The Changeling: 45 Years On

Peter Medak’s bone-chilling ghost story remains a must-see for fans of supernatural horror

Credit: Pan-Canadian Film Distributors/StudioCanal

Watching horror films at home can sometimes be more frightening than watching them in cinemas. Despite smaller screens and inferior sound systems, being alone in a house late at night with a scary movie is often more alarming than experiencing such a film at a packed screening in the company of other patrons. The shared experience sometimes gives a sense of safety in numbers. We may take a deep breath as the lights dim, thinking it’s only a movie and we’ll all make it through this alive, but such feelings are absent in the home.

When I first experienced Peter Medak’s bone-chilling 1980 ghost story, The Changeling, it was in the latter setting. I’d long since been made aware of the allegedly terrifying nature of the film I was about to view, but with foolhardy bravado, I decided to give it a spin at 11 o’clock, one winter evening. How scary could it be? I was in my early twenties, and by then, had viewed much the genre had to offer, so I was keen to tick off this vital footnote in horror history.