The Changeling

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When a recent widower (the wonderfully overemphatic George C. Scott ) moves into an antique Washington mansion, his realization that he may not be the only resident leads him toward a deadly secret that refuses to remain buried....The best haunted-house film since the legendary Haunting, this potent, classy combination of the mystery and horror genres eschews explicit gore and dumb shocks in exchange for a subtle creepiness that occasionally builds to a terrifying peak (watch out for that seance scene!). The result is a satisfyingly intelligent horror film with an intriguing dash of Watergate-era paranoia. Director Peter Medak went on to direct the considerably more gratuitous and somewhat less effective Romeo Is Bleeding and The Krays. --Andrew Wright

Description

George C. Scott becomes the unwilling instrument of a ghost's revenge in this supernatural thriller. ' 'A superior haunted house thriller.' ' (Variety)

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Customer Reviews:

A VERY SCARY LITTLE FILM.......2007-09-15

I HAD SEEN THIS FILM IN THE MOVIES YEARS AGO. IT LOOKS GREAT ON VHS TAPE. GEORGE C. SCOTT PLAYS THE MAIN CHARACTER WHO LOSES HIS WIFE AND DAUGHTER IN A FREAK CAR ACCIDENT THAT'S NEVER REALLY EXPLAINED IN THE FILM. HIS REAL WIFE TRISH VAN DEVERE PLAYS HIS LOVE INTEREST IN THE FILM. HE WAS A GREAT ACTOR, AND YOU CAN SEE IT HERE. THE FILM IS INTERESTING AND KEEPS YOUR ATTENTION. IT'S NOT A SLASHER OR BLOODY FILM BY NO MEANS. IT IS JUST PLAIN SCARY WITH A TWIST. IT'S NOT FOR CHILDREN. THERE ARE SOME SCENES THAT COULD GIVE YOU NIGHTMARES. THE FILM REMINDS ME OF A LATER FILM: THE SIX SENSE. IT HAS THAT QUALITY. SCOTT PLAYS A MUSICIAN/PIANO/TEACHER WHO LOSES HIS FAMILY AT THE BEGINNING OF THE FILM. HE RENTS A OLD MANSION TO DO HIS MUSIC WRITING IN WASHINGTON STATE WHERE HE BEGINS TO HEAR STRANGE NOISES THAT CAN'T BE EXPLAINED. RENT THIS FILM OR BUY IT. IT'S GREAT FOR A SATURDAY NIGHT AT HOME, OR FOR HALLOWEEN. I HOPE THIS REVIEW HELPS. THANK YOU.

Amazing Ghost Story.......2007-09-12

This movie is perfect. The music fits the movie and is in the right places, the effects are quick and effective, and the cast is great. The seance is probably my favorite part of the film, it was very creepy. Its a very underrated piece of horror film history. Ive seen all the classic horror movies and this movie should be up there in the top 10 or 5 at least. I highly recommend this movie. Its rated R but it does not have swearing or any gore. Its a mystery why its rated R.

The classic ghost movie........2007-09-10

I saw the Changeling in the cinema and never have I been so dang scared. This coming from someone who can sit and watch "The Exorcist" without flinching.

Beautifully acted, this movie doesn't depend upon bangs and whistles and some of the most scary scenes are basically the most simple.. child's whispers and suspense, dark stairs, balls bouncing ..

I jumped in many scenes and also felt the sadness that George C Scott so beautifully portrays.

Must see. Absolutely a must see movie.

Other horror movies WISH they could touch this one..........2007-09-09

THE best spooky, haunted house/ghost movie of all time, no matter that it was made in the late 70's, it STILL stands up to the test of time.

Most Horror movies pale next to this one, what with all their stupid, boring, cheezy, special effects, blood/gore, killers,etc.etc.

I literally wore out my VHS copy when I was given the DVD a few years ago.

Now every Halloween this movie is watched..and several times!

It gives goosebumps and nightmares with every single watch, too!

Go ahead, WATCH IT ALONE, Go ahead! I DARE YA!;)

Low Budget Gem.......2007-08-23

I think what "makes" this film is the fact that it was done fairly low budget with an astonishing array of talent - George C. Scott of all people!!! It's a ghost story for grown-ups: the subtlety of old sins come to light and distinct lack of CGI bug-a-boos bouncing out of the walls might be lost on a generation used to the "Freddie" approach. As a parent, child neglect and abuse culminating in murder followed by decades of concealing lies is far more disturbing than a wise-cracking homicidal burn victim. Freddie you can laugh off as a guy in a rubber mask - pathetic little Joseph and his tiny wheel-chair hidden from the world in the attic by his greedy physician father, a man willing to drown his own child in the bathtub and replace him with a more suitible child in order to hold on to the family fortune... is not.

