I knew this was kind of scary movie, and from the title it suggested something to do with the paranormal, and being one I had heard of a few times I was definitely up for giving it a go, directed by Sidney J. Furie (The Ipcress File, Superman IV: The Quest for Peace). Basically Carla Moran (Barbara Hershey) is an ordinary single mother, one night she is violently attacked and raped, but the assailant is invisible. Carla talks about her experience to her family and friends, but she is shunned and they think she has gone, so she speaks to a psychiatrist, Dr. Phil Sneiderman (Ron Silver), she tentatively agrees to undergo therapy. Another attack occurs, Carla is left with bite marks and bruises, but with past traumas in her childhood and adolescence, including sexual and physical abuse, teenage pregnancy and the violent death of her first husband, the doctors believes she has inflicted them on herself. However, Carla's children witness an attack for themselves, Dr. Sneiderman urges her to commit herself to a psychiatric hospital for observation, but she refuses, instead turning to parapsychologists, they witness several paranormal activities and agree to study the home. Carla is reassured that she is being taken seriously, and after more attacks and studying, she agrees to to participate in an elaborate parapsychologist experiment, a full mock-up of her home is created to lure the entity into a trap, they will attempt to freeze the spirit in liquid helium. The experiment goes ahead, Carla does indeed have the unseen being attempting to attack her, it is frozen and trapped in a mass of ice, Dr. Sneiderman finally believes her, it eventually breaks free and vanishes. Carla returns home, and the end text says that the entity remains present, but the attacks have become less frequent and less severe than previously. Also starring David Labiosa as Billy, George Coe as Dr. Weber, Margaret Blye as Cindy Nash, Jacqueline Brookes as Dr. Cooley, Richard Brestoff as Gene Kraft and Michael Alldredge as George Nash. Hershey gives a very good performance as the innocent woman suffering at the hands of invisible demonic force, other characters question if she is crazy for a while, of course they realise the terror is real, there is only a little special effects stuff, but the tension of this complex chiller is ramped up at the right moments, overall it is an atmospheric enough "fact-based" psychological and supernatural horror thriller. Worth watching!
Review of The Entity
