Running Time: 125 minutes
Release Date: February 4, 1983
Review by: Stacey
Review by: Stacey
"A story so shocking, so threatening, it will frighten you beyond all imagination." Solid tagline, dudes. Sadly, it only delivered about 80% of that, and that's coming from someone (me, duh) who has this in her top 10 favorites. Based on Frank De Felitta's novel of the same name and directed by Sidney J. Furie, "The Entity" was filmed in 1981 but didn't see a worldwide release until 1982 (US release was in '83). The 70's and early 80's saw an influx of supernatural/demonic films in the horror genre because who doesn't love a good possession, amiright? And probably because, for the same reason found footage films are so big right now, it works and we're intrigued.
We're introduced to Carla Moran (Barbara Hershey) and her teenage son, Billy and two younger daughters. Without much of a warning we're immediately thrown into a scene with Carla being viciously attacked and sexually assaulted by an unseen force that left as quickly as it came (hurhurhurur). In a state of shock and disbelief, Carla has Billy frantically check the house for any sign of an intruder and when nothing is found...well, they just stay there. I mean, whenever I'm viciously attacked by a rape-y ghost I like to get the fuck out of the house, but y'know, different strokes! After a second, less severe attack in her bedroom Carla wises up and grabs the kids to head over to the the home of her lady friend, Cindy (Margaret Blye). After hearing Carla's story Cindy urges her to see a psychiatrist, Dr. Sneiderman (Ron Silver), who, after several sessions and hearing about another, more violent sexual assault in Carla's bathroom starts to believe it's all a result of Carla's very tumultuous past.
Back home Carla is attacked once again but in front of her children this time. I mean, guys, the attacks just DON'T let up in this flick, I'm telling ya. Billy tries to help his mom but is prevented from doing so by some unseen force and spectral lightning. Dr. Sneiderman tries to convince Carla to commit herself for psychiatric observation but she's having none of that shit. THEN Cindy witnesses another attack on Carla and decides to help her find other "resources" for a solution. Meeting some parapsychologists, Carla convinces them to visit her home and after witnessing some supernatural events they decided to stay and study the case. Meanwhile, the doc is consistently trying to persuade Carla to seek professional medical help and she consistently refuses.
Carla's boyfriend witnesses a rather disturbing sexual attack on Carla and soon after ends the relationship (what a douche). Only then does she decide to go above and beyond to stop these attacks once and for all. The parapsychologists concoct an elaborate experiment that involves creating a mock-up of Carla's house in order to trap the entity using liquid helium (YEAH IDK). I'll save the last few minutes of the film so you can get your butts up and go watch it yourself!
But I will say that a closing disclaimer let's you in on the fact that "The Entity" is in fact based on a true story and the family has since moved...and still experiences supernatural phenomena.
As I said in the beginning of this review that the movie only delivered 80% of what the tagline promised you, it's an amazing genre film that deserves to be watched and appreciated. The acting was great where it needed to be. The plot was unique (to an extent) and kept me intrigued. I really enjoyed the camera angles The 20% that I didn't enjoy was basically just the opposite of everything I listed that was good. And probably the repetitiveness of the attacks (it's obvious then that a man made this.)
Overall, "The Entity" brought to the table some serious chills, a score that only heightened those chills during the intense attack scenes, and if you felt a little underwhelmed by the film you were still left unnerved by the reality of what you just witnessed.
9/10 frozen helium rape ghosts
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ReplyDeleteI watched this film only once, as a younger teen, and it's stuck with me for three decades since because of the novelty of the unseen force being something tangible enough to trap: a concept with implications that make it somehow less scary, but also simultaneously more scary because it places it in the real, physical world.
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