Having recently lost his wife and young daughter in a tragic car accident, composer John Russell (GEORGE C. SCOTT) packs up his belongings and flees New York to take a teaching position in Seattle. With the help of local historical society worker Claire Norman (TRISH VAN DEVERE), John moves into the Chestnut House, a dilapidated mansion that makes the BURNT OFFERINGS estate look like a bungalow. It doesn’t take too long for Russell to realize that he is not the sole occupant of the manor as faucets start running and doors start slamming. After he’s almost taken out by a flying shard of stained glass from a dormer window, John discovers a hidden room in the attic complete with an old-timey wicker wheelchair suitable for a dead child. Faster than you can say microfiche machine, John enlists Claire to help him research the history of the house at the local library. They learn that a child living in the house was a coal cart hit-and-run victim, however she’s not the one behind the haunting. A subsequent séance reveals that the child’s name is actually Joseph, and John spends the rest of the movie in full-on Sherlock Holmes mode as he connects the supernatural activity going down in Chestnut House with prominent Senator Joseph Carmichael (MELVYN DOUGLAS). With its noticeable lack of special effects, aside from the occasional touch of pyrotechnics, THE CHANGELING is an old-fashioned, bump-in-the-night ghost story. GEORGE C. SCOTT’s grounded performance as a grieving man seeking solace for both himself and the kid haunting his house keeps the plotline, especially in the second half of the flick, from bordering too far on the absurd. Okay, maybe the ending was a little out there with the Senator being in two places at the same time, but SCOTT makes the suspension of disbelief worthwhile. 

INDELIBLE SCENE(S):

• The infamous rubber ball that returns from the river to bounce the stairs and scare the shit out of John
• The monotone voice and spastic penmanship of the medium conducting the séance
• The little girl sees the apparition of a drowned boy in the floor of her bedroom
• Claire tumbles down the stairs after being mercilessly terrorized by the wicker wheelchair