The Changeling

Available on Apple TV+

This adaptation of Victor LaValle’s popular novel is stricken initially by an identity crisis and latterly the at-times misshapen nature of episodic storytelling.

With regards to the first of those pitfalls, The Changeling suffers from the fact that its marketing material and central premise allude to it being a frightening psychological thriller in the vein of Rosemary’s Baby or The Omen. Alas, it is not, with showrunner Kelly Marcel (whose previous credits include the questionable Fifty Shades of Grey and Venom) electing to repeat the fairytale elements of its source material ad nauseam and some rather cheap-looking special effects rendering the show’s more dramatic moments as almost entirely forgettable.

The series’ modest eight episode run - especially when contrasted with the scope of LaValle’s far-reaching story - is also problematic, with many of The Changeling’s events coming out of left field in a way that (for the reasons lifted above) is seldom spooky, more so puzzlingly random. This is most evident in its seventh episode, which - despite the best efforts of Adina Porter and Alexis Louder - makes an admirably ambitious effort to explore (amongst other things) the female immigrant experience but ultimately feels completely out of sync with the rest of the show.

Porter and the leading pair of LaKeith Stanfield and Clark Backo certainly bring plenty of gusto to The Changeling, and its pleasing to see diverse casting in what is otherwise generic fantasy horror fare, but their efforts are never enough to shift this series out of second gear.