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Haunted house movies have been a cinema staple for well over a century. Lorimer Johnston, Buster Keaton, D. W. Griffith, and Elliott Nugent all knocked on the creaky doors of the subgenre well before film married even sound. It’s a familiar trope, one that has permeated our culture for a very long time. Naturally, as timeless tropes are wont to do, countless filmmakers and writers have added their own signature, and The Changeling is one such example.

Perhaps the greatest? That’s what the Halloweenies debate in their exhaustive breakdown of Peter Medak‘s 1980 masterpiece. Starring George C. Scott, Trish Van Devere, and Melvyn Douglas, the “true story” follows a renown composer, who moves to Seattle from New York City following the deaths of his wife and daughter. The historic society gives him the keys to a dusty mansion, and he soon discovers there’s more than his music floating within its halls.

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Bo Brundin, the Swedish actor best known for his turn as a demoralized German World War I pilot opposite Robert Redford in the aerial adventure film The Great Waldo Pepper, has died. He was 85.

Brundin died Sunday in his hometown of Uppsala in Sweden, a spokesperson for Paar Productions told The Hollywood Reporter. The company worked with the actor on one of his last projects, the 2011 short film Starlight, in which he played God.

Brundin appeared in an early stage production of Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal — his role would be taken by Max Von Sydow in the classic 1957 feature — and he had a small role as a political prisoner in The Day the Clown Cried (1972), the infamous never-released film from Jerry Lewis.

Brundin, who played lots of Germans and Russians during his career, also appeared on the big screen in the...

The September release slate from Severin Films has been announced and detailed today, this latest batch of new releases headlined by 1980 classic The Changeling on 4K Ultra HD.

Severin Films will be haunting disc players across the continent with a new 4K edition of Peter Medak’s beloved ghost story The Changeling, along with landmark Spanish television series Tales to Keep You Awake, My Grandpa Is a Vampire via the Severin Kids imprint, and the entire Plaga Zombie Trilogy through sublabel Intervision Picture Corp.

As if that isn’t enough, Severin will also be putting out a Blu-ray double feature of Al Adamson’s Dracula vs. Frankenstein and Brain of Blood as a standalone release.

Read on for everything you need to know about Severin’s September slate…

The Changeling: It has been called “remarkable” (Paste Magazine), “utterly terrifying” (Mondo Digital) and “a ghost story guaranteed to freeze the...

They swim, they play, and they talk. They love George C. Scott and call him ‘pa.’ Mike Nichols’ paranoid sci-fi classic combines Lassie Go Home and The Manchurian Candidate. It works up a good guys versus bad guys conspiracy storyline — until the message arrives that what the adorable dolphins Fa and Bee really need, along with the rest of the natural planet, is for us greedy, murderous humans to just Go Away. Buck Henry’s screenplay overcomes aquatic clichés and cutesy animal traditions to come up with a crowd-pleasing winner.

The Day of the Dolphin

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1973 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 104 min. / Street Date February 18, 2020 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring: George C. Scott, Trish Van Devere, Paul Sorvino, Fritz Weaver, Jon Korkes, Edward Herrmann, John Dehner, Severn Darden, Elizabeth Wilson.

Cinematography: William A. Fraker

Film Editor: Sam O’Steen

Production Designer: Richard Sylbert

Original Music: Georges Delerue

Written by Buck...

1968: Agnes Nixon's One Life to Live premiered on ABC."History speaks to artists. It changes the artist's thinking and is constantly reshaping it into different and unexpected images."

― Anselm Kiefer

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1940: On The Guiding Light, Rose Kransky (Ruth Bailey) and Charles Cunningham had dinner together after a chance meeting on the street.

The episode opened with the following narration: "Where we are free to act, we are also free to refrain from acting. And where we are able to say no, we are also able to say yes. And yet it seems so strange that so many times what we will to be,...

