The Entity

Love the movie and it plays wonderfully

Sidney Furie’s (The Ipcress File, with Michael Caine)1982 film The Entity is "based on a true story", adapted by Frank De Felitta into a novel and subsequently a film screenplay. The actual case of Doris Bither, otherwise known as the Entity Hauntings, is a sad story that most likely had no true connections to supernatural phenomena; however, The Entity as an adaptation certainly enhances some of the events of those “hauntings” into a surprisingly adept look at emotional and psychological trauma and the plight of a single mother attempting to understand her real phenomena while being unknowingly misled by modern science unwilling to allow for mystical acts of nature. Barbara Hershey (Hannah and her Sisters, Scorsese's Boxcar Bertha) plays the afflicted woman Carla, who, as the film explains, has experienced her own fair share of psychological and physiological abuse in her past. The first half of the film finds Furie focusing on Carla’s interviews with Dr. Sneiderman (the always great (RIP) Ron Silver, Reversal of Fortune, Blue Steel and co-star of Chuck Norris' horror/chop-socky hybrid, Silent Rage) after she experiences a supernatural rape and nonsexual assaults. The psychological focus allows the audience to understand Carla as a protagonist and also gives reasoning why she would be left open to these kinds of paranormal attacks; it also forces the viewer to question whether Carla’s experiences truly are part of her own psychic hallucinations. Both Silver (he'll be missed) and Hershey (an early "adult" role - she was usually cast as a hippy - adopting the name "Barbara Seagull" during her marriage to David Carradine didn't help) give great performances and play off of each other very well. The first hour of the film is some of the most rich and rewarding, not only because of the various attacks in Carla’s home – all quite disturbing due to their sexual nature, sometimes taking place in front of her young children – but also because the film brings up interesting questions about how to define real and imagined trauma. There is a moment, though, where The Entity presents two paths the film could travel. One is more problematic, that Carla truly is hallucinating these events making her a weak character that is a constant victim. However, De Felitta and Furie choose to take the film in a different direction, treating the entity as a literal manifestation of a dark force and dropping the psychological exploration in the second hour for a paranormal investigation. While some may not like the direction, it is arguably the better decision: the paranormal entity is a real force for Carla to overcome and not some psychological trauma that she has carried with her over time, and it allows her character to strengthen and progress from the timid woman at the beginning of the film. In this sense, The Entity showcases a great example of a fully realized woman throughout. Hershey’s character has overcome past abuse; she’s forged a life for herself and her kids despite some bad experiences; and at the end of the film, she’s found a strength in battling the entity despite its constant presence in her life, even after the film ends. There’s no perfect resolution in The Entity, and Carla’s hauntings presumably continue; but Furie shows us that she’s figured out how to confront the beast, like waging a war. It’s indicative because of the entity’s only piece of dialogue throughout the film: “Welcome home, c***.” It seems sinister, but more than that, it’s a verbalized threat meant to scare because the entity’s actions no longer affect Carla the way they used to. There’s a powerful motif here, and thankfully it doesn’t rely on Carla’s past vulnerabilities. Furie’s film is often spooky and disturbing, with some great special effects from the legendary Stan Winston and his crew. Charles Bernstein helps by providing a memorable score, and the cast puts in an excellent performance. The Entity might not have the same visceral scares as The Exorcist nearly ten years before it, but its more sexual focus is a welcome addition to the paranormal genre. In many ways, this is an overlooked gem in the horror genre (though many seem to be appreciating it more and more). The extras and specs: NEW Inner Strength – an interview with actress Barbara Hershey - still looking great - you'd never recognize her performance as Mila Kunis' psychotic stage-hag of a mother from Black Swan. NEW Seeing Is Believing – an interview with actor David Labiosa NEW High Dread – an interview With Composer Charles Bernstein NEW Spirits & Sprocket Holes – an interview With Editor Frank J. Urioste NEW Audio Commentary with author/filmmaker Daniel Kremer (Sidney J. Furie: Life and Films) Trailers From Hell - The Entity with audio commentary by Luca Guadagnino (Suspiria - 2018) The Entity Files Featurette (about 45 minutes). One of the better "making of" extras that buyers of physical media love and expect. Theatrical Trailer TV Spots Radio Spots Still Gallery Audio: DTS-HD Master Audio Stereo 2.0, DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, DTS-HD Master Audio 4.1 Optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature

Excellent video. Love this movie. Bought mine from Fat Pup and it was in excellent shape with quick delivery. Yeah!

