: The Changeling (1980) arrives on region-free 4K Ultra HD from Second Sight Films in 2160p UHD, framed in the original 1.85:1 widescreen aspect ratio, sourced from a new 4K scan of the interpositive - the original negative appears lost, which is truly a crime against cinema. Given the limitations of the source I thought the film simply looks great, grain is present, looking a bit chunkier in a few scenes than others (especially the opening scenes), but overall nicely resolved with natural looking earth tone colors, there's some minimal print damage evident throughout but nothing to worry about. The black levels are nice and deep, but grain is persistent, with skin tones looking natural, this is a very nice upgrade offering more depth and clarity that this one has ever had on home video. The HDR10 color-grading looks to have been used sparingly, the judicious application deepens primary hues with the biggest benefactor being better contrast and deeper blacks, combined with the increased resolution this translates to superior shadow detail in the many darkened room scenes. Audio comes by way of DTS-HD MA 2.0 Stereo and 5.1 Surround with optional English subtitles, no Atmos upgrade here, but everything sounds clean and well-balanced, dialogue is crisp and the haunting score comes through with some nice resonance. The surround option does offer some interesting use of the rear channels, it's a creepy ghost story and the surround track complements the film, but I still preferred the stereo mix over the somewhat revisionist surround mix.
Second Sight previously issued The Changeling on Limited Edition Blu-ray in 2018, and with this upgrade to 4K Ultra HD have added two extras that were not present on their previous Blu-ray, but were available on the Severin 4K UHD previously. These come by way of an expansive 74-min Interview with Peter Medak by filmmaker Adrián García Bogliano at Mórbido Fest 2018, plus a 20-min Exile on Curzon St. – Peter Medak on his early years in swinging London, talks about his early years, escaping the racism of Hungary and experiencing a new free world in London, breaking into film, his time with Hammer and the Hammer greats he met there, his memories, and what he loves about their catalog of films, and other greats he worked with, as well as encounters with the Crays Gang.
Archival extras carried over from the 2018 release include the 2018 Audio commentary with director Peter Medak and producer Joel B. Michaels moderated by David Gregory of Severin Films, which is pretty laid back but still an informative conversation about the film, with plenty of talk about George C. Scott and Medak felt intimidated by him, having heard he could be difficult, but never really having any issues with him whatsoever. They also get into films like The Others, Session 9 and What Lies Beneath which they say lifted scenes straight out of this film, and how directors like Scorsese and Spielberg own their own prints of the film, recalling a private screening of the film the director has with Scorsese. They also discuss Medak came into the film late in the production when initial director Donald Cammell (White of the Eye) left the project due to differences in approach with the producer.
Digging into the other disc extras we have The House on Cheesman Park with historian Dr. Phil Goodstein, a colorful hippy-looking character who recounts the true-life origins of the story depicted in the film, which took place in Denver. It's a creepy story and very much the same story as told in the film, but with the addition of the story of how the city transformed a cemetery into a public park which lead to some supernatural shenanigans. We also get the The Music of The Changeling: Interview with Music Arranger Kenneth Wannberg who plays some of the main theme on piano for us, then going into his work with John Williams and working on The Changeling. With the 11-min Building The House of Horror: Interview with Art Director Reuben Freed he walks us through the process of creating the exterior house facade used in the film. I was gob smacked to learn that the mansion was only a facade, it's an amazing piece of work that adds so much character and atmosphere to the film. He discusses his career, being from South Africa and how his dreams of becoming a documentary filmmaker ended-up with him becoming an art director. The 11-min Master of Horror Mick Garris on The Changeling is brief appreciation of of Medak and his work by Garris, touching on Medak's turn on the Masters of Horror TV anthology show with 'The Washingtonians' episode, which is one of my favorites of the series, a delightfully demented look back at the untold story of one of our founding fathers I highly suggest you check out.
The 16-min The Psychotronic Tourist: The Changeling features author Kier-La Janisse (House of Psychotic Women) visiting several of the locations including The Orpheum Theater, Sea-Tac Airport, The Historical Society, and then we have Fangoria editor Michael Gingold and director Ted Geoghegan (We Are Still Here) visiting the Lincoln Center location in NYC, film programmer Clinton McClung visits the Lakeview Cemetery, The Rainer Tower, University of Washington and The Granville Bridge, the Senator's Mansion in Seattle, and the late Ryan Nicholson (director of Collar) visits the location of the mansion. The well-stocked disc is buttoned-up with a 3-min Trailer and a 28-second TV Spot for the film. The accompanying Blu-ray features the feature film and same set of extras as the UHD in 1080p without the HDR color-grading. The third disc is a CD Soundtrack featuring 29 tracks composed by Ken Wannberg, Rick WIkins and Howard Blake.
In the U.S. distributor Severin Films a have also released a 3-disc set of the film with mostly identical extras, while I don't have that set to compare it does list a Poster & Still Gallery (that was included on the Severin Films 2017 Blu-ray as well, reviewed HERE), but that is not present on the Second Sight release, otherwise the disc extras are identical.
The Limited Edition 3-disc UHD + Blu-ray + CD Soundtrack set arrives housed inside a sturdy side-loading Rigid Slipbox with some intensely moody new artwork by Christopher Shy, inside there's a gatefold digibook housing the three discs, also with artwork by Christopher Sky, as do the discs themselves. Also tucked away inside the slipbox are 5 Collector's Art Cards which look to be reproductions of the Brentwood Films lobby cards used during the film's theatrical release. Also to be found is an illustrated 108-Page Book with cast and crew information, plus new essays by Martyn Conterio, Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, Rich Johnson, Mikel J Koven, Meagan Navarro, Rachel Reeves, Shelagh Rowan-Legg and Heather Wixson plus archive interview with Peter Medak. It's quite a tome, well designed and chock full of writing contextualizing the film and it's influence.
Special Features on the 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray:
- New 4K scan and restoration presented in HDR
- Audio Commentary with director Peter Medak and producer Joel B. Michaels moderated by Severin Films’ David Gregory
- NEW! Interview with Peter Medak by filmmaker Adrián García Bogliano at Mórbido Fest 2018 (74:01)
- NEW! Exile on Curzon St. – Peter Medak on his early years in swinging London (19:46)
- The House on Cheesman Park: The Haunting True Story of The Changeling (17:30) HD
- The Music of The Changeling: Interview with Music Arranger Kenneth Wannberg (8:58) HD
- Building The House of Horror: Interview with Art Director Reuben Freed (10:53) HD
- The Psychotronic Tourist: The Changeling (16:06) HD
- Master of Horror Mick Garris on The Changeling (5:30)
- Trailer (2:17) HD
- TV Spot (0:28)
Limited Edition Contents
- Rigid slipcase with new artwork by Christopher Shy
- 108-page book with new essays by Martyn Conterio, Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, Rich Johnson, Mikel J Koven, Meagan Navarro, Rachel Reeves, Shelagh Rowan-Legg and Heather Wixson plus archive interview with Peter Medak
- Original Soundtrack CD (29 Tracks, 67 Minutes)
- Five Collectors' Art Cards
The Changeling (1980) remains one of the finest ghost stories ever committed to film, a chilling tale of the supernatural with an amazing cast, phenomenal art direction and lensing, plus a haunting score that sends this one through the roof. Ghost stories don't get any better than this one - a must-own by any standard, and this gorgeous limited edition set from Second Sight is the one to own.
