{"id":6846,"date":"2017-06-25T04:31:15","date_gmt":"2017-06-25T03:31:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/?p=6846"},"modified":"2019-03-05T17:28:28","modified_gmt":"2019-03-05T16:28:28","slug":"the-entity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2017\/06\/25\/the-entity\/","title":{"rendered":"The Entity"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/a>
The Entity<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n

Format:<\/b> Blue-ray
\nRelease date:<\/b> 15 May 2017
\nDistributor:<\/b> Eureka Entertainment
\nDirector:<\/b> Sidney J. Furie
\nWriter:<\/b> Frank De Filetta (original novel and screenplay)
\nCast:<\/b> Barbara Hershey, Ron Silver, David Labiosa
\nUSA 1982
\n125 mins<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Sidney Furie\u2019s disturbing, ambiguous 80s poltergeist tale brings up difficult issues surrounding sexual assault.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Sidney J. Furie\u2019s sunshine-set supernatural horror, The Entity<\/i>, is based on an alleged true story, \u2018a story so shocking, so threatening, it will frighten you beyond all imagination\u2019. Carla Moran (Barbara Hershey) is the single mother of three children, a teenage boy (David Labiosa) and two younger girls, struggling to get by in Southern California. Our brief introduction to Carla is set to menacing, clanging noises; after an exhausting day, she returns to the safety of her modest bungalow, only to be viciously attacked in her own bed by an unseen assailant. Her cries bring her son running, but a search of their home uncovers nothing \u2013 no perpetrator, no forced entry, no unlocked doors.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The Entity<\/i> is in classic 80s ghost-story territory, even released in the UK in the same month and year as Poltergeist<\/i>. But where Poltergeist<\/i> mostly focuses on the fears and horror of losing a child, The Entity<\/i> exploits sexual violence for frights. The first attack sees Carla beaten, before a pillow is placed over her head while she is raped. It\u2019s a harrowing scene, shot mostly in close-up, Carla tormented, writhing, trying to escape the incredibly violent, yet mysterious assailant; Hershey, throughout the film, seems genuinely terrified. The assaults only get more vicious as the films goes on; and although the initial assaults mostly show her horrified reactions, the camera pulls out further as the attacks go on, her body later fully exposed as she is groped and brutalised (though some dated special effects lessen the impact of the exploitation).<\/p>\n

Without any proof, Carla refuses to go to the police, and it is only when she is involved in a car crash, the vehicle allegedly taken over by this poltergeist, that she ends up in hospital, visited by the psychiatrist Dr. Sneiderman (Ron Silver). Is she suffering from female hysteria, the assaults self-inflicted manifestations of her sexual desires, a product of her troubled history with men (though discredited, the Freudian view on hysteria is clearly the doctor\u2019s preferred explanation)? Or is there an evil, supernatural force, an entity, stalking her? Furie keeps it ambiguous, but there\u2019s no doubt that Carla\u2019s sexuality (with her shame and pleasure) is somehow to blame.<\/p>\n

While there are still a few frightening, suspenseful scenes, the film\u2019s tone changes in the second half of the film, when Carla meets a team of parapsychologists at the local university, who are just as eager to exploit her to prove their own theories about the supernatural, devising an elaborate, and ridiculous, experiment to trap the poltergeist. The film becomes less horror, and more a battle of wills between reason and a belief in the occult.<\/p>\n

Given the recent success of Stranger Things<\/i>, this re-release of The Entity<\/i> couldn\u2019t be better timed, with its similar depiction of a haunted, hysterical woman (Winona Ryder), and its use of music and sound, with Charles Bernstein\u2019s electronic score predating Stranger Thing<\/i>\u2019s analogue-synth soundtrack. While the acting, with the general exception of Hershey and Silver, is weak, the film dated, and the story sometimes unconvincing, The Entity<\/i> remains a gripping, if uncomfortably ambivalent, supernatural tale.<\/p>\n