It’s the brightest debut feature of 1970, and perhaps the warmest movie ever about the American race divide. Hal Ashby and Bill Gunn’s work is inspired: rich boy Beau Bridges buys a slum tenement and launches a wonderful ensemble comedy-drama in confrontation with the fantastic quartet of actresses — Lee Grant, Diana Sands, Pearl Bailey and Marki Bey. The humanist picture doesn’t cheat on its subject matter. The cast list contains fresh debuts and and more best-of-career showings: Louis Gossett Jr., Melvin Stewart, Susan Anspach, Robert Klein.

The Landlord

Blu-ray

1970 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 110 min. / Street Date May 14, 2019 / 29.95

Starring: Beau Bridges, Lee Grant, Diana Sands, Pearl Bailey, Walter Brooke, Louis Gossett Jr., Marki Bey, Mel Stewart, Susan Anspach, Robert Klein, Will Mackenzie, Trish Van Devere, Hector Elizondo, Marlene Clark, Gloria Hendry, Bobby V. Garvin.

Cinematography: Gordon Willis

Film Editor: William A. Sawyer, Edward Warschilka

Original Music: Al Kooper

Written by...

1981: Another World's Cecile announced she had married Jamie.

1987: One Life to Live's Tina went over a waterfall to her "death" in Argentina.

1987: Another World's Donna & Michael married.

2007: Ashley Abbott arrived on The Bold and the Beautiful."History speaks to artists. It changes the artist's thinking and is constantly reshaping it into d ifferent and unexpected images."

― Anselm Kiefer

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1953: On Love of Life, nine-year-old Ben "Beanie" Harper (Dennis Parnell) and his roommate planned to escape from the boarding school.

1970: On Dark Shadows, Carolyn Stoddard (Nancy Barrett) told Jeb Hawkes (Christopher Pennock) she could not go through with the wedding.

1968: Oltl's Jim asked Price to assist with Carla's case.

1980: The Edge of Night's Geraldine interrupted Raven's plans.

1985: Days of our Lives' Patch attacked Hope.

2010: General Hospital's Mike appeared for the final time."The best prophet of the future is the past."

― Lord Byron

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1968: Joan Crawford made the second of four appearances on The Secret Storm as Joan Borman Kane, substituting for her sick daughter Christina Crawford.

1968: On One Life to Live, Joe (Lee Patterson) told Anna (Doris Belack) about his feelings for her, which went beyond the boundaries of friendship. Meredith (Trish Van Devere) had left...

By Todd Garbarini

The Hollywood Show for autograph signings and photo opportunities is held annually in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Chicago. The next show will with celebrities will take place this weekend from Friday, October 19 through Sunday, October 21st* at The Westin Los Angeles Airport Hotel on 5400 West Century Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90045.

*Please Note: Friday night is a Preview Night Only. No Celebrities Will Be In Attendance. Some celebrities will only be on hand for Saturday!

At the time of this writing, a total of 86 celebrities are scheduled to be on hand for autograph signings and photo ops, including:

Richard Dreyfuss

Linda Blair - Saturday Only!

Bo Hopkins

Candy Clark

Cindy Williams

Deborah Van Valkenburgh

Gena Lee Nolin

James Widdoes - Saturday Only!

Kathryn Leigh Scott

Kristy McNichol - Saturday Only!

Micky Dolenz - Saturday Only!

Mitchell Ryan - Saturday Only!

Sherry Jackson

Tim Matheson

Trish Van Devere - 1st Ever Appearance!

What’s it about? After a tragic accident kills his wife and daughter, a composer moves into a secluded historical mansion to heal. Once he arrives, he finds that that the house is haunted by a seemingly malevolent force, leading to a heartbreakingly horrific discovery. Who’s in it? The great George C Scott, Trish Van Devere and Melvyn Douglas. Who made it? This classic ghost story…...

The Changeling

Blu ray

Severin Films

1980/ 1.85:1 / Street Date August 7, 2018

Starring George C. Scott, Trish Van Devere, Melvyn Douglas

Cinematography by John Coquillion

Directed by Peter Medak

The success of 70’s shockers like The Devils, The Exorcist and Alien – grindhouse films in big budget drag – opened the door to increasingly explicit studio fare – moviemakers were happy to accommodate and upped the ante in the bargain.

