Alucard's Bat-tastic Guide To Hallowe'en On Roku..... - Day #04 - SHOCKING SUNDAY SURPRISE (Scare One)

Welcome back, Boils & Ghouls...

... to 'Day Four' of "Alucard's Bat-tastic Guide To Hallowe'en On Roku"  and to the first instalment of "Shocking Sunday Surprise" for 2015 where I will be sharing a random selection of things, all of which will be somehow connected to Hallowe'en and can be used with the Roku streaming media player !!

These offerings could vary from film suggestions to details of Roku channels (both public and private) or any number of other Hallowe'en / Horror-themed goodies to get you into the "spirit" of things. The general idea is that, unlike the other "themed" days featured in this blogathon, you never know quite what you're going to get as your "Shocking Sunday Surprise" each week, so be sure to visit this blog EVERY SUNDAY between now and October 31st for some spooktacular treats to put even more on-screen scares into your Roku player(s) as you gear up for Hallowe'en !!

For my first "Shocking Sunday Surprise" of 2015, I thought I'd suggest another movie to keep you entertained over the next 24-hours while I compile my next post. As with yesterday, I have decided to re-visit another horror movie from years gone by, which I always like to come back to. Anyway, do forgive me if today's cinematic selection is already familiar to you from last year (or, perhaps, from previous Hallowe'en posts) but, if you're new to this blog - maybe as a result of being redirected from the "Countdown To Hallowe'en" website's 2015 list of Cryptkeepers - then there's a good chance you'll appreciate this classic, often overlooked, gem of a horror movie which makes up for what some may feel is lacking in blood, guts & gore by using subtle imagery to deliver the chills. Moving away from the vampire theme of my previous offering, what you have instead is a good, old-fashioned ghost story relying on atmosphere to generate the frights & scares as the plot unfolds and, to whet your appetite, here's the movie poster for the film:-

ORIGINAL CINEMA POSTER.....................IMAGE SOURCE: Wrong Side Of The Art

Directed by Peter Medak, and starring George C. Scott, Trish Van Devere, Melvyn Douglas and Jean Marsh plus John Colicos (amongst others), it tells the story of a man who finds himself being haunted by the presence of a spectre whilst staying at a secluded historical mansion. First released in 1980, as a joint Canadian / American movie, it was based on the true story of writer Russell Hunter and the events he experienced whilst living in the Henry Treat Rogers Mansion (Denver, Colorado). For those of you that have yet to see this sadly (almost) forgotten horror movie, here's a brief taster of the film courtesy of the original theatrical trailer:-

If you'd like to know more there's a full list of the cast & credits on the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) listing for "The Changeling", FOUND HERE, which also includes a full storyline / plot summary as well as box office stats, technical specs & much more. For die-hard fans, there are even more tidbits of information on the Wikipedia Page for "The Changeling", VIA THIS LINK, which may help to fuel your appetite for another screening. Although, as with the other horror films that I've featured recently, if you're already a big fan of this movie, you probably won't take too much persuading to watch it again !!

Anyway, probably the best recommendation I can make as to which of the available Roku channels you could use to watch this movie is to suggest "YouTube" as your first port-of-call on account of the vast number of horror movies which, thanks to this channel and it's associated apps, are now readily available to stream via your Roku player(s) whenever you choose.

YOUTUBE.......................................COST: FREE [Roku Guide Review]

If you haven't already got it in your channel selection, you can easily add it to your Roku player(s) using the recently introduced Roku 'Search' feature. Just start typing "YouTube" into the text entry box within Roku 'Search' and it will soon appear in the results column on the right. In fact, you will (most likely) only have to enter the letter "y" before it pops up in the list of results! For those who prefer to look it up the old-fashioned way, you'll find "YouTube" listed among the "Internet TV" channels in the "Official" Roku UK Channel Store - itself, found by navigating to 'Streaming Channels' from the home screen and scrolling through the options - then click "OK" to access the list of "Internet TV" channels and scroll up (or down) until you see the channel icon (as per image above). The good news is... that it's completely FREE-TO-ADD as well as being FREE-TO-VIEW so, once you've located it in the list of channels, just click the "OK" button on your Roku remote to select it and then click "OK" again where it says 'Add channel' to install it on your Roku player(s). Having done that, launch the channel via the 'Go to channel' option and navigate the on-screen menu to 'Play' the "The Changeling" on your Roku which, for the record, runs to 1h 47mins and can be found via the following link:-

LINK TO MOVIE: "The Changeling (1980)" on 'YouTube'

Meanwhile, for anyone interested, here's the cinema poster that movie-goers in 1980 would have encountered at movie theatres in the french-speaking areas of Canada:-

CANADIAN ONE SHEET CINEMA POSTER............IMAGE SOURCE: Wrong Side Of The Art

Finally, to round-off this first "Shocking Sunday Surprise" on 'Day Four' of the annual 'Countdown To Halloween', comes a FRIGHTENINGLY FUN FILM FACT for you... the meaning of the film's title, "The Changeling" is defined as being "A creature found in European folklore and folk religion. It is typically described as being the offspring of a fairy, troll, elf or other mythical creature of folk legend, that has been secretly left in place of a human child". Sometimes, the term is used to describe the child that was taken but, in this instance, it is the "swapped"child meaning that is of relevance !!

Anyway, that's all for today... just remember to come back in 24-hours for 'Day Five' and more Horror / Hallowe'en-themed content, courtesy of "Alucard's Bat-tastic Guide To Hallowe'en On Roku" when I will reveal another "themed" day for every Monday throughout the month of October as we continue our "Countdown To Hallowe'en" for 2015...

Fangs (as always) for reading !!