| The Changeling | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Peter Medak |
| Screenplay by |
|
| Story by | Russell Hunter |
| Produced by | |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | John Coquillon[1] |
| Edited by | Lilla Pedersen |
| Music by | Rick Wilkins |
Production company | Chessman Park Productions |
| Distributed by | Pan-Canadian Film Distributors |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 107 minutes[2] |
| Country | Canada |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $6.6 million[3][4] |
| Box office | $12 million[i] |
The Changeling is a 1980 Canadiansupernaturalpsychological horror film[7] directed byPeter Medak, written by William Gray and Diana Maddox, and starringGeorge C. Scott,Trish Van Devere, andMelvyn Douglas. Its plot follows an esteemed New York City composer who relocates to aSeattle mansion he comes to believe is haunted.
The screenplay forThe Changeling is based upon events that playwrightRussell Hunter claimed to have experienced while he was living in the Henry Treat Rogers mansion in theCheesman Park neighborhood ofDenver, Colorado, in the late 1960s; Hunter served as a co-writer of the film.[8] Principal photography began in December 1978, largely in Vancouver, British Columbia, with additional location shooting in Seattle.
The Changeling premiered at the USA Film Festival inDallas, Texas, on March 26, 1980, and was released simultaneously in Canada and the United States two days later. It received largely favorable critical reviews, and was an early Canadian-produced film to have major success internationally.[9] The film won eight inauguralGenie Awards, includingBest Motion Picture, and was nominated for twoSaturn Awards. It is considered acult film[10] and one of the most influential Canadian films of all time.[11][12]
John Russell, a composer fromNew York City, is vacationing with his wife and daughter upstate when his car becomes stuck in snow. While he goes to a roadside phone booth to call for assistance, he witnesses his wife and daughter get struck and killed by an oncoming truck. The accident prompts him to move toSeattle, where he rents a mansion from the agent of a local historical society, Claire Norman, who tells him that the property has been vacant for twelve years.
Not long after moving in, John begins to experience unexplained phenomena, starting with a loud banging every morning. One night, he discovers all of the water taps turned on and sees theapparition of a drowned boy in a bathtub. Soon after, a red stained-glass windowpane shatters as he is outside and, upon investigation, he finds a locked, boarded up door in a closet leading to a hidden attic bedroom. John takes a music box from the mantel and discovers it plays the exact piano tune he has just recorded downstairs. John and Claire investigate the history of the house, believing that the ghost is that of a young girl killed on its grounds in a traffic accident in 1909. John holds aseance and overhearsthe voice of the spirit on audio equipment, calling himself Joseph Carmichael.
John discovers that Joseph Carmichael was a crippled and sickly six-year-old who was murdered in 1906 by his father Richard because he was unlikely to reach the age of 21, upon which he would have inherited an enormous fortune from his late maternal grandfather. To ensure the inheritance, Richard replaced the dead boy with one procured from a local orphanage and spirited him away to Europe under the pretense of seeking treatment for his condition. After years away, he returned with the boy when he was aged 18, claiming that he was cured. The grown "Joseph Carmichael" is now a prominentU.S. Senator who is also a major patron of the historical society that owns the house where his adoptive father committed the murder.
John's investigation leads him to a property built on land that was once owned by the Carmichael family, where he believes the body of the murdered boy, the real Joseph Carmichael, was dumped in a well. There, he finds the skeleton of a young child with hischristening medal. John attempts to speak to Senator Carmichael but is restrained. The Senator is disturbed to see the medal, as it is identical to the one in his possession given to him by his adoptive father. The society cancels John's lease on the house and fires Claire. Senator Carmichael sends Police Captain DeWitt to John's home in an attempt to intimidate him and retrieve the medal. John refuses, and when DeWitt leaves to obtain a search warrant, his vehicle mysteriously overturns, killing him.
After DeWitt's death, Senator Carmichael agrees to meet with John; John tells him the story. Carmichael angrily berates John for accusing his adoptive father of murder. John leaves the skeleton's christening medal, along with the only copy of the seance recording. Claire goes to the house to find John and is chased by Joseph's wheelchair until she falls down the stairs. When John arrives the house begins to shake. He tries to appease Joseph's ghost but falls from the second floor as the ghost sets the house on fire. Simultaneously, Senator Carmichael compares the two medals, and, realizing the truth, falls into a trance staring at the portrait of his adoptive father. John witnesses the Senator'sastral body climbing the burning stairs to Joseph's room. Claire rescues John while Carmichael has a vision of the murder and suffers a fatalheart attack. John and Claire see the Senator's body being loaded into the ambulance.
