The Changeling (1980 film)

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Not to be confused with Changeling (film).
The Changeling
Changeling ver1.jpg
Directed by Peter Medak
Produced by Joel B. Michaels
Garth H. Drabinsky
Written by Russell Hunter
William Gray
Diana Maddox
Starring George C. Scott
Trish Van Devere
Melvyn Douglas
John Colicos
Jean Marsh
Helen Burns
Madeleine Sherwood
Music by Rick Wilkins
Cinematography John Coquillon
Edited by Lilla Pedersen
Lou Lombardo (sup)
Distributed by Associated Film Distributors
Release dates
 March 28, 1980 (U.S. & Canada)
Running time
 107 minutes
Country Canada
Language English
Budget $600,000
Box office $5.3 million[1]

The Changeling is a 1980 Canadian psychological horror film directed by Peter Medak and starring George C. Scott and Trish Van Devere (Scott's real-life wife). The story is based upon events that writer Russell Hunter said he experienced while he was living in the Henry Treat Rogers Mansion of Denver, Colorado.[2][3]

Plot

John Russell (George C. Scott), a composer living in New York, New York, moves cross-country to Washington state following the deaths of his wife and daughter in a traffic accident while on a winter vacation in upstate New York. In suburban Seattle, John rents a large, old and eerie Victorian-era mansion and begins piecing his life back together.

However, John soon discovers that he has unexpected and unwelcome company in his new home: the unhappy ghost of a murdered young boy. The ghost makes its presence felt by various phenomena such as shattering windows, abruptly opening and shutting doors, and manifesting itself dramatically during a seance. John investigates the identity of the dead child and finds that the mystery is linked to a powerful local family, the heir of which is a wealthy United States senator, Joseph Carmichael.

John subsequently discovers that the real Joseph Carmichael (who was born in 1900) was murdered in 1906 by his father, Richard. Joseph was a crippled, sickly child, and in the event of his death before his 21st birthday, the family fortune (which in 1905, he inherited from his late maternal grandfather) would pass to charity. Desperate to keep control of the fortune, Joseph's father drowned young Joseph in the bathtub, secretly replaced him with a healthy orphan, and took the orphan to Europe in the guise of seeking a treatment or cure. He returned several years later with the impostor, now grown and "cured" of his illness, and continued as if nothing had happened.

Now, the ghost of the real Joseph haunts the house, making great efforts to persuade John to investigate his murder, and give him some form of justice. John's investigation leads him to a property that was once owned by the Carmichael family, and after convincing Mrs. Gray (the owner of the property and whose daughter has seen Joseph's ghost), John discovers the skeletal remains of Joseph in a well underneath the house, as well as his birth medal.

After refusing to hand the medal over to the police, John attempts to speak to Senator Carmichael as he is about to depart by plane but is restrained by police. It is then revealed that the Senator has an identical medal to the one John found. The Senator then sends a policeman, Captain Dewitt to John's home in an attempt to retrieve the medal, John refuses and when Dewitt leaves to obtain a search warrant, his vehicle "mysteriously" crashes, killing him.

After hearing of Dewitt's death, the Senator finally agrees to listen to John's story and meets with him. John reveals the entire story to the Senator, that his father murdered his natural son and replaced him with a changeling, which is the Senator. The Senator refuses to believe the story and angrily berates John for accusing his father, whom he claims was a "loving man", of murder. John then leaves the real Joseph's medal, files and the only copy of the seance recording and apologizes. The Senator threatens John that there will be consequences if he has told anyone else of his story.

Meanwhile, John's realtor and friend, Claire, goes to the house alone in an attempt to find John and is chased by Joseph's wheelchair until she falls down the stairs. Meanwhile the house begins to shake and rumble. John arrives, and escorts Claire outside, and then goes back inside to try and stop the ghost of Joseph. A strong wind causes John to fall from the second story, but he survives. Joseph then lights the house on fire.

Meanwhile, back at the Senator's home, he is observing the two birth medallions, and throws Joseph's away while placing his own on a portrait of his father. Suddenly, the picture and the desk start shaking violently and an illusion of the Senator is transported to the house and begins to climb the stairs which then crumble. John sees the Senator's illusion walking up the main staircase, and narrowly escapes being crushed by a chandelier. Meanwhile the Senator's illusion then climbs the stairs to Joseph's attic room where he witnesses how his father murdered the real Joseph by drowning him. Meanwhile, back at the mansion, the Senator himself suffers a heart attack and dies as Joseph's attic room explodes. John and Claire arrive and see the Senator's body being hoisted away. The ambulance then passes the Carmichael mansion which is now completely engulfed in flames.

The next morning, at the ruins of the mansion, Joseph's burnt wheelchair is seen sitting upright and his music box then opens and begins playing a lullaby, possibly signifying that the justice he wanted has finally been served.

Cast

Production

The Changeling was produced by a Canadian production company and filmed in Canada, with establishing shots filmed in Seattle, and some location shooting was done in New York City. Notable Seattle locations seen in the film include SeaTac airport, University of Washington's Red Square, the Space Needle, the Rainier Tower, and the Lacey V. Murrow Memorial Bridge, amongst others. The interior scenes at the university were filmed at the University of Toronto and the Historical Society scenes at the Flatiron-shaped Hotel Europe in Vancouver. The scenes at the senator's home were filmed at what was then Royal Roads Military College (now Royal Roads University) in Victoria, British Columbia. Interior scenes of the mansion where Scott's character lives were a set, as were the exterior scenes; the house was a giant mock-up.

Awards and recognition

The Changeling won the first ever Genie Award for Best Canadian Film. It also won the following Genie Awards:

This film was #54 on Bravo's 100 Scariest Movie Moments.[5] Director Martin Scorsese placed The Changeling on his list of the 11 scariest horror films of all time.[6]

Soundtrack

The Soundtrack to The Changeling was released by Percepto Records on CD on December 21, 2001 and was limited to 1,000 copies.[7] 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.[8]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Richard Nowell, Blood Money: A History of the First Teen Slasher Film Cycle Continuum, 2011 p 260
  2. ↑ Melrose, Frances. "Moviemaker's tale is the stuff from which movies sprout." Rocky Mountain News, October 26, 1986. "Denver Haunts." www.Hauntedcolorado.net. Retrieved on 2012-02-28.
  3. ↑ "A Denver house that inspired a horror film." www.history.denverlibrary.org. Retrieved September 18, 2014.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 The Changeling (1980) - Awards
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ [1] Archived October 25, 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  8. ↑ [2] Archived October 13, 2007 at the Wayback Machine

External links

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