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Movies & TV

The Entity

THE ENTITY (Anchor Bay, 1982) D: Sidney J. Furie, w/ Barbara Hershey, Ron Silver. Rating: NNN Blu-ray package: none Rating: NNN


For a movie about a woman who is repeatedly raped on screen by an invisible supernatural being, The Entity is remarkably serious in its purpose. Yes, there’s a scene of invisible hands fondling bare breasts, but we’re far more engaged with the protagonist and how her ordeal will affect the choices she has to make.

Carla Moran (Barbara Hershey) is a single mother with a troubled personal history. When the attacks start, she heads straight for the local university’s psychological counselling service. When that doesn’t help, she turns to the parapsychology department. Her counsellor is enraged, and academic warfare is on, but neither group necessarily has Carla’s well-being in mind, and neither can cope with what happens.

Hershey gives Carla a believable mix of hopelessness and grit, and Ron Silver strikes the right note as an over-assertive psychologist who may have more than a professional interest in the case. Director Sidney J. Furie keeps them in the foreground, but uses slightly off-kilter angles to make his very ordinary settings creepy and cramped.

The film opens with a declaration that The Entity is based on true events. We’ve heard that before, but without any extras, we’ll never know.

EXTRAS English audio and SDH subtitles.

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