The next morning, Joseph's burnt wheelchair sits amid the ruins of the mansion and his music box begins playing a lullaby.
The film's screenplay was inspired by events that allegedly took place at the Henry Treat Rogers mansion inCheesman Park, Denver,Colorado, while playwright and composerRussell Hunter was living there during the 1960s.[13][14][15] After experiencing a series of unexplained phenomena in the house, Hunter said he found a century-old journal in a hidden room detailing the life of a disabled boy who was kept in isolation by his parents, who sought to usurp a $70 million fortune he was set to inherit from affluent relatives.[13][16] During a seance, he claimed, the spirit of a deceased boy directed him to another house, where human remains and a gold medallion bearing the dead boy's name were discovered.[8] Henry Treat Rogers, a wealthy Denver attorney, was childless; but prior inhabitants of the house remain undocumented.[17] The mansion was demolished during the 1980s and replaced with a high-rise apartment building.[8]
The validity of Hunter's claims have been questioned; theDenver Public Library has no official record of Hunter residing at the Henry Treat Rogers mansion, and according to historian Phil Goodstein, no families in the Denver area had a fortune of $70 million between the late 1800s and early 1900s.[16]
The film's budget was raised by selling $25,000 shares to 264 investors, who later made a profit of $9,229 on their shares.[18] The film was among nine films shot in British Columbia during the late 1970s, when the province offeredtax shelters on film productions.[13]
Actor George C. Scott was cast in the film's lead role of John Russell, while his wife, actress Trish Van Devere, was cast in the role of Claire Norman.[13]
Peter Medak was the third director hired for the project. His predecessors,Donald Cammell andTony Richardson, both withdrew due to "creative differences".[19] Medak was hired with only a month to facilitate script re-writes and set construction.[20]
Principal photography ofThe Changeling began on December 4, 1978.[13][21] While the film is set in Seattle, most of its scenes were filmed in theBritish Columbian cities ofVancouver andVictoria, and their environs. Exceptions include introductory location shooting in New York City andestablishing shots of Seattle points of interest, includingSeaTac Airport,University of Washington's Red Square, theSpace Needle, theRainier Tower, and theLacey V. Murrow Memorial Bridge.[21] Interior college scenes were shot at theUniversity of Washington in Seattle.
The Historical Society featured in the film is in fact Vancouver's historicHotel Europe, while senator's home is the historicalHatley Castle[22] on the grounds ofRoyal Roads Military College (nowRoyal Roads University) in Victoria. Additional photography occurred at theOrpheum Theatre in Vancouver.[13]
In searching for a property to stand in for the central location of the film's haunted mansion, art director Reuben Freed stated the design team "looked for an exterior we could possibly use without too much alteration and we didn’t find anything that had the gothic quality we wanted."[13] Instead, an exterior facade was constructed on the lot of an existing home in the Oakridge neighborhood of Vancouver.[13] The mansion's interiors were filmed on a series of interconnected sets atPanorama Film Studios in West Vancouver.[23] Principal photography was completed on February 25, 1979.[21]
The film marked the first on-screen appearance ofJoshua Jackson, who was seven months old at the time; his mother, Fiona Jackson, worked on the film as an assistant director.[24] Music conductorKazuyoshi Akiyama also appears in the film conducting a live music performance.[13]
The Changeling premiered at the USA Film Festival inDallas, Texas on March 26, 1980.[25][26] It was released in the United States and Canada two days later, on March 28, 1980.[27]
The film was released onLaserDisc with an analog stereo soundtrack byVestron Video in 1983.[28] The film was also released onDVD byHBO Home Video in 2000.[29]
