The Changeover plays like a locally made Stephen King-style story, but with a strong female leads and a perfectly judged ending. This is a teen and adult fantasy, done extremely well.

| Sep 3, 2021

A thought-provoking examination of the emotional fallout of a natural disaster, The Changeover has a number of narrative issues, but some fine performances elevate this one.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 10, 2020

There seems to be much promise attached the story but the film doesn't quite deliver what's expected.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Feb 3, 2020

The Changeover is refreshingly a young adult adaptation that doesn't have aspirations for a franchise.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 31, 2019

An easy going production with time-honored tropes fails to raise a ruckus.

| Original Score: 5/10 | Mar 8, 2019

This film might take place in a world lousy with witches and warlocks, but it is desperately short of the magic needed to overcome its flaws.

| Original Score: C | Mar 5, 2019

The film is a bit of an odd duck in that it is neither fish nor fowl, audience-wise: perhaps too scary for the Goosebumps crowd but far too tame for the horror crowd.

| Original Score: 6/10 | Mar 4, 2019

This quaint and unassuming sleeper-of-a-creeper is magical and mystical in its curious presentation. New Zealand's 'The Changeover' is a character-driven frightfest at its small-scare creative core.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Feb 28, 2019

This horror-tinged coming-of-age tale takes a refreshingly restrained approach to its witchy world-building.

| Original Score: B- | Feb 26, 2019

At its core, there's a tale as old as time itself, and, what's more, one that equates adolescent turbulence to something that can be both deeply unsettling and reassuringly magical.

| Original Score: 7/10 | Feb 25, 2019

The Changeover is a definite standout when it comes to young adult films. It is a mature, eerie, and effective coming-of-age story that just so happens to also include the supernatural.

| Feb 23, 2019

The Changeover might have an unnerving and memorable performance by English actor Timothy Spall, but it lacks the narrative horror chops to push the storytelling into a dimension that is truly compelling.

| Original Score: C | Feb 22, 2019

Beneath its familiar genre trappings, this fantasy succeeds mostly because it takes a character-driven approach rather than relying solely on teenage angst or supernatural mumbo-jumbo.

| Feb 22, 2019

Subtle enough to draw in adult fans of dark fantasy, but relatable enough to appeal to young adult audiences, The Changeover is another in a long line of quality genre films from New Zealand.

| Feb 22, 2019

Unfortunately, the story, which involves all sorts of distracting schemes and spells and even time travel, gets in the way of the movie actually being about [the main character]...

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Feb 22, 2019

Other films have demonstrated [Spall's] ability to exude malice, but none has put his smarmy, sinister side to better, more unsettling use.

| Original Score: B- | Feb 22, 2019

The Changeover is one of those supernatural thrillers where the rules are both abstract and arbitrary, rendering Laura's internal struggle as dull predestination rather than an act of intention and will.

| Feb 21, 2019

[A]n astute adaptation, balancing magical arcana with everyday adolescent turmoil.

| Feb 21, 2019

Uniformly solid performances and artful camera/sound work make the film hard to dismiss out of hand, but the script doesn't sell its hokum as effectively as more mainstream supernatural soap operas.

| Feb 21, 2019

In its own modest way, this is a perfect genre film.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Feb 21, 2019