The Changeover (M)

92 mins Adults aren’t strictly the target audience for a film like The Changeover, but the fact it comprises consistently solid performances and some of the most shriek-out-loud moments I’ve had in the cinema this year, makes it easily recommendable to all.

Margaret Mahy’s beloved, awardwinning teen novel has been adapted for the screen and brought forward several decades in time to situate the story in post-quake Christchurch – a city appropriately upheaved and uncertain to imply tacit parallels with the story’s ambiguous and dangerladen plot.

Teenager Laura Chant (a fantastic feature debut from Erana James) is a ‘‘sensitive’’ who hears voices and feels ominous warnings, even though her life seems stable. With a kind but longsuffering