Star Trek - The Original Series, Vol. 19, Episodes 37 & 38: The Changeling/ The Apple

Average customer rating:

Filler Eps from an Otherwise Great Season!
These two don't quite measure up to their neighbors
Before V'Ger, there was... NOMAD!
STANDARD STAR TREK STORIES!!!
Two super machines - Two different kinds of fun classic trek

Star Trek - The Original Series, Vol. 19, Episodes 37 & 38: The Changeling/ The Apple
Starring: Star Trek Original Series
Manufacturer: Paramount
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000055Z4I
Release Date: 2001-02-13

Description

"The Changeling," Ep. 37 - Nomad, a deadly robotic space probe, is on target for Earth. Can Captain Kirk outsmart the killer computer? "The Apple," Ep. 38 - Vaal, protector of Gamma Trianguli VI, tries everything is its power to destroy Kirk and the U.S.S. Enterprise during an ill-fated visit to the strange planet.

Customer Reviews:

Filler Eps from an Otherwise Great Season!.......2006-10-24

If you are picking and choosing which volumes to keep, you can safely give this one a miss without missing too much. The first episode is interesting though because the theme is very similar to the V'ger story from the first Star Trek movie. The tension and tight plot are redeeming factors to an otherwise average episode.

The second and weaker episode shows an emotionally vulnerable Kirk who questions himself and his abilities when a number of his crew die on an Eden-like planet behaving as if he is a rookie captain who has only just lost members of his crew on dangerous assignments. The rest of the episode is very forgettable and ranks among the worst of all 3 seasons combined.

These two don't quite measure up to their neighbors.......2003-09-03

The Changeling-This episode, which features a confused and destructive floating robot, is an unspectacular offering. Like several episodes, it ably enough explores the unfortunate fact that technology is fallible, and that even with the best intentions, things can and do go wrong. This ship-based episode is less exciting than some of its neighbors, although there are a few dramatic scenes. On the negative side, the idea that Uhura could be rapidly re-programmed would be laughable if it wasn't so insulting to her. Also tedious is Kirk's outwitting of Nomad. (3 stars)

The Apple-This episode, in which the crew beams down to a `pre-fall' planet where the lizard-god still controls his followers, is an unpleasant surprise. Star Trek was in the middle of a strong rhythm that was broken by this silly episode. I suppose the basic biblical premise is OK, but it doesn't go anywhere. The planet is just a vehicle for red-shirt carnage, and none of the guest actors are convincing in their admittedly silly roles. I suppose the question of whether these people will be better off after their paradise is lost is an interesting one, but unlike in Who Mourns for Adonais?, the question is not taken up here. Basically just a half-hearted, 3rd season-like show, but without the trippy style many of the later shows at least contributed. (1.5 stars)

Before V'Ger, there was... NOMAD!.......2003-01-29

REVIEWED ITEM: Star Trek® Original Series DVD Volume 19: The Changeling © / The Apple ©

THE CHANGELING © PRELIMINARY BRIEFS:

Moral, Ethical, and/or Philosophical Subject(s) Driven Into The Ground: Man vs. Machine / Inperfection

Historical Milestone: The first temporary death of a core character (Scotty); Spock's first mind-meld with a machine life-form

Notable Gaffe/Special Defect: In a few of the long shots of Nomad, you can just make out the line that keeps him `suspended' in mid-air.

Expendable Enterprise Crewmember (`Red Shirt') Confirmed Casualty List: Four dead

REVIEW/COMMENTARY: Out of all the Kirk-outwitting-the-computer-by-talking-it-to-death episodes, this one is likely the most notable. It also was something of an inspiration to Star Trek: The Motion Picture (and you thought ST:TMP was uninspired!) with the whole The-Enterprise-crew-must-stop-a-senitent-machine-trying-to-return-to-the-planet-of-its-creators-AKA-Earth-and-eliminate-all-imperfect-lifeforms scenario. Fortunately, unlike its big-screen clone, The Changeling isn't chock-full of overlong special effects sequences, nor does it lack primary colors. Bottom line: if you're thinkin' of taking a look at ST:TMP, just watch this eppie instead. You'll thank me for it some day...

Aside from this show's parallels to the Trek crew's first big-screen adventure, The Changeling features one of my all-time fave Trek moments: Nomad erases the mind of Uhura after taking a listen to her infernal caterwauling some tin-eared folks would call `singing'. Now if that ain't a blessing in disguise, I don't know what is! Oh yes, don't forget to check out Uhura's re-education sessions with Nurse Chapel; you'll see what likely inspired the creators of Hooked on Phonics!