1980 alone saw the release of Sean Cunningham’s seminal slasher Friday the 13th, Ken Russell’s evolutionary freak out Altered States and, infamously, the unvarnished (and x-rated) depredations of Deodato’s Cannibal Holocaust.

But it was The Shining, with its rotting ghosts, blood-soaked hallways and promise of never-ending horror that personified Reagan era fright films.

Into this heavy atmosphere ambled Peter Medak’s The Changeling, an unassuming murder mystery disguised as a ghost story. Compared to its over the top contemporaries, Medak’s film seemed...

When speaking about ghost stories on film, there are a few that immediately come to mind. Robert Wise's The Haunting and Jack Clayton's The Innocents are two of the best known, as is Peter Medak's marvelous The Changeling. Based on a true story, The Changeling is among the finest horror movies of the '70s, and a surprising "get" for Severin Films, who tend to focus on lesser known titles. Starring the legendary George C. Scott (Patton) and his wife Trish Van Devere, The Changeling manages to be scary and dramatic without leaning too hard on either tone, creating an eerie atmosphere and increasingly tense experience as the film draws near to its remarkable conclusion. The Changeling opens with a horrific roadside accident that takes the...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

While ghost stories and the supernatural have made a recent resurgence at the box office (think The Conjuring and Hereditary), there was a time in horror when they lay as dormant as a long-forgotten spirit: the early ’80s. Okay, The Amityville Horror (1979) did big business, and The Shining (1980) did well, but these were exceptions, not rules. Audiences were more apt to take in masked killers and teens in peril than adults dealing with psychic crises of the soul and heart. Leave it to Severin Films to unearth and give the deluxe Blu-ray treatment to The Changeling (1980), Peter Medak’s riveting meditation on retribution and the deep shadows of the past that is long overdue for celebration.

Celebrated composer John Russell (George C. Scott – Patton) moves to Seattle four months after his wife and daughter are killed in a horrendous roadside accident. Looking for a place to write in peace, he...

August’s horror and sci-fi home media releases are off to a great start, as we have numerous titles arriving this Tuesday that fans are going to want to add to their collections. Severin Films has put together a stellar limited edition release of The Changeling, and Scream Factory is resurrecting John Carpenter's Someone’s Watching Me! on Blu-ray as well. Scream Factory has also teamed up with IFC Midnight for a trio of releases—Pyewacket, Lowlife, and Wildling—and Marrowbone arrives on both formats, too.

Other notable releases for August 7th include Predator and the Predator 3-Movie Collection in 4K, Desecration, The Keeping Hours, and Dead Shack.

The Changeling Limited Edition

It is perhaps the most chilling supernatural thriller of our time. It remains a career peak for star George C. Scott and director Peter Medak. Now the film that Martin Scorsese calls, "One of the scariest movies ever made,...

1968: Agnes Nixon's One Life to Live premiered on ABC."All true histories contain instruction; though, in some, the treasure may be hard to find, and when found, so trivial in quantity that the dry, shrivelled kernel scarcely compensates for the trouble of cracking the nut."

― Anne Brontë in "Agnes Grey"

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1940: On The Guiding Light, Rose Kransky (Ruth Bailey) and Charles Cunningham had dinner together after a chance meeting on the street.

The episode opened with the following narration: "Where we are free to act, we are also free to refrain from acting. And where we are able to say no, we...

We've known that Severin Films has been working on a new Blu-ray edition of 1980's The Changeling, but today they officially announced their special features and limited edition bundle offerings, which include a poster, enamel pin, soundtrack CD, and replica ball:

"It is perhaps the most chilling supernatural thriller of our time. It remains a career peak for star George C. Scott and director Peter Medak. Now the film that Martin Scorsese calls “one of the scariest movies ever made” finally comes to Blu-ray: Academy Award® winner Scott delivers “one of his greatest performances ever” (BloodyGoodHorror.com) as a Manhattan composer consumed by grief after his wife and daughter are killed in a shocking accident. But when he moves to a secluded Victorian mansion, he will find himself haunted by a paranormal entity that may unleash an even more disturbing secret. Trish Van Devere (The Hearse), two-time Oscar® winner Melvyn Douglas...

