The Changeling (1980)

"A Good Reason to be sleepless in Seattle"

Peter Medak's 1980 haunted house thriller gets a whistles and bells release on Blu-ray courtesy of Second Sight.

After his wife (Jean Marsh) and daughter are killed in a car accident, composer John Russell (George C Scott) takes a job lecturing in music at a Seattle university. The rest of his time he spends at the isolated, gloomy house in the middle of nowhere that he's decided to rent to get some composition work done. 

Unfortunately, composer's block is the least of his problems as he finds himself dealing with loud banging noises at 6am. He finds a walled up staircase behind some shelves. The staircase leads to a room containing a lot of dust (some nice production design here), and a music box (a nice theme by Howard 'Walking in the Air' Blake). Oh, and an old rusty wheelchair obviously intended for someone small...

As much a mystery movie as a supernatural thriller, THE CHANGELING doesn't belong with top tier haunted house pictures like THE HAUNTING (1963), LEGEND OF HELL HOUSE (1973) or THE OTHERS (2001) but it's still worth watching if you're a ghost story aficionado. Some scenes were also undoubtedly an influence on movies that followed including Fulci's HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY(1981), James Wan's INSIDIOUS (2010) and RINGU (book and film and US remake). 

        The location is superb and DP John Coquillon (WITCHFINDER GENERAL) ensures everything feels drenched in foreboding and gloom. Scott is perhaps too sturdy a leading man to really evoke the vulnerability and instability of someone like Russell, but director Medak uses a variety of interesting camera angles to build and maintain a sense of unease.

Second Sight's Blu-ray is a new 4K scan and restoration and comes packed with extras, including a commentary track with director Medak, producer Joel Michaels and Severin Films' David Gregory moderating. The House on Cheesman Park is a featurette about the true story that inspired the film, and music arranger Ken Wannberg gives us his memories of working on Rick Wilkins' score for the picture and about his long-time collaboration with composer John Williams.

There's also an interview with art director Reuben Freed and an appreciation by Mick Garris, as well as trailers and TV spots. You also get a poster and a 40 page booklet and last, but by no means least, the original soundtrack CD. Sadly a copy was not provided for review so I can't tell you how it compares to the old Percepto release from 2001 but it's a score definitely worth having in your soundtrack library.

Peter Medak's THE CHANGELING is out in a limited edition 

Blu-ray package from Second Sight on Monday 20th August 2018