Sarah Cronin<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sidney Furie\u2019s disturbing, ambiguous 80s poltergeist tale brings up difficult issues surrounding sexual assault.
\nReview by Sarah Cronin<\/B><\/I><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[1411,1149,1032,739,97,1412,1410],"class_list":["post-6846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dvds-and-blu-rays","tag-1980s-horror","tag-american-film","tag-american-horror","tag-ghost-story","tag-horror","tag-poltergeist","tag-women-and-horror"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","wps_subtitle":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/purUP-1Mq","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1177,"url":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2010\/06\/01\/resurrecting-the-street-walker\/","url_meta":{"origin":6846,"position":0},"title":"Resurrecting the Street Walker","author":"VirginieSelavy","date":"June 1, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Opening with a brief history and contextual overview of the video nasties era, Ozgur Uyanik's debut feature delves imaginatively into the world of the found footage sub-genre of horror movies, capitalising on the media-sparked paranoia surrounding these notorious 80s gems. Review by James Merchant","rel":"","context":"In "Home entertainment"","block_context":{"text":"Home entertainment","link":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/category\/dvds-and-blu-rays\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/review_streetwalker2-594x397.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/review_streetwalker2-594x397.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/review_streetwalker2-594x397.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5944,"url":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2015\/10\/20\/evolution\/","url_meta":{"origin":6846,"position":1},"title":"Evolution","author":"Pam Jahn","date":"October 20, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Lucile Had\u017eihalilovic\u2019s follow-up to Innocence is as poetic, disturbing and elusive as its predecessor. Review by Virginie S\u00e9lavy","rel":"","context":"In "Check it out"","block_context":{"text":"Check it out","link":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/category\/check-it-out\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Evolution","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Evolution-594x334.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Evolution-594x334.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Evolution-594x334.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":559,"url":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2009\/03\/01\/carnival-of-souls\/","url_meta":{"origin":6846,"position":2},"title":"CARNIVAL OF SOULS","author":"VirginieSelavy","date":"March 1, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Self-financed and made with local talent, Harvey's film is a true cinematic oddity: a one-off hit for its director, Carnival of Souls is not quite a fully-fledged horror film. Its imagery and style push it more toward art-house or underground cinema, albeit one tainted by too many episodes of The\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Home entertainment"","block_context":{"text":"Home entertainment","link":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/category\/dvds-and-blu-rays\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1399,"url":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2010\/11\/02\/possession\/","url_meta":{"origin":6846,"position":3},"title":"Possession","author":"VirginieSelavy","date":"November 2, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Since its initial release 30 years ago, Andrzej \u017bulawski's daring depiction of a marriage falling apart has been hailed as a masterpiece and dismissed as pretentious trash. Review by Jim Harper","rel":"","context":"In "Check it out"","block_context":{"text":"Check it out","link":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/category\/check-it-out\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/review_Possession-594x394.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/review_Possession-594x394.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/review_Possession-594x394.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4484,"url":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2014\/06\/05\/re-animator\/","url_meta":{"origin":6846,"position":4},"title":"Re-Animator","author":"Pam Jahn","date":"June 5, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Stuart Gordon\u2019s take on H.P. Lovecraft is a joyously anarchic experience, as funny as it is grisly. Review by Neil Mitchell","rel":"","context":"In "Check it out"","block_context":{"text":"Check it out","link":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/category\/check-it-out\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Re-Animator 1","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Re-Animator-1-594x395.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Re-Animator-1-594x395.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Re-Animator-1-594x395.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":231,"url":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2007\/12\/02\/the-shout\/","url_meta":{"origin":6846,"position":5},"title":"THE SHOUT","author":"VirginieSelavy","date":"December 2, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Although less well-known than some of his compatriots, Polish director Jerzy Skolimowski has built a unique, although little seen, collection of films both in his native Poland and elsewhere. Early in his career he served as a screen writer for both Andrzej Wajda and Roman Polanski (co-writing Knife in the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Home entertainment"","block_context":{"text":"Home entertainment","link":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/category\/dvds-and-blu-rays\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6846"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6846\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7051,"href":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6846\/revisions\/7051"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}