1981: Another World's Cecile announced she had married Jamie.

1987: One Life to Live's Tina went over a waterfall to her "death"

in Argentina. 1987: Another World's Donna & Michael married.

2007: Ashley Abbott arrived on The Bold and the Beautiful."Whoever wishes to foresee the future must consult the past; for human events ever resemble those of preceding times. This arises from the fact that they are produced by men who ever have been, and ever shall be, animated by the same passions, and thus they necessarily have the same results."

― Machiavelli

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1953: On Love of Life, nine-year-old Ben "Beanie" Harper (Dennis Parnell) and...

Not to be confused with the stellar 1980 film The Changeling starring George C. Scott and Trish Van Devere, nor the similarly named 2008 film starring Angelina Jolie, a different The Changeling is heading to TV; and we have the… Continue Reading →

The post Victor Lavalle’s New Horror/Fantasy Novel The Changeling Being Adapted for TV appeared first on Dread Central.

Happy Memorial Day, everyone! While you’re off enjoying some much-needed downtime with friends and family, we’ve gone ahead and put together a recap of this week’s horror and sci-fi home entertainment releases that are coming our way on May 30th.

For those of you cult film aficionados out there, get those wallets ready, because there’s a bunch of great titles arriving on Blu-ray this Tuesday, including Blackenstein, Evil Ed, The Blood of Fu Manchu / The Castle of Fu Manchu double feature, The Hearse, The Undertaker, Slaughterhouse Rock, and Hide and Go Shriek.

As far as new genre films go, The Blackcoat’s Daughter (one of my personal favorites of 2017) and Rupture are making their way to Blu-ray and DVD, with the Shock-o-Rama box set also coming out on DVD.

The Blackcoat’s Daughter (Lionsgate, Blu-ray & DVD)

Beautiful and haunted Joan (Emma Roberts) makes...

Updated: Paul Sorvino Now Scheduled To Attend.

By Todd Garbarini

By Todd Garbarini

Carl Reiner’s 1970 film Where’s Poppa?, which stars George Segal, Ruth Gordan, Ron Leibman, Trish Van Devere, Bernard Hughes, Vincent Gardenia, and Paul Sorvino, celebrates it’s 45th anniversary this year. The Royale Laemmle Theater in Los Angeles will be holding a special one-night-only showing of the 82-minute comedy on Tuesday, May 5, 2015 at 7:00 pm. Director Reiner and stars Segal and Sorvino are scheduled to both be on hand for the screening.

The film is also notable for being Paul Sorvino’s film debut. He has gone on to have a career that has spanned over four decades.

From the press release:

When New York attorney Gordon Hocheiser (Segal) meets Louise Callan, the girl of his dreams, he schemes to eliminate his aging, senile mother (Ruth Gordon), even though he promised his late father that he'd always take care of her.

Reviewed By: Chris Wright

Morehorror.com

The Changeling

Directed By: Peter Medak

Written By: Russell Hunter, William Gray, Diana Maddox

Starring: George C. Scott (John Russell), Melvyn Douglas (Senator Joseph Carmichael), Trish Van Devere (Claire), Eric Christmas (Albert Harmon), John Colicos (De Witt), Jean Marsh (Joanna Russell), Roberta Maxwell (Eva Lingstrom), Barry Morse (Doctor Pemberton) Terence Kelly (Sgt. Durban)

A good ghost story is hard to come by today. The various attempts of haunted houses and ghost tales today rely heavily on jump scares and loud sound affects to propel the story along. Thankfully “The Changeling” doesn’t follow the model! I had only heard of this film in passing but never actually made an attempt to watch but now I am glad I did. Plus, don’t we all love a good ghost story?

The story follows John Russell to a new old style home after the tragic loss...

There are so many sub-genres in horror. The vampire movie, zombie apocalypses, torture porn. But there's nothing more classic and purely fright-inducing than the things that go bump in the night. To celebrate this week's release of The Invoking, we bring you our Top 13 Favorite Haunted House Movies.

Is anything creepier than when your own house turns against you? You can (theoretically) get away from zombies, vamps, slashers and werewolves. But when your own home sweet home is the enemy… it's tough to recover from that.