The independent distributorSeverin Films released a limited editionBlu-ray in the United States on August 7, 2018.[30] Severin Films issued a4K UHD Blu-ray edition on October 26, 2022.[31]
The Changeling was abox office success, grossing $12 million worldwide[i][32] against its $6.6 million budget.[3] The film was the highest-grossing Canadian production released in 1980, earning it theGolden Reel Award at the2nd Genie Awards.[2]
Edwin Miller ofSeventeen wrote that the film was a "visually classy chiller ... aided by stunning film locations."[33]Richard Grenier ofCosmopolitan praised Medak's direction, but added: "it is Scott, using the full range of his immense talent, who gives the story its spine-tingling impact," and deemed it the best horror film of the year.[34]Variety also praised the film, noting it as a "superior haunted house thriller."[35] Ed Blank of thePittsburgh Press referred to the film as "an unexceptional but diverting horror story with better-than-average performers."[36] A review published inFlorida Today praised the film as "the best ghost story of the year," noting Medak's direction as "brilliant," and likening it toThe Innocents.[37] InThe Morning News, the film was noted as a "good ghost story ... George C. Scott's demonic energy works well for him here, giving a force and power that might elude a weaker actor. Trish Vandevere is appealing in the role of the historic society woman and Melvyn Douglas is superb as a crusty old millionaire."[38]
Conversely,Roger Ebert of theChicago Sun-Times was more mixed: "If it only took craftsmanship to make a haunted house movie,The Changeling would be a great one. It has all the technical requirements, beginning with the haunted house itself ... [the film] does have some interesting ideas ... But it doesn't have that sneaky sense of awful things about to happen. Scott makes the hero so rational, normal and self-possessed that we never feel he's in real danger; we go through this movie with too much confidence."[19] Fiona Ferguson ofTime Out was critical of the plot, noting: "the leaps made by Scott's agile mind in identifying both victim and usurper leave logic and credence on the starting block."[39]The Arizona Republic's Michael Maza wrote a less favorable review, calling the film "a sure-thing haunted house story" and "routine picture" supplemented with "formulaic eerie noises, cobwebbed stairways, crashing glassware and unbelievable coincidences."[40]
Retrospective reviews have also been positive.Film 4 noted the film as "a minor classic" and "underrated member of the haunted house movie genre."[41]On thereview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes,The Changeling holds an 85% approval rating based on 26 reviews, with anaverage rating of 7.5/10. The consensus reads: "George C. Scott's somber performance gives this haunted house horror a moving soul to go along with its harrowing scares."[42] OnMetacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 70 out of 100 based on 9 critics, indicating "generally positive reviews".[43]
| Award/association | Year | Category | Recipient(s) and nominee(s) | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boston Society of Film Critics | 2018 | Best Rediscovery | Peter Medak | Won | [44] |
| Fantafestival | 1982 | Best Actor | George C. Scott | Won | [45] |
| Genie Awards | 1980 | Best Motion Picture | The Changeling | Won | [20] [46] |
| Best Foreign Actor | George C. Scott | Won | |||
| Best Foreign Actress | Trish Van Devere | Won | |||
| Best Supporting Actress | Helen Burns | Nominated | |||
| Frances Hyland | Nominated | ||||
| Best Adapted Screenplay |
| Won | |||
| Best Art Design | Trevor Williams | Won | |||
| Best Cinematography | John Coquillon | Won | |||
| Best Sound |
| Won | |||
| Best Sound Editing |
| Won | |||
| 1981 | Golden Reel Award | The Changeling | Won | [2] | |
| Saturn Awards | 1981 | Best International Film | Nominated | [47] | |
| Best Supporting Actor | Melvyn Douglas | Nominated | |||
| 2019 | Best DVD or Blu-ray Special Edition Release | The Changeling | Nominated | [48] |
