Wayne's 31 Days of Horror Film Challenge Day 5 - The Changeling
Day 5: Teacher Trouble
It’s going to be The Changeling (1980, Dir Peter Medak). George C Scott’s character is a music teacher, a lecturer and composer troubled by the death of his wife & daughter and the presence of a young boy who currently haunts the house in which he now lives.
Troubling indeed, right? The Changeling is one of those films that exudes a palpable melancholy. Everyone in it is affected by this creeping dread that seeks out a receptive participant in an unresolved murder. While this is in no way a rival to the likes of The Exorcist (1973, Dir. William Friedkin) in terms of visceral moments of the supernatural it does linger with the viewer in its own sadness. The monsters on-screen are human and their sins are visited upon them via enlightenment or supernaturally-righteous fury.
The heart of the story is of course as the title suggests, the changeling, and all that that connotation implies. Our protagonist is forced to watch as his wife and daughter are taken from him in a freak accident, the trauma of which he seeks to escape in self imposed solitude when he takes up residence in an old mansion. The grief he feels for the loss of his daughter draws to him the spirit of a young boy who also seeks some measure of peace. Scott’s character is coerced into an investigation of sorts and through the things he finds manages to acquire a measure of peace for himself. His daughter was loved dearly, and her memory cherished, whereas Joseph, the young boy whose spirit resides in the dilapidated attic space is nothing but a dirty secret buried in generations of lies.
George C Scott is superb. There is a grounded sense of earthiness to his performance that rings true in his grief and incredulousness to the events unfolding around him. His reaction to the supernatural isn’t screams and terror but intrigue and an overwhelming empathy that permeates proceedings and gives an otherwise familiar tale a true, raw emotional core.
Another of Scott’s performances that I adore is Detective Kinderman in Exorcist 3. His irascible temperament overcomes even the gaudier elements of the sequel where lesser actors may have hammed it up to eleven, Kinderman’s grief and righteous quest to solve a personal score with the devil makes Scott’s performance sing. His conversation with Father Dyer (Ed Flanders) about a rainbow trout that currently resides in his bathtub, (seriously), is magical every single time I hear it. Brilliant, disarming, funny and perfectly illustrates Kinderman and Dyers friendship as the latter smiles along to his friends amusing discomfort.
So, The Changeling. Enjoy!