We have some great Honorable Mentions to start off with. Fantastic director James Wan really seems to have a knack for the haunted house movie as he has one entry on the list itself and also gets a nod for Insidious, a creative look at the inner, an outer, workings of a haunted house. A Haunting in Connecticut was impressive as, in addition to the actual haunting going on,...

It’s that wonderful, frightful, cool and creepy time of year again, when everything including the leaves on the trees are dying and our taste buds are craving sugary sweets and pies made from the guts of our jack-o-lanterns. It’s October, which means Halloween is nearly upon us! Get you costumes completed, your home haunts constructed and your candy collected for trick’r treaters, because you have to make time to watch some of the scariest movies this time of year.

In an effort to assist you in your cinematic scare-fest, we’ve come up with a list of the scariest movies to watch on Halloween… with one caveat. We have excluded virtually all “slasher” flicks. Why? Well, let’s just say we all know them, we all love them on some level, but really… don’t we all want something more in our scary movies? In honor of...

Janet Leigh biography final. Check out previous articles: Touch Of Evil / Orson Welles / The Manchurian Candidate and Psycho / marriaget to Tony Curtis. Leigh's movie career slowed down in the mid-60s. Among her sporadic movies from 1966 on were: Jack Smight’s Harper (1966), with Paul Newman, Lauren Bacall, and others; Jerry Lewis Three on a Couch; Robert Gist's An American Dream, with Stuart Whitman and Eleanor Parker; Jack Arnold's Hello Down There with Tony Randall; Giuliano Montaldo's Grand Slam, with Robert Hoffman, Mel Stuart's One Is a Lonely Number / Two Is a Happy Number, with Trish Van Devere, Monte Markham, and Melvyn Douglas; William F. Claxton’s Night of the Lepus (1972), with Whitman and Rory Calhoun; Stephen Verona’s Boardwalk, with Ruth Gordon and Lee Strasberg; and John Carpenter’s The Fog (1980), with Jamie Lee Curtis, Adrienne Barbeau, and Hal Holbrook. On TV, Leigh was featured in,...

DVD Playhouse June 2011

By

Allen Gardner

Kiss Me Deadly (Criterion) Robert Aldrich’s 1955 reinvention of the film noir detective story is one of cinema’s great genre mash-ups: part hardboiled noir; part cold war paranoid thriller; and part science- fiction. Ralph Meeker plays Mickey Spillane’s fascist detective Mike Hammer as a narcissistic simian thug, a sadist who would rather smash a suspect’s fingers than make love to the bevvy of beautiful dames that cross his path. In fact, the only time you see a smile cross Meeker’s sneering mug is when he’s doling out pain, with a vengeance. When a terrified young woman (Cloris Leachman, film debut) literally crossed Hammer’s path one night, and later turns up dead, he vows to get to the bottom of her brutal demise. One of the most influential films ever made, and perhaps the most-cited film by the architects...

I know I usually offer you a film that’s a little more obscure and under-the-radar. But occasionally, I sit at home with my buddies, and I just want to watch a classic. I want to sit back and let a master take me along for the ride. I want to be enchanted and frightened by a film at the same time. Like I said, a classic. The Changeling is such a classic.

Now, before you get all up-in-arms, I am not talking about that Angelina Jolie bullshit. In fact, I’m not even sure what that movie’s about or that anyone I’ve ever met has even seen it. I’m talking about that little piece of cinematic gold starring none other than Ebenezer Scrooge himself—George C. Scott.

The Changeling is the story of composer John Russell (George C. Scott). After his wife and daughter die in...

Thanks to our eagle-eyed contributor Graham Hill, we can alert readers that Turner Classic Movies (North America) will be airing a rare showing of Harry in Your Pocket, the 1973 film about a master pickpocket and his young protege. The film will air tonight at 10:00 Pm (Est). James Coburn stars along with a great supporting cast that includes Michael Sarrazin, Walter Pidgeon and Trish Van Devere. It was directed by Bruce Geller, the creator of the Mission: Impossible TV series. The film has never been available on video.