Welcome to the Attic, Joseph.

I’d like to introduce a new corner of the Attic, a corner where we take a look at the overlooked and/or forgotten gems of the horror world. Many classics are revered, and rightfully so. Others are slowly forgotten and left behind with age. Let’s dust off this gem from 1980, The Changeling, starring George C. Scott.

I’ve told you all before how I was raised by a horror fan. My dad would show off classics to his young children who were probably too young to be watching them. My brother ended up disliking them, while I took the other approach. As a little kid, I was raised to see a cold cloudy day as a day to cuddle under the blankets and watch something creepy. Well, one of these classics I watched many years ago is the Changeling, a truly magnificent haunted house film. It makes me sad that so many don’t talk about this one. Many have never even heard of it, so let’s recap the story…

A composer, John Russell, loses his wife and daughter tragically in an accident. He is left lonely and broken, and decides to leave his home in New York, moving to Seattle to start over. John is introduced to a woman who sets up a rental for him to get settled into. It is a large, hold mansion owned by the historic society. The woman, Claire (played by Trish Van Devere, who was Scott’s wife from 1972 until his passing in 1999), is quite fond of him, and it is later revealed she shouldn’t have rented so easily to him. For more than one reason. Loud, rhythmic bangs start to wake him up at 6am on the dot every morning. John later hears the sound of running water, and upon investigating he finds the image of a child from underneath the water. John reaches out to Claire and confides in her what he has been experiencing. A women in the society informs him that Claire shouldn’t have rented the house to anyone, and claims the house does not want people there.

He is driven to explore more in the upper floor of the creepy mansion, finding a boarded-up bedroom filled with cobwebs and dust. An old wheelchair sits ominously covered in a layer of grey film. John is shaken and decides to start digging into the mystery that is the house, along with the help of a reluctant Claire who thinks he is just traumatized from the loss of his family. They read through archived newspapers and discover a young girl was struck by a car outside the house, an accident while results in her death. Claire begins to believe more of what he is experiencing and advises him to leave the house. He is struck by the similarities between the history of the house and what he has experienced in his own life, which leads him to dig further.

John finally seeks the help of a medium, who holds a seance of sorts, and confirms everything that he has been fearing, and then some. A spirit has been reaching out to him, but it is not that of the daughter of the old resident. She utilizes the tool of trance writing to communicate with the spirit and gets some seriously disturbing answers. He later sits alone, and plays back the tape of the seance and discovers that it recorded some insanely creepy answers to the medium’s questions. We then learn what the mysterious banging noises were, and why John had been hearing them. The movie turns yet another corner here but I don’t want to give everything away.

Two of my favorite scenes in this movie involve a toy and a wheelchair, but I don’t want to spoil what happens. I have to just say that this movie is creepy as Hell, and deserves to be seen and remembered by more. This film was made in a time when horror was treated with more respect. When it wasn’t all about jump scares and hot teenagers having sex until they get picked off. This was born into a time when the story mattered and a slow start was ok. Because the payoff from the build-up is worth it. And it cannot be stressed enough how great an actor George C. Scott is in this film. This is a gem that must not be forgotten.

Stay scared,
Dark Princess