The soundtrack toThe Changeling was released by Percepto Records on CD on December 21, 2001 and was limited to 1,000 copies.[49] On April 13, 2007, Percepto released a 2-CD "Deluxe Edition" of the soundtrack, which was also limited to 1,000 copies and has subsequently been sold out.[50]
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Main Title" | 2:31 |
| 2. | "The First Look" | 1:46 |
| 3. | "First Chill" | 1:31 |
| 4. | "Music Box Theme for Piano" | |
| 5. | "Country Ride" | 1:04 |
| 6. | "Bathtub Reflections" | 3:03 |
| 7. | "Secret Door" | 3:31 |
| 8. | "The Attic" | 2:45 |
| 9. | "Music Box Theme" | 1:45 |
| 10. | "The Ball" | 3:15 |
| 11. | "The Seance" | 7:31 |
| 12. | "The Killing" | 3:42 |
| 13. | "Carmichael Reflects / On the Floor" | 2:18 |
| 14. | "Face on the Bedroom Floor" | 1:59 |
| 15. | "Chain Reaction" | 3:46 |
| 16. | "The Doors" | 1:10 |
| 17. | "Mirror, Mirror on the Wall" | 1:11 |
| 18. | "The Attic Calls Clair" | 3:52 |
| 19. | "Resolution" | 5:53 |
| 20. | "End Title" | 3:10 |
| 21. | "The Seance (Alternate Version)" (bonus track) | 7:09 |
| 22. | "Carmichael's Demise" (bonus track) | 3:43 |
| 23. | "Piano Solos" (bonus track) | 1:37 |
| 24. | "Alternate End Titles" (bonus track) | 2:31 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Main Titles" | 2:33 |
| 2. | "Piano Source" | 0:57 |
| 3. | "Arrival at the House" | 1:48 |
| 4. | "Piano Source" | 1:11 |
| 5. | "Piano Source" | 0:13 |
| 6. | "First Chill" | 1:33 |
| 7. | "The Door Opens by Itself" | 0:21 |
| 8. | "Music Box Theme for Piano" | 2:06 |
| 9. | "Country Ride" | 1:06 |
| 10. | "Bathtub Reflections" | 3:05 |
| 11. | "Finding the Secret Door" | 3:33 |
| 12. | "Up Into the Attic" | 2:47 |
| 13. | "Music Box Theme" | 1:47 |
| 14. | "The Wheelchair" | 0:25 |
| 15. | "Microfilm Research / Cemetery" | 1:30 |
| 16. | "Ball Over the Bridge / It's Back!" | 3:17 |
| 17. | "The Seance / Talk to Us!" | 7:14 |
| 18. | "Murder Flashback" | 3:43 |
| 19. | "Wheelchair / Carmichael Tower" | 1:00 |
| 20. | "Carmichael Reflects" | 0:34 |
| 21. | "The House on the Lake" | 1:56 |
| 22. | "Breaking into the House" | 0:54 |
| 23. | "Face on the Bedroom Floor" | 2:01 |
| 24. | "The Chain Appears in the Dirt" | 3:47 |
| 25. | "All the Doors Shut" | 1:12 |
| 26. | "Mirror, Mirror (Vision of Death)" | 1:13 |
| 27. | "Russell Goes to See Carmichael" | 2:02 |
| 28. | "The Attic Calls Clair" | 3:53 |
| 29. | "The Big Finale / Resolution" | 5:55 |
| 30. | "Music Box / End Credits" | 3:13 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "The Seance (Alternate Version)" | 7:11 |
| 2. | "Carmichael's Demise (Unused Cue)" | 3:45 |
| 3. | "Alternate End Title" | 2:31 |
| 4. | "Unknown Cure" | 1:51 |
| 5. | "Unused String Quartet (V1)" | 0:48 |
| 6. | "Unused String Quartet (V2)" | 1:17 |
| 7. | "Solo Celeste" | 0:47 |
Music from the film also included:
The Changeling ranked no. 54 onBravo's100 Scariest Movie Moments series.[51] DirectorMartin Scorsese placedThe Changeling on his list of the 11 scariest horror films of all time.[52] In a list compiled forEsquire in 2024, it was ranked the 29th-greatest horror film of the 1980s.[53]
In 1987, Italian directorLamberto Bava directedUntil Death, anunofficial made-for-television film that was marketed as a sequel for its home video releases; however, there is no connection between the films.[54]
In 2018, a remake was set up at international sales company Cornerstone Films and German production company X Filme, withJoel B. Michaels returning to produce.Mark Steven Johnson was attached as writer and director, and the setting would be relocated toVenice, Italy.[55] Two years later, Anders Engström replaced Johnson and the setting was changed to Ireland.Tab Murphy was brought on as screenwriter, who claimed that the film would be more of a "reimagining" than a remake. He promised a three-page outline to Michaels, who he had previously worked with onLast of the Dogmen, and came back with 33 pages instead.[56] Cornerstone also shopped the film to theMarché du Film that year.[57]
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