Canada, 1979
107m
35mm film, colour, 1.85:1
Dolby, English
A Canadian horror film directed by Peter Medak.
Plot Summary
Unable to prevent his wife and young daughter from being killed in a traffic accident, grief-stricken composer and music professor John Russell relocates to Seattle, settling into a large old mansion house. Claire Norman of the local historic society tells him that property has been vacant for many years. A local later tells him that “that house is not fit to live in. No-one’s been able to live in it. It doesn’t want people” and soon john is being disturbed by strange happenings – the traps in the house keep turning themselves on, he’s disturbed by loud and inexplicable nocturnal booming sounds and a child’s ball keep rolling and bouncing around the house. The discovery of a hidden bedroom sends him on the trail of young Joseph Carmichael, a disabled boy (his wheelchair also keeps turning up around the place) murdered by his father and replaced by a “changeling.” Can John and Claire get to the bottom of the mystery and appease an increasingly angry and persistent Joseph?
Credits
Crew
Director: Peter Medak
© 1979 by Chessman Palk Productions Limited
Mario Kassar and Andrew Vaina present a Joel B. Michaels- Garth H. Drabinsky production. A film by Peter Medak
Produced by: Joel B. Michaels, Garth H. Drabinsky
Screenplay by: William Gray, Diana Maddox
Story by: Russell Hunter
Director of Photography: John Coquillon
Supervising Editor: Lou Lombardo
Editor: Lilla Pederson
Music Composed by: Rick Wilkins
Music Box Theme by: Howard Blake
Sound Mixers: James Pilcher, Karl Scherer
Costume Design: Roberta Weiner
Makeup: Linda Brown
Hair Stylist: Salli Bailey
Special Effects Coordinator: Gene Grigg
Production Designer: Trevor Williams
Filmed on location in New York City; Seattle, Washington; and Vancouver, British Columbia
Cast
George C. Scott (John Rusell)
Trish Van Devere (Claire Norman)
Melvyn Douglas (Senator Carmichael)
John Colicos (Captain DeWitt)
Barry Morse (parapsychologist)
Madeleine Thornton-Sherwood (Mrs Norman)
Helen Burns (Leah Harmon)
Eric Christmas (Albert Harmon)
Frances Hyland (Mrs Grey)
Ruth Springford (Minnie Huxley)
James B. Douglas (Eugene Carmichael)
J. Kenneth Campbell (security guard)
Roberta Maxwell (Eva Lingstrom)
Bernard Behrens (Robert Lingstrom)
Jean Marsh (Joanna Russell)
C.M. Gampel [real name: Chris Gampel] (Tuttle)
Voldi Way (Joseph Carmichael)
Michelle Martin (Kathy Russell)
Janne Mortil (Linda Grey)
Terence Kelly (Sergeant Durban)
Alternative Titles
Al final de la escalera – Spain
Apolytos tromos – Greece
Changeling – Italy
Dehset – Turkey
L’Enfant du diable – Canada (French), France
L’Enfant du diable – French title
Det Glemte mord – Denmark (video)
Das Grauen – West Germany (television)
Hämnd ur det förflutna – Swedish
El intermediario del Diablo – Argentina
Keskiyön painajainen – Finland
Midnattens mardröm – Finland (Swedish)
Vaihdokas – Finland
Zamena – Serbia
Zemsta po latach – Poland
Links
See Also
100 Girls (2000)
Ban the Sadist Videos! (2005)
Dead Hate the Living!, The (2000)
Fatal Instinct (1993)
Kokkuri-san (1997)
The Ring (2002)
Ringu (1998)
Scary Movie 2 (2001)
Silent Hill 3 (2003)
Terkel i knibe (2004)
What Lies Beneath (2000)
Extracts included in
Nightmare in Canada Canadian Horror on Film (2004)
References
Periodicals
- Cahiers du Cinéma no.318 (December 1980) p.55
- Cinefantastique vol.10 no.1 (Summer 1980) p.Summer 13,15
- Cinema Canada vol.3 no.64 (April 1980) p.36-37
- Film Score Monthly vol.7 no.2 (February 2002) p.33 – illustrated soundtrack review (Score: reviews of current releases on CD by Steven A. Kennedy)
- Monthly Film Bulletin vol.47 no.560 (September 1980) p.173-4
- Movietone News no.66-67 (13 March 1981) p.66-67
- Positif no.237 (December 1980) p.74-75
- Radio Times vol.252 no.3302 (7 March 1987) p.19
- Screen International no.180 (10 March 1979) p.6
- Screen International no.266 (8 November 1980) p.17
- Séquences no.101 (July 1980) p.31
- Starburst no.30 (1981) p.18-19
- The Hollywood Reporter vol.254 no.25 (8 December 1978) p.20 – credits
- The Hollywood Reporter vol.260 no.45 (14 March 1980) p.3, 16
- The Listener vol.104 no.2687 (13 November 1980) p.669 – review (by Gavin Millar)
- Variety 20 February 1980 p.22, 26
Books
- Cult Horror: Dark Fantasy, Horror and Supernatural Movies by Russ Thorne p.26
- English Gothic: A Century of Horror Cinema by Jonathan Rigby p.355
- Frightfest Guide to Ghost Movies by Axelle Carolyn p.121
- The Ghost of One’s Self: Doppelgangers in Mystery, Horror and Science Fiction Films by Paul Meehan pp.72, 122-124
- Ghosts and Angels in Hollywood Films by James Robert Parish pp.55-56 – illustrated credits, synopsis, review
- Horrorshows: The A-Z of Horror in Film, TV, Radio and Theatre by Gene Wright pp.138-139 – credits, review
