Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		5.0
Overall		4.0

The Changeling 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman October 26, 2022

"Serious" actors often blanch at being asked to appear in horror films, which makes the fact that what is arguably George C. Scott's best remembered outing (for better or worse) in that idiom, The Exorcist III, was actually not his first horror outing (though by the looks of his IMDb credits, it perhaps unsurprisingly was his last). Scott may have been bolstered by the fact that both the film currently under discussion and Firestarter had arguably a bit more to offer than the pretty lame attempted reboot of William Peter Blatty's exercise in terror, which may have helped to encourage the legendary actor to return to a genre that many performers would dismiss with an allusion to "slumming" and their refusal to participate in such activity. And in fact in that regard, it's probably inarguable that The Changeling has at least as much, and most likely more, on its cinematic plate of disturbances than even the film based on the Stephen King piece. While some of the copious supplements Severin Films has aggregated for this set suggest that The Changeling never really made much of an impact during its initial theatrical exhibition, at least in the United States where it apparently came and went without much notice, other online data points suggest it did pretty good business internationally, and the film ended up winning a cornucopia of awards at the first Genie ceremony in Canada. In fact, The Changeling not only won Best Picture, it also scored for Best Foreign Actor (George C. Scott), Best Foreign Actress (Trish Van Devere), Best Adapted Screenplay (William Gray and Diana Maddox), Art Direction and Production Design (Trevor Williams), Cinematography (John Coquillon), Sound Editing (Patrick Drummond, Dennis Drummond and Robert Grieve) and Sound (Joe Grimaldi, Austin Grimaldi, Dino Pigat and Karl Scherer). That would seem to suggest that our kindly neighbors to north at least recognized the merits of this interesting dissection of grief and loss.

Those aforementioned supplements also get into the kind of interesting sidebar that The Changeling actually is kinda sorta "ripped from the headlines", albeit headlines that were never published due to the reticence of a writer who probably understandably didn't want it publicized that he thought he was living in a haunted house he had rented in Denver. Russell Hunter is most likely a name many have never run across before, but he insisted he had uncovered a rather chilling conspiracy involving a noted Denver family, which is at least somewhat the same as events portrayed in The Changeling. Fascinatingly, Hunter's IMDb page lists only two credits, and it appears that Hunter's ostensible real life experiences were also adapted as a 1988 Egyptian film called Aad liyantaqim.

The film begins with a harrowing sequence which introduces focal character John Russell (George C. Scott), who horrifyingly watches helplessly as his wife and daughter are killed in a calamitous collision caused by snowy and icy conditions. A credits sequence kind of elides Russell leaving New York City after this tragedy to try to find peace in the Pacific Northwest (the story ostensibly takes place in Seattle, but was filmed largely in British Columbia, hence the Genie Awards and designations like "Foreign Actor" and "Foreign Actress"). He ends up renting an immense mansion that is maintained by the local historical society, which itself is run by an appealing woman named Claire (Scott's real life wife at the time, Trish Van Devere).

Russell is a celebrated composer, and attempts to reestablish some kind of emotional equilibrium by writing music at the piano in the house, but almost immediately he's beset by a number of strange phenomena in the abode, including what sounds like the nonstop metallic pounding, or in more "tame" moments, the bouncing of a toy ball. And in fact that toy ball becomes a recurrent image with spooky undertones throughout the story, as does a little music box Russell finds once he discovers a "secret annex" in the attic of the house which holds an unsettling secret. Without spoiling too much of a somewhat byzantine plot, Russell has unwittingly unearthed a conspiracy involving a patrician Seattle family who own the house and whose current elder statesman is indeed both elderly and a statesman, Senator Joseph Carmichael (Melvyn Douglas). Suffice it to say it turns out that Carmichael is not exactly whom people think he is, and in fact he's not even whom he thinks he is. One way or the other, the house Russell has rented does indeed seem to include the spirit of a former resident who may have shuffled off this mortal coil with a "little help", so to speak.

Aside from the venerable Melvyn Douglas, the film also has a couple of brief but colorful supporting turns from a number of notables including Madeleine Sherwood (billed as Madeleine Thornton-Sherwood) and John Colicos.

The Changeling 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Note: Screenshots are sourced from the 1080 disc also included in this package. Because Severin's original standalone 1080 release wasn't reviewed at the time, I'm including 20 screenshots instead of our standard five for 4K UHD reviews. My comments below will also address both formats simultaneously.