The Entity (1981), a fictionalized account based on a `true' incident, relates a tale of how a single mother in California suffered brutal attacks by unseen forces. Taken from the popular novel by Frank De Felitta and directed by Sidney J. Furie (The Ipcress File, Iron Eagle, Superman IV: The Quest for Peace), the film stars Barbara Hershey (Hoosiers, Tin Men). Also appearing is Ron Silver (Silkwood), George Coe (The Omega Code), Margaret Blye (Mischief), Jacqueline Brookes (Ghost Story), Richard Brestoff (The Man with Two Brains), Raymond Singer (Feds), Alex `Moe Green' Rocco (The Godfather), Natasha Ryan (The Amityville Horror), Melanie Gaffin (Armed and Dangerous), and David Labiosa, whom many may be familiar with from his appearance as the character of Antonio the busboy from the "Seinfeld" episode The Busboy. Carla Moran (Hershey) is a single mother, who works during the day and goes to school at night, drives a funky car and lives in a funky rental house with her three children. After returning home one night she suffers a brutal, penetrating attack by an unseen aggressor, one that's real enough to her to believe her attacker is a corporeal being in the house (he's not). Her oldest son Bill (Labiosa) writes it off as a bad dream, but the amorous, groping, invisible entity soon returns on a regular basis causing Carla to think she possibly losing her marbles, to which she seeks professional help from a psychiatrist named Dr. Sneiderman (Silver). As Sneiderman begins probing Carla's background he believes the attacks are all apart of some delusion, stemming from her sketchy past, but the incidents continue and grow in intensity, eventually witnessed by others around Carla, including her children (at one point she suffers various bruises and bite marks upon her body). Eventually a disillusioned Carla, after a falling out with Sneiderman, comes into contact with a couple of university funded parapsychologists named Gene (Brestoff) and Joe (Singer) who later witness some of the strangeness, and they agree to get involved not only to document the powerful force but to also help Carla, much to Dr. Sneiderman annoyance who thinks such intervention by those he presumes quacks will only feed the delusion. Anyway, as the unusual activity continues the parapsychologists look for a way to isolate and immobilize the force, resulting in a grand and elaborate experiment in a university gymnasium where they use a willing Carla as the bait (once Sneiderman gets wind of what's going on, he flips his proverbial lid and tries to intervene), the hope being to capture that force which they believe to have crossed over from another plane of existence (apparently looking for a good time). I'm not a big believer in the supernatural but I am perfectly willing to admit there's a lot of stuff going on out there that we, for some reason or another, just can't explain. Whether or not part or most of what's relating in this film actually occurred I do not know, but it certainly made for an interesting and unnerving film, especially if you like well developed ghost stories with an intellectual slant. I thought Ms. Hershey did a really wonderful job portraying a woman fighting to keep her wits, struggling to come to terms with those who would have her believe her very real experiences were all just a product of her fractured mind. One aspect of the film I really enjoyed was the animosity displayed between the established medical community, represented by Dr. Sneiderman, and the pseudo science of the paranormal, represented mainly by Gene and Joe, whom, by the way, were a real couple of nerdlingers (check out the scene when they're in Carla's bedroom and some static electricity appears in the air...the both dive for the floor in fright). There's one sort of funny scene when Sneiderman's in a staff meeting with his peers with Carla present, and after she leaves nearly everyone lights up (one guy's smoking a pipe, another a cigar, and most of the rest pull out cigarettes). I'm not entirely sure why I found this humorous, but perhaps it has something to do with seeing all these medical professionals engaging in an activity we now know to be detrimental to one's health. Anyway, I thought the film, which ran just over two hours, was pretty solid all the way around, including the flow of the story, the special effects (which were understated enough to appear real), the performances, and the direction. Furie and his cinematographer Stephen H. Burum (The Untouchables, Mission: Impossible) did employ some interesting camera slanted angle shots and tight close ups, most likely to create a heightened sense of tension, and they usually worked, on me at least. As I said the film runs just over two hours, and I thought the time was used well. The only element I thought a little off was the ending, during the grand experiment meant to try and capture the entity. I won't go into specifics but despite not being familiar with the source material, I highly doubt this `Ghostbusters' sequence was something that actually took place. Most likely it was a spectacular element tacked on to the film in an effort to provide a whiz-bang of a finale. It was interesting, but it felt at odds with the rest of the story in terms of up until that point there felt a certain sense of disturbing realism steeped in the fantastic, whereas the ending moved into the realm of the ultra fantastic. I did like their train of thought in as far as how they were planning to capture the entity, but, again, it didn't seem to fit well with everything that occurred previously given most of what's depicted is supposedly culled from actual events. That's not to say the ending ruined the film, but only that it takes away slightly from everything else that came before. The picture on this Anchor Bay Entertainment DVD release, presented in widescreen (2.35:1), enhanced for 16X9 TVs, looks very sharp and clean, and the Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround comes through very well. Extras include a newly created and entertaining documentary titled The Entity Files (27:28) featuring a real life parapsychologist named Dr. Barry Taff who shares some of his experiences (he was involved in the true life events from which provide the basis of the film), a theatrical trailer, a poster and still gallery, and an original screenplay accessible as a DVD-ROM feature. Cookieman108 By the way, I saw on the Internet Movie Database website there's a remake of this film in the works, tentatively scheduled for a 2008 release. No word as of yet who might appear in the film, but Hideo Nakata (Ringu, Ringu 2) is listed as the director.

