A loving husband and father who lost his wife and daughter in a horrible car collision should probably not move in to a spacious, multi-leveled mansion and live by himself. This mansion has one elegant drawing room after another, several bedrooms, three floors, a chandelier, and a sealed attic to boot. Loud bangs are heard at 6 am. The emotionally shattered widower is a classical music composer and the piano in one drawing room is missing a key string, which ultimately appears to be working when he's not around. Yep, that kind of movie.
"The Changeling" is a chilling. sometimes nerve-wracking haunted house movie and the house depicted seems exceptionally uninviting compared to the one in 1963's "The Haunting." What I appreciate about this film, in context with the silliness of "The Amityville Horror" which was an unruly horror flick released not long before this one, is that it harks back to a time when floating ghostly manifestations were not always present to scare us. Other than a dusty wheelchair that moves on its own and attacks a member of the Historical Preservation Society (Trish Van Devere, George's real-life wife) as she runs from it, one long staircase at a time, the movie doesn't rely on more than thumps and loud bangs to make its hair-raising points. A ball thrown in a lake, belonging to the composer's deceased daughter, makes its appearance bouncing down the stairs. A cobwebbed attic room looks creepy enough until we see flashbacks to an intentional drowning of a kid in his tub.
George C. Scott doesn't overact here and that is a blessing (unlike "The Exorcist III" where he practically chews and spits out the scenery). He seems larger-than-life and able to take on unholy spirits, seemingly unfazed at first and then gradually haunted by them. Same with Trish Van Devere whose shock at seeing something unexpected in one scene was enough to give me goosebumps.
This is the kind of mystery horror flick where you want to have a cup of hot chocolate while watching it. If you spill some on yourself, at least you will remember that your stained clothing was a result of watching George C. Scott trying to reason with a house.
