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HorroRated archive entry

The Changeling

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HorroRated verdict
Legendary
1980sGhost StoryHaunted HouseSupernaturalAtmospheric
Directed by
Peter Medak
Written by
Diana Maddox, William Gray, Russell Hunter
Produced by
Joel B. Michaels, Mario Kassar, Andrew G. Vajna, Garth Drabinsky

Why it’s HorroRated

Medak understands that the scariest thing in a haunted house is an empty room, and he fills this film with them: a child's wheelchair, a rubber ball bouncing down the stairs, a dusty attic nursery. Scott's performance is all quiet grief, which makes his investigation feel urgent rather than procedural, and the séance sequence is a stunner. The mystery widens into something angrier and more political than expected without losing its chill. A grown-up ghost story that rewards patience and a dark room.

Synopsis

Seattle's rainy grandeur frames The Changeling (1980), Peter Medak's Canadian ghost story in which George C. Scott plays a widowed New York composer who rents a historic mansion and begins to suspect a long-silenced presence wants something from him. Trish Van Devere plays a historical society member who helps him dig into the house's past, and Melvyn Douglas plays a powerful senator.

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Where to watch The Changeling

Subscription
Screambox · Night Flight Plus · Eternal Family · Midnight Pulp · Troma NOW · IndiePix Unlimited · Bloodstream · Chilling +1 more
Free
Tubi · Pluto TV · Plex · YouTube · Fandango at Home · FlixHouse · Darkroom · Fawesome +3 more
Rent or buy
Prime Video · Apple TV · YouTube · Google Play · Fandango at Home

Streaming in the US changes often. Listings from JustWatch via TMDB, checked October 27, 2026.See every option

Quick facts

Release date
March 28, 1980
Runtime
1 hour 47 mins
Country
Canada, United States of America
Language
English
Content rating
R
Entry type
Movie

Content notes

  • Child death

Tags