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There are very few movies that liked when I was in my teens, then watched recently and still really liked. Well, right now I can only think of one, and that is The Changleing, a superb old school ghost story that relies on plot and story to deliver goose-bump raising chills rather than cheap stuff-popping-out-at-you visials to make you jump. The result is subtle, but truely frightening. Let me tell you a little story. After my recent re-viewing, I was telling my co-worker about it. She said she'd be interested in seeing it, and since it was a 5 day rental, I let her borrow it. The next morning as I was making my coffee, her boyfriend approached me and said, (very sarcastically I might add) "Thanks for the movie, Terrie. Pia fell asleep within the first 10 minutes and left me alone with the creepiest movie I had seen in years!" That, my friends is a far better testimonial than I can give, but since I have made it my job to do so, I will still put in my two cents worth. I'll just give you a bare bones synopsis, because this is one movie you really should see, and I don't want to give too much away
The movie begins with George C. Scott witnessing his wife and daughter being killed in a tragic car accident. Trying to rebuild his life, George moves into a huge old house he found through the local historic society, and gets a job as a music professor at the nearby college. Almost immediately we see that there is something a little off about the house. In one scene, George is in the music room recording himself playing a tune on the piano. Later, in a childs room he discovers that has been sealed off from the rest of the house, he finds, in addition to a small wheelchair and young boy's journal, a music box which plays the same song he had recorded, although he swears he had never heard the song before. He is awakened by an unexplainable rythmic pounding that reverberates through the house.
With help from his friend at the historic society, he begins to research the house and it's former occupents. He uncovers a 50 year old secret shared by a state senator and a little boy's ghost who will not rest until his story is known.
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