Horrorfest 2011: The Changeling

THE CHANGELING was a nice spooky way to close out Horrorfest 2011. What starts out as a fairly slow, moody flick quickly ramps up into a compelling mystery as a composer played by George C. Scott investigates some strange goings-on in his newly rented mansion. Scott has moved across the country to Seattle after he lost his wife and daughter in a tragic car accident, but before he can settle into his cavernous new digs, he has to do some ghost busting.

First we get the usual stuff like faucets turning themselves on and loud banging noises coming from somewhere deep within the house. Later, Scott discovers an ominous blocked off staircase to an abandoned attic room furnished for a little kid right down to a pint sized wheel chair. How come old timey wheel chairs are so creepy? It's not long before Scott is seeing visions of murder and his friends suggest he bring in a local medium to conduct a seance.

Scott also investigates the history of the house and starts to piece together what seems to be a murder cover up among a wealthy, well-respected family. The well respected Senator (Melvyn Douglas) might hold the key to the mystery, so Scott goes head to head with him in an electrifying scene.

The movie is shot interestingly, mostly in wide angles, so the house seems to travel around Scott as he explores it, instead of Scott traveling around the house. This lends itself well to the story, which is basically about a ghost desperately trying to lead Scott from clue to clue to help put himself to rest. There are also several scenes that use deep focus to great effect as characters are seen in the foreground as well as glimpsed through portals in the background, whether it's a mirror, a hole in the ground, or a window. This adds phsical depth and layers to scenes in which characters are figuratively (and sometimes literally) digging for answers.

The movie probably wouldn't work half as well as it does without Scott as the lead. Always a great acting presence, Scott is no different here, and it is interesting to see a main character in a haunted house movie who won't take any shit from the haunted house. Scott's curiosity is challenged at first, and then he intuits that the ghost is asking him to help solve a mystery, which he does. But then, as the house continues to shake with ghostly stirrings, Scott loses his patience, gets fed up, and actually yells at it, "What do you want? I've done what you asked! What else can I do?" This is a lot more engaging than characters in similar haunted house movies who simultaneously want to get the hell out while inexplicably lingering around. This also eliminates the annoying moments in which characters either scoff at obviously supernatural occurrences or are disproportionately frightened by seemingly explainable goings on.

Thus ends Horrorfest 2011 and my mission to watch 31 horror movies I've never seen before in 31 days, and write about each of them. I actually watched more than 31 horror movies this month, but I can't count the ones I've already seen and/or didn't write about, can I? No, that's against the rules.

Time for some stats:

I watched 14 flicks from the USA. Japan came in second with 5 films and Germany and Canada tied for 3rd with 3 each. Spain and the UK tie for 4th with 2 each, and I watched 1 film each from Czechoslovakia, Sweden, Italy, Mexico and South Korea. You may notice this adds up to more than 31 -- that's thanks to a couple co-productions.

I watched 6 movies from the 60s. The 80s, 40s and 70s were tied for 2nd with 4 movies each. The 30s and 20s each had 3 movies, the 2000s, 90s and 50s each had 2 movies and the current decade had 1.

4 of the movies I watched were silent and the remainder were talkies. 17 were in black and white, 12 were in color, and 2 were primarily black and white with color segments.

My least favorite film of the month was WHO CAN KILL A CHILD? It was the only one that really had no redeeming qualities.

Most of the rest ranged from kinda okay to absolutely great. It would be difficult for me to decide which one was my favorite, so I'll give you my top 5 in the order watched:

THE UNKNOWN

THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME

SANTA SANGRE

THE OLD DARK HOUSE

THE BODY SNATCHER