Movies - The Changeling

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	Movies - The Changeling

The Changeling is a 1980 Canadian film directed by Peter Medak and starring George C. Scott. It is widely regarded as one of the most frightening haunted house movies in cinema history, along with classics such as The Uninvited (1944) and The Haunting (1964).

Scott stars as Dr. John Russell, a music professor living in upstate New York, who moves cross-country to Washington state following the tragic deaths of his wife and daughter in a freak traffic accident while on a winter vacation. In suburban Washington, Russell rents a large, old, and eerie-looking Victorian-era mansion and attempts to piece together his ruptured life. However, Dr. Russell soon discovers that he has some unexpected company in his new home.

The Changeling's fear effect derives not from graphic violence or gore, but rather from its gradual building of suspense and angled camera shots that attempt to convey the unseen entity's point of view. This is psychological horror, tapping into the viewer's fear of the unseen and unknown and creating an overall unsettling mood. The film's arguably most famous scene is that of a chilling seance, in which Dr. Russell and three companions join a clairvoyant medium attempting to make contact with the mansion's phantom.

The Changeling's influence can be seen in more recent haunted house films. For example, the aforementioned seance scene is essentially parodied as the climax of The Others (2001). The reflection-in-the-tub scene in What Lies Beneath
(2000) also is taken from The Changeling.

Referenced by Master Shake in "The Cloning", where he refers to his haunted television, in a humorously unconcerned and offhand manner, as "...the changeling".

Changeling, The Changeling, The Changeling, The

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