THE APPLE © PRELIMINARY BRIEFS:

Moral, Ethical, and/or Philosophical Subject(s) Driven Into The Ground: Cultural Stagnation / Self-Reliance

Expendable Enterprise Crewmember (`Red Shirt') Confirmed Casualty List: Four dead

REVIEW/COMMENTARY: Continuing this volume's Man-vs-Machine theme, once again Kirk & Co.
Take a few liberties with the Prime Directive to put a stagnant society of innocent beings back on track towards `normal' development by destroying a machine that controls them, much like what was done in Return of the Archons. Throw in a few deadly dart-shooting flowers, land-mine rocks and vaporizing lightning bolts, and you've got a few great ways to off a few red-shirts! And for a twist, let's add Spock surviving a dart-flower attack as a way of showing off the toughness of his amazing half-Vulcan biology! You gotta do that at least twice a season, y'know...

My fave moment in this eppie is at the end, where Kirk alludes to Spock's appearance looking similar to that of Satan. This moment was Roddenberry & Company's little poke at some of NBC's execs statements that Spock looked a bit too satanic for network TV after viewing the series' first pilot. Fortunately, Roddenberry fought to keep the character in the show, and the rest as they say is history...

`Late

STANDARD STAR TREK STORIES!!!.......2002-09-16

Volume 19 of The Star Trek DVD series contains to standard episodes of the second season. Although neither of the episodes are bad they are definetly far from ground breaking! It's logical to assume that this would not be the first DVD a Star Trek fan would get from this series but if you are a die hard fan then you may as well purchase this (unless you can get a DVD with more than 2 episodes).

The first episode here is THE CHANGELING. The Enterprise runs across the ancient Nomad probe which has gone from galaxy to galaxy destroying biological inperfections. The somewhat damaged probe believes that Kirk is his creator and obeys Kirks commands. However the probe continues to follow out it's function and begins to destroy all biological inperfections on the Enterprise aka innocent crew men! The episode is well written but the Nomad probe looks really cheesy and Kirk arguing with it is even more ridiculous. Still this episode is quite watchable.
(Note: Vic Perrin does the voice of Nomad he also did the voice of Dr. Zin in Jonny Quest and appeared in various Sci-Fi Adventure shows)

THE APPLE is one of those Star Trek episodes where the crew finds a paradise and later finds out it's a living hell. When they arrive on this beautiful planet, 3 crew men are killed, Spock is constantly abused by the planet's plant life and lightning bolts from the sky and the idol worshipping natives with bad wigs and sun burned skin are too ignorant to help the crew. If thats not bad enough the Enterprise is being held by the idol Vaal (that is actually a machine controlling the natives) in a force field. Now don't get me wrong this is a good episode but this is typical Trek. This plot has been done a hundred times better in other Star Trek episodes but this is still decent. This was also the first Star Trek episode I ever saw : )

Overall a decent collection of episodes but nothing very special here. Both shows are good and watchable but I recommend venturing into a different Star Trek collection before buying this one. Recommended.

Two super machines - Two different kinds of fun classic trek.......2002-08-07

A great pair of episodes - exemplifying both the campy and the genuinely creepy aspects of sci-fi on classic trek. First, the creepy...

The Enterprise encounters a machine (small enough to be towed though the Enterprise's corridors with a virtually invisible wire, yet powerful enough to wipe out both whole civilizations and Lt. Uhuru's voice). Though unrecognizable and sentient beyond any human technology, the machine identifies itself as "Nomad" - a robot probe launched from Earth in the 21st century. Even stranger - the probe identifies Kirk as its creator. Thinking quickly, Spock convinces Kirk not to correct the machine's error (though since the mistake saves the ship from destruction, it was more instinct than inference) and, though unsure of the machine's true nature at first, Kirk keeps Nomad in the dark. We learn that Nomad, to some extent, is the same Nomad created in the 21st century - a unique experiment combining space exploration and artificial intelligence, and cooked up by an eccentric inventor whose name sounds like Kirk's. We also learn that Nomad had encountered and merged with an alien probe with a seemingly similar mission, but far greater powers. The mind-meld in which Spock learns the horrific truth adds a chill and also some depth to the machine, which is one of the most perfect examples of coldly calculating AI on any major science fiction program. Though Classic Trek repeatedly concocted alien superbeings based on computers that had evolved to the point where they thought themselves gods ("For the world is hollow"; "Return of the Archons"; "The Ultimate Computer" and "The Apple"), this episode rose from the pack, and remains conceptually indistinguishable from "Star Trek, The Motion Picture" despite the far superior FX of that film.

