Duration: 107 Minutes
Region Code: Region-FREE
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)
Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1 with Optional English Subtitles
Director: Peter Medak
Cast: George C. Scott, Trish Van Devere, Melvyn Douglas, Barry Morse
TOP: SEVERIN FILMS BLU-RAY (2018)
BOTTOM: SECOND SIGHT FILMS BLU-RAY (2018)
Synopsis: It is perhaps the most chilling supernatural thriller of our time. It remains a career peak for star George C. Scott and director Peter Medak (THE RULING CLASS, THE KRAYS). Now the film that Martin Scorsese calls “One of the scariest movies ever made,” finally comes to Blu-ray. Academy Award® winner Scott delivers “One of his greatest performances ever,” (BloodyGoodHorror.com) as a Manhattan composer consumed by grief after his wife and daughter are killed in a shocking accident. But when he moves to a secluded Victorian mansion, he will find himself haunted by a paranormal entity that may unleash an even more disturbing secret.
TOP: SEVERIN FILMS BLU-RAY (2018)
BOTTOM: SECOND SIGHT FILMS BLU-RAY (2018)
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 (Hardcore) as classical music composer named John Russell, a man who at the start of the film witnesses the tragic death of his wife and young daughter while on a winter vacation in Upstate New York.
Following that awful happening 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 discussing the history of the mansion which has apparently been vacant for many years prior to the composers arrival. Alone at the mansion John works on his latest piano composition, but finds the creaky home holds a few surprises, beginning with a recurring banging sound that thunders through the house at the same time each morning, and the water faucets begin to mysteriously turn themselves on. A local plumber attributes it all to it just being an old house, but there's certainly more happening here than just creaky old water pipes. John eventually sees an apparition 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 music box plays a tune with an uncanny resemblance to the music composition he's been working on while at the house.
TOP: SEVERIN FILMS BLU-RAY (2018)
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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 seance with a spiritual medium. The gripping seance reveals the presence of young boy who died in the home some eighty years earlier, and an audio recording made during the seance also captures the haunting child-like voice of the restless spirit, in perhaps cinema first instance of EVP, the first I can remember anyway. Afterward John take it upon himself to 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.
TOP: SEVERIN FILMS BLU-RAY (2018)
BOTTOM: SECOND SIGHT FILMS BLU-RAY (2018)
The Changeling is a slow-burn in the best sort of 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 anymore, an essential slice of supernatural cinema that in my opinion is right up there with The Haunting (1963) and The Legend of Hell House (1973), and one of the best of the 80's supernatural films, in the good company of films like Ghost Story (1981) and The Lady in White (1988), all of which contributed to my youthful obsession which the idea of ghosts.
TOP: SEVERIN FILMS BLU-RAY (2018)
BOTTOM: SECOND SIGHT FILMS BLU-RAY (2018)
It will surprise no one that George C. Scott (Exorcist III) is in fine form here, he downplays a lot of the startling ghostly events he encounters in and around the home, but 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 could do from time to time in films, 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 the loss of his family at the beginning.
TOP: SEVERIN FILMS BLU-RAY (2018)
BOTTOM: SECOND SIGHT FILMS BLU-RAY (2018)
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 home, framing every shot with precision with some skewed angles and POV shots that are very effective, playing with the deep shadows and natural light in the scenes. We also get a haunting score from composer Rick Wilkins who keeps the goosebumps coming throughout, and then there's the incredible Victorian mansion created by art director Reuben Freed and the authentic looking stage sets used for the interiors, the mansion is a character in the film, I sort of blew my mind that it was all constructed for the films and not a real house. Stuff like the creepy cobwebbed attic and the the winding staircase add a lot of atmosphere and character to the whole shebang.
TOP: SEVERIN FILMS BLU-RAY (2018)
BOTTOM: SECOND SIGHT FILMS BLU-RAY (2018)
TOP: SEVERIN FILMS BLU-RAY (2018)
BOTTOM: SECOND SIGHT FILMS BLU-RAY (2018)
Audio/Video: The Changeling (1980) arrives on region-free Blu-ray from Severin Films, sourced from a new 4K scan of the interpositive, presented in 1080p HD, framed in the original 1.85:1 widescreen aspect ratio. The film looks great, looking to be the same restoration as the one issued by Second Sight Films in the UK. Grain is well managed, looking authentic to the period in which this was filmed, overall everything is nicely resolved with natural looking earth tones throughout There's some minimal print damage evident throughout but nothing to worry about. The black levels are nice and deep with the skin tones looking natural, there are some very minor color shifts in the Severin release compared to the Second Sight release, but I think you'd be hard-pressed to spot them without intense scrutiny. This release offers very nice upgrade over the previous DVD offerings with more depth and clarity than we've seen from this title on home video. Audio comes by way of DTS-HD MA stereo 2.0 and surround 5.1, 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, optional English subtitles are provided. Severin also provide dubbed Italian, Spanish and German in lossy audio for those looking for a foreign language option.
Notably Severin have issued a disc replacement program for this title, the 5.1 surround track is missing dialogue and sound effects in a few key places, my review copy is not the corrected disc and is missing the audio, you can email Severin at changelingreplacement@gmail.com to request a replacement disc if you have one of the uncorrected discs with the glitch. Second Sight's release caught the issue in QC and has so such audio issue.
Special features for the most part mirror that of the UK disc from Second Sight, we get the audio commentary with director Peter Medak and producer Joel B. Michaels moderated by David Gregory of Severin Films. A laid back but informative conversation about the film, with plenty of talk about George C. Scott and how Medak was 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 directly from this film, and how directors like Scorsese and Spielberg own their own prints of the film, with Medak recalling a private screening of the film the director has with Scorsese who pressed for technical info about the film. 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 an interview with the 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. Art Director Reuben Freed walks us through the process of creating the exterior facade used in the film, I was shocked 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.
TV anthology Masters of Horror creator Mick Garris shows up for a brief appreciation of the director and his work, 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.
We also get a location visit with author Kier-La Janisse (House of Psychotic Women) who speaks about 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 Ryan Nicholson (director of Collar) visits the location of the mansion. The well-stocked disc is buttoned-up with a trailer and TV spot for the film.
As stated this is pretty much the same package we saw in the UK from Second Sight Films, but there is one small difference with the inclusion a still gallery of images from the film, behind-the-scenes shots, lobby card, posters and home video releases from various territories, which are always cool to sift through.
The single-disc regular release version comes housed in a cool black keepcase with a one-sided sleeve of artwork mirroring the limited edition artwork but with a red variation and a darker background, the disc itself featuring the same key artwork as the sleeve.
Special Features:
- Audio Commentary with Director Peter Medak and Producer Joel B. Michaels, moderated by Severin Films' David Gregory.
- The House On Cheesman Park: The Haunting True Story of THE CHANGELING (18 min)
- The Music of THE CHANGELING: Interview with Music Arranger Kenneth Wannberg (9 min)
- Building The House Of Horror: Interview with Art Director Reuben Freed (11 min)
- The Psychotronic Tourist: THE CHANGELING (16 min)
- Master of Horror Mick Garris on THE CHANGELING (6 min)
- Poster & Still Gallery (9 min)
- Trailer (2 min)
- TV Spot (1 min)
The Changeling (1980) is simply one of the finest ghost stories of all-time, a classic tale of the supernatural that still manages to get under the skin with a haunting score that sends this one through the roof. This region-free release from Severin looks and sounds great (with the exception of the flubbed surround audio), but I am pleased that they've recognized the error and are sending out replacement discs to correct the problem, a definite recommend for fans of classic ghost stories.
