The award-winning 2017 horror novel The Changeling by Victor LaValle has been adapted into a television series of the same name by Apple TV+. Created by Kelly Marcel, directed by Melina Matsoukas, and with LaValle executive producing, the series leans into unsettling its audience rather than relying on cheap scares to instill a sense of terror. With an entertaining ensemble cast guiding the audience through its portrait of psychological deterioration, The Changeling succeeds when it focuses on the raw emotions bubbling under the surface instead of the occasionally pretentious staging around it.
New York City rare bookseller Apollo Kagwa, played by LaKeith Stanfield, who also executive produces the adaptation, welcomes the birth of a son with his wife Emma Valentine (Clark Backo). However, the birth of their son causes a sudden and alarming behavior shift for Emma, who learns more about her family's history of mental health issues as she acts increasingly erratically around the infant. This leads to the young couple enduring a horrific tragedy, with Apollo searching far and wide for Emma after she suddenly goes missing without a trace.
The Changeling is a meditation on postpartum depression, inherited trauma, and mental illnesses, all framed within the context of psychological horror designed to keep the viewers off-balance. The show itself is not conventionally terrifying, with its slow build relying on tension and subject matter more oriented to engross and instill an underlying sense of unease. The cinematography builds this through surreal imagery, tight close-ups, and washed-out color palettes. The show is competently made, but horror audiences will likely be well-accustomed to the production tricks, and The Changeling doesn't offer anything particularly new or surprising.
One of the bigger problems with trying to deliver on that terror is that the audience doesn't get to know Apollo and Emma before things take a turn for the supernaturally worse. Any emotional investment the viewer may have in these characters is limited by the show's decision to focus on the horror rather than giving fans a chance to establish a deeper connection with Apollo and Emma. Stanfield and Backo have plenty of chemistry, as do co-stars Adina Porter and Malcolm Barrett, but the story upsets the apple cart to get to its inciting premise a bit too early.
The other fundamental issue is that once the full scope of the story takes place and tragedy rears its ugly head, the show pivots into a more directionless narrative. The bulk of The Changeling is a search as Apollo moves to track down his missing wife and pick up the pieces of the life they had together. While there are narrative breadcrumbs to move the story forward and interesting developments across the season, overall, The Changeling feels all dressed up with nowhere to go as it struggles to find a satisfying payoff.
Well-cast and well-shot, The Changeling is too murky and cerebral for its own good, getting lost in its big questions and unsure how to answer them. The story is most successful when it leans into its deeper themes. But for those looking to kick off Halloween season early, The Changeling may be a bit too muted and directionless to deliver the chills audiences are craving.
Created by Kelly Marcel and directed by Melina Matsoukas, the first three episodes of The Changeling are available to stream now on Apple TV+, with new episodes released on Fridays.