Customer Reviews:

Bring this deal back!.......2004-09-01

"The Changeling" is one eerie cinematic experience. John Russell (George C. Scott) watched helplessly as his pretty wife and young daughter perished in a horrible automobile accident. Overcome with crushing grief, Russell gives up his career as a composer in New York to head across the country to the state of Washington. His talents as a musician allow him to obtain a post at a local university, but he needs to find some new digs so he can maintain his privacy. A suggestion from friends leads him to the local historical society where Claire Norman (Trish Van Devere) recommends he rent out Chessman House, a local landmark currently unoccupied. Why the historical society is in the real estate business is an unanswerable question, but Russell agrees to move into the decrepit but beautiful house anyway. To say something is wrong with this old building ranks as one of the great understatements in cinematic history. A ghost haunts Chessman House; a very angry spirit whose sole purpose in life (no pun intended--in fact, a double pun!) is convincing Russell to investigate the mysterious circumstances surrounding its demise. At first, Russell isn't convinced that anything is wrong. Sure, he hears some weird booming noises in the middle of the night, and his piano occasionally bangs out an odd note or two when no one is around, but these oddities do convince the musician to launch an investigation into the house's history.

Things start to get weirder once we learn the history of Chessman House. According to local rumors and documents, a family living in the house back in the early twentieth century lost a daughter in a coal truck accident. Subsequent horrors convince our protagonist that the spirit inhabiting the building has nothing to do with this incident. For example, Russell witnesses the apparition of a young boy in a bathtub upstairs, and the voices he starts hearing don't sound like that of a young girl. In the film's best scene, a plastic ball bounces down the house's stairs and comes to rest right in front of Russell. The composer takes the toy and throws it in a nearby creek only to come home to discover the ball bouncing down the stairs again! Chilly! The truth becomes clearer in another ultra eerie scene when a psychic visits the house and channels a message from Joseph, a boy who lived in the house before the family with the girl ever arrived. It is the revenant of this young child communicating with John Russell, and the composer henceforth methodically unearths the mystery behind the ghost in Chessman House. No spoilers here, but ultimately a powerful senator, an abandoned well, and a small room in the attic provide the necessary clues in solving the mystery.

In "The Night Flier," some nut in a pitch black Cessna is flying around the country and landing at out of the way airports in order kill the personnel on duty. All of these grisly incidents occur in the middle of the night, not in and of itself strange, but the actual killings raise a host of intriguing questions screaming for someone to investigate. No one makes a connection that these crimes might be linked until a trash tabloid paper called "Inside View" gets a whiff of the story. The star reporter for this rag, Richard Dees (Miguel Ferrer), eventually expresses an interest in the killings when the facts become too weird to ignore. This journalist (a term used loosely) boards his own small plane and begins to follow the crimes up and down the East Coast. Dees faces a host of problems during his investigation, including the reluctance of witnesses to speak about what they know. Bigger difficulties emerge in the form of Merton Morrison (Dan Monahan), the sleazy editor of "Inside View," and a hungry new reporter looking for her first big break named Katherine Blair (Julie Entwisle). Dees isn't too worried about these problems since he understands completely the ins and outs of tabloid journalism, and knows from years of experience how to hold his own against rivals and unenthusiastic witnesses.

Dees's excursions slowly uncover a series of sinister clues to the identity of the unknown pilot. The enigmatic aviator's name is Dwight Renfield, and the guy only flies at night. He also seems to possess a weird ability to control the minds of some of his victims, victims left lying in county morgues with holes in their necks that you could drive a tractor through. Dees knows he's on to something huge, a story that could put him back on page one of "Inside View." As the reporter homes in on his quarry, he learns Renfield knows about him and what he's trying to do. Ominous incidents start occurring, messages left in blood in Dees's hotel room warning the reporter to cease and desist, stalking, things like that. Richard isn't the sort of guy that scares easily, however, so he takes these warnings as signs that he's about to break the story. Meanwhile, back at headquarters, Dees reticence to reveal the juicy details of the case to Morrison leads the editor to assign eager beaver Blair to the story. The boss chuckles over imagining the hostility that will inevitably occur when Dees learns he's been steamrolled. Better Dees should worry about what will happen when he finally confronts Dwight Renfield than what Blair or Morrison are planning.

What a catch! Two great horror films that will leave you scuttling for the light switch! You can't go wrong with either of these great movies. Although it looks as though this particular deal is currently out of print, there's no reason to think that the offer won't return in the future. If it does, you really ought to take advantage of such a stellar package. These two films have it all: heavy gore, great acting, good special effects, and scares aplenty. Enjoy!

Average customer rating:

A VERY SCARY LITTLE FILM
Amazing Ghost Story
The classic ghost movie.
Other horror movies WISH they could touch this one...
Low Budget Gem

The Changeling [Region 2]
Starring: George C. Scott , Trish Van Devere , Melvyn Douglas , Jean Marsh , and John Colicos
Director: Peter Medak
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

( C ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

General | Mystery & Suspense | Genres | DVD | Video
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ASIN: B00006JY2Y

Amazon.com

Customer Reviews:

A VERY SCARY LITTLE FILM.......2007-09-15

Amazing Ghost Story.......2007-09-12

The classic ghost movie........2007-09-10

Other horror movies WISH they could touch this one..........2007-09-09

Low Budget Gem.......2007-08-23

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