The Changeling is presented on both 1080 Blu-ray and 2160 4K UHD courtesy of Severin Films with a 1.85:1 aspect ratio. I'm assuming the 1080 disc in this set is the same one previously released by Severin, as I never received a review copy of that original release. That said, some of the supplements actually mention that the 4K UHD presentation here is an ostensibly "new, improved" one culled from the best surviving element, as the original camera negative is evidently lost. (The back cover of the release states "scanned in 4K from the internegative".) The biggest difference I noticed between these two versions was the color temperatures on display, and while the HDR "boost" on the 4K UHD version arguably at least marginally improves some of the shadow detail in several of the very dim attic scenes or even the "automatic writing" sequence, it also seems to have added a really florid pink flushed look to flesh tones that kind of comes and goes throughout the presentation. There are some other, probably more subtle, changes to the palette courtesy of HDR, including select moments where things take on a slightly more blue undertone when compared to the 1080 version, as in the kind of cool sequence featuring Russell and Claire atop a historic flatiron building in Seattle. Both the 1080 and 2160 versions show considerable roughness in the opening few minutes, which I suspect were all part of the optical process to generate the credits, which appear part of the way through. Once the presentation switches to Russell with his friends in front of a hotel fire place, things improve measurably, though quite frequently throughout the 1080 and probably especially the 2160 version, grain can be very gritty looking, especially against lighter parts of the frame (this doesn't necessarily mean scenes in total daylight, as screenshot 19 may disclose). Detail levels are very good to excellent for the most part, especially some of the fine detail like the herringbone pattern on Russell's Harris Tweed jacket, but there are also some intermittently soft looking moments in both versions, as in the basement footage where Russell and a workman are trying to pinpoint what's making all the odd sounds in the house. Generally speaking, the 4K UHD version offers some slight upticks in fine detail, and a more vividly suffused palette (for better or worse, depending on the red tones, which fluctuate). This is another shot on film production where I'm not totally convinced that the 2160 version is always a friend to things, but both versions at least offer an organic appearance that hasn't been degrained.

The Changeling 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Both discs in this set offer DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 options. The surround track is decently immersive, though it certainly does not approach the cataclysmic levels that more contemporary horror films tend to exploit. For instance, some opening ambient environmental effects are relatively front and center, and even the big maelstrom that caps the film, while more explicitly engaging the side and rear channels, may not have the overwhelming energy that some might wish for. The film's score is very evocative and cues involving both piano and a music box are nicely clear and problem free. Some of the higher string cues sounded just slightly tinny to me a couple of times, but midrange and low end cues have a much more full bodied sound. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

The Changeling 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

4K UHD Disc

• Audio Commentary with Director Peter Medak and Producer Joel B. Michaels, Moderated by Severin Films' David Gregory


• Trailer (HD; 2:17)

1080 Disc

• Audio Commentary with Director Peter Medak and Producer Joel B. Michaels, Moderated by Severin Films' David Gregory


• Interview with Peter Medak by Filmmaker Adrian Garcia Bogliano (HD; 1:14:01) stems from Morbido Fest in 2018.


• Exile on Curzon St. (HD; 19:46) is a sweet piece featuring Peter Medak reminiscing about his early life in so-called "Swinging London".


• The House on Cheesman Park - The Haunting True Story of The Changeling (HD; 17:30) is a fascinating slice of Denver history delivered in a kind of gonzo fashion by Dr. Phil Goodstein, whose hyperbolic performance style kind of reminded me of Giorgio A. Tsoukalos from Ancient Aliens (and even more hilariously when I couldn't remember that gentleman's name, all I had to do was ask Google who the "crazy guy on Ancient Aliens" was).


• The Music of The Changeling (HD; 8:58) features Music Arranger Ken Wannberg.


• Building the House of Horror (HD; 10:54) features Art Director Reuben Freed.


• The Psychotronic Tourist: The Changeling (HD; 16:06) is a really fun tour of locations initially hosted by the ubiquitous Kier-la Janisse, who then hands over tourguide duties to a bunch of folks in various locales.


• Master of Horror: Mick Garris on The Changeling (HD; 5:30) actually spends some time on Peter Medak's contributions to Garris' Masters of Horror.


• Still Gallery (HD; 8:52)


• Trailer (HD; 2:17)


• TV Spot (HD; 00:26)

Additionally, a Soundtrack CD is included and Severin has packaged this with a nice slipcover.

The Changeling 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I'm frankly not sure that The Changeling is the unheralded masterpiece some seem to think it is, but it's a surprisingly emotional ghost story that has a melancholic subtext that's quite remarkable in the annals of horror. This may be another shot on film production where the increased resolution and dynamic range of the 4K UHD version introduces some unwanted elements, but when the 2160 version doesn't exhibit the florid red tones and grain is at its tightest, things look very good. I actually preferred the 1080 presentation in this package, one way or the other. The supplements are excellent, per Severin's traditional approach. Recommended.