Stephen King has terrified audiences with books, television, and film. Interestingly, there’s one classic horror movie that managed to even “scare the daylights” out of Stephen King himself.
The aforementioned movie was brought up by King when he chose a number of films for BFI to show during their 2017 King On Screen event. Appropriately enough, this particular movie, 1980’s The Changeling, is known for being much more psychological than many other horror films at the time. Perhaps it’s this reason that the Pet Sematary author – known for his own psychological scares in addition to his iconic monsters – resonated so much with the film.
Here’s the full caption given by Stephen King as to why the horror film The Changeling was just so scary:
“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.”
Indeed, this small scene with the ball has become one of horror’s most iconic movie moments. It’s been parodied and recreated numerous times just like many sequences featured throughout King’s feature film adaptations. The film has a vast number of other iconic scenes, however, and they all connect to create an all-time classic. So if you’re looking for a great ghost story to tune into as the Halloween season draws near – this is a perfect pick. Especially knowing that King himself supports the movie.
Peter Medak directed The Changeling which was written by William Gray and Diana Maddox. The cast of the film, in addition to Exorcist III star George C. Scott, includes Trish Van Devere, Melvyn Douglas, John Colicos, Jean Marsh, Helen Burns, and Madeleine Sherwood.
Stay tuned to ScreenGeek for any additional horror updates as we have them. As for now, fans can check out The Changeling to tide them over.