I am a huge fan of 70's horror movies, and am always searching for some new treasure. This movie is even more frightening than normal when you consider that it is based on a true story. It shook me quite a bit when I first saw it. Be warned that some scenes are very sexual in nature and disturbing. It's not gratutious sex like most bad "horror" flicks today. The movie depicts a woman who moves into a new house with her two children and after some time begins to be attacked by an unseen entity. She is left raped and bruised and thinking she's going out of her mind. The rape scenes are very tastefully done, but are hard to watch when you think that this supposedly really happened. It is not a movie for children. As an adult, I had to sleep with the lights on after the movie and really had a hard time being alone for a few days. This is not a blood-letting fest, it's not a teen sex/slasher film, and it's not a dark assylum like setting. It's a film that is at the top of my list of all time favorite truely scary, "can't go the bathroom alone" kind of movies. By the way, if you liked this movie then you should try to get your hands on a made for TV movie called "Don't be afraid of the Dark". It scared me to death as a child, so much so that I remembered the name all these 20 some years. When I finally saw it again as an adult, it was still pretty creepy and worth the search.

Dieser Film ist und bleibt ein Klassiker und wer ihn mit Poltergeist vergleicht sollte sich klar sein das "Entity" vor Poltergeist erschienen ist und ich finde damit ist ein solcher vergleich nicht zu machen. Bild und Ton sind für mich absolut auf dem punkt. Inhaltlich kann man sagen was man möchte ... aber wer hier wieder auf die Schiene springt und sagt das thema vergewaltigung ist in filmen immer so ein ding (bla bla). Es ist ein FILM ... und von solch einem erwarte ich einfach nur das er mich die Zeit die er läuft Unterhält. Ob der Frau das passiert oder nicht ... es ist ein Film und jeder sollte in der Lage sein den Text auf der rückseite zu LESEN. Und somit auch sagen können nein danke. Auch wenn man den Film bewirbt es hätte sich so in der Art einmal in den 70er Jahren zugetragen und es soll damit auf einer echten Geschichte Basieren wie hätte man es sonst zeigen sollen ? Mir sind solche Klassiker die das Thema aufgreifen LIEBER als diese Filme wo man etwas andeutet und doch nach 2 Sekunden jeder im Dunkeln steht. Für mich absolute Empfehlung ... sollte in keiner Sammlung Fehlen.

Hi everyone.i actually have the Entity on DvD which shines on 4k ultra hd.this is based on a true story.this is a cracking good movie. The thing I remember also about this movie is the music which is very scary which really adds to the environment of the movie.its a moving film also and dramatic.know this is not a judgement on Amazon delivery but I purchased 2 movies from Spain and Germany which only took 3,4 days but the Entity took 2 weeks to arrive from England under the delivery from Whistl group delivery I mean seriously if I see Whistl group again on the Amazon site for delivery of your item I won't be purchased but as I said no judgement on Amazon in other words I'm happy with the way they work so good job guy,gals.Soo The Entity is a must definite buy.also if anyone is interested and not sure of movies and DvDs what to look out for that before you purchase especially blu ray Dvd from other countries..imports..I find alot of people buying imports and not loading in there blu players. I'm going to list the settings that you need to play imports..region free blu ray players doesn't mean always PLAY ALL.have fun everyone and peace to all and all that ..save the Whale. Byee

Un autentico capolavoro, realizzato in modo magistrale su una sceneggiatura impeccabile. Tutti gli elementi strutturali di un film sono funzionali alla trama e perfettamente gestiti dal regista. Il cast è ottimo, con una Barbara Hershey bella e brava da Oscar in un ruolo difficile da rendere credibile. Il ultima analisi, il mix tra supernaturale, parapsicologia, mistero e un pizzico di fantascienza mi pare riuscito, poiché il film attanaglia lo spettatore dalla prima all'ultima scena. Ottimo il Dvd ma con audio e sottotitoli solo in Inglese.

Y la vieja tiene buenas teturrias.

A bit out of date, but still a classic.