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The Changeover

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New Zealand · 2017
Rated PG-13 · 1h 35m
Director Miranda Harcourt, Stuart McKenzie
Starring Erana James, Timothy Spall, Melanie Lynskey, Lucy Lawless
Genre Fantasy, Horror, Thriller

Laura Chant, 16, lives with her mother and four-year-old brother Jacko in a poor suburb in Christchurch, New Zealand. When an ancient spirit attacks Jacko, Laura is drawn into a supernatural battle as she discovers strange abilities within her. To save her brother’s life, she must harness her powers and embrace her true identity.

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What are critics saying?

50

The Hollywood Reporter by John DeFore

The deeper the script gets into how its version of witchcraft works, the less convincing it becomes. Uniformly solid performances and artful camera/sound work make the movie hard to dismiss out of hand, but the script doesn't sell its hokum as effectively as more mainstream supernatural soap operas.

63

Slant Magazine by Keith Watson

It’s this carefully managed equilibrium between the inherent preposterousness of its mystical milieu and the convincing emotional reality of Laura’s journey that ultimately makes The Changeover, for all its muddled mythos, a lively and engaging excursion into an unusually naturalistic world of magic.

100

RogerEbert.com by Matt Zoller Seitz

It's worth seeking out no matter how much trouble you have to go to, because it's special: assured but modest, full of surprises. It doesn't go the way you expect it to, and yet in retrospect each move seems inevitable, like the incremental fulfillment of a prophecy.

80

Los Angeles Times by Noel Murray

Thanks to a focus on the setting and emotions of the story, by the time the life-or-death action kicks in, Harcourt and McKenzie have clearly delineated these characters and what they’re facing — bringing Mahy’s words to life.

50

The Playlist by Warren Cantrell

An interesting if somewhat incomplete horror thriller with decent performances, “The Changeover” is nevertheless hampered by a script that doesn’t seem to know how to connect all its narrative dots.

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