Shot in Vancouver: The Changeling

To mark the publication of crime novelist Sam Wiebe’s new non-fiction book about BC film, Shot in Vancouver, we’re pleased to welcome Sam to introduce a new 4K restoration of Peter Medak’s 1980 haunted house classic, The Changeling. Before the film, Sam will chat about his journey into the checkered history of film production in our fair province, and share context on this triumph of tax shelter cinema. The Changeling is set in Seattle but was largely filmed in Vancouver, with locations including Oakridge, Granville Bridge, Gastown, YVR and the Orpheum.

In a performance much admired by Quentin Tarantino, George C Scott plays a classical composer consumed by grief after losing his wife and child in a car accident. Moving into a Victorian mansion, he finds himself haunted by a supernatural entity. As Wiebe notes in his book, “Today, The Changeling is an acknowledged classic. Both Stephen King and Martin Scorsese include it among their favourite horror films, and Steven Spielberg reportedly screened it for the cast of Poltergeist as inspiration.” The Ring and The Conjuring both borrowed from this movie.

4K Restoration by Severin Films

One of the most powerful demonstrations of mourning and pain that I’ve ever seen in a movie.

Quentin Tarantino on George C Scott’s performance

For supernatural horror, I like Peter Medak’s film The Changeling, starring George C. Scott in perhaps his last great screen role. There are no monsters bursting from chests; just a child’s ball bouncing down a flight of stairs was enough to scare the daylights out of me.

Stephen King