Customer Reviews

Entity [VHS]

5 star:		(53)
4 star:		(28)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

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.

When I first watched this movie, I was really skeptical... the whole premise of the movie was about a woman played by Barbara Hershey who claimed to be raped and beaten by ghosts (two would hold her down and one would rape her). But I watched the movie because it was indeed entertaining and if anything, it made you think and challenged the mind. But the more I watched it, the more disturbing it got. There are parts of the movie where you can see invisible hands fondling her breasts and her being physically attacked by an unknown "thing".

After watching the movie, I did a lot of online research to find out how true the movie was... and come to find out, the real woman's name was Carlotta Moran in Culver City, CA (which isn't too far from me) and it made news all over the place. There are documented facts from scientists, parapsychologists, and several neutral bystanders who have witnessed various one of the apparitions that attacked her.

The only part of the movie that wasn't really "real" was the ending where they capture the ghost. In the end, the entity was never truly captured and the real woman had to move five different times and it still followed her. She was raped 15 times during a 10-week DOCUMENTED investigation. The good news is that the entity eventually stopped following her after two years of a terrible ordeal and she would move further and further away from her home.

Here's something interesting:
In real life, the lady was being raped while screaming in her bedroom. Her 16-year-old son walked in and saw his mother being assaulted on the bed and tried to stop the ghost. He ended up being thrown across the room and broke his arm. When the scene was recreated in the movie, the ACTOR broke the VERY same arm doing that very same scene re-enacted. That's eerie.

The movie, as a whole... is not a horror movie. But it is very mentally disturbing because it really happened... credible people witnessed it. Whether you believe or don't.. doesn't really matter. But it's worth watching simply as a conversation piece. Definite five stars (even though it is VERY low budget and kinda cheesy) for originality.

I saw a part of this movie when I was a lot younger maybe six or seven and I remember I couldn't watch anymore of it because it scared me. All I saw was this woman screaming and being thrown all over the place by an unseen evil. I didn't even know what was going on. Almost 20 years later I rented The Entity to watch it in it's entirety.

Barbara Hershey stars as a single mother, with a checkered past, trying to raise her son and two daughters. One night as she's getting ready to go to bed an unseen force throws her across the room and smothers her with a pillow while raping her. She has no idea what has just happened and believes someone must've broken into the house. Upon finding that there was no entry into the house she believes maybe it's some sort of demon. At first she's hesitant to seek psychiatric help but after a second attack in her car she believes she has no alternative. She begins seeing a psychiatrist (Ron Silver). He tries to help by having her go into great detail about her past, telling her that these attacks are all in her mind. However, the more details she drudges up, the more frequent and violent the attacks become.

The movie is over 2 hours long so I could talk about the story forever. The Entity is powerful, mysterious and intense right up until the ending, which I thought was frustrating and a disappointment. I also thought that the music was perfect in this movie especially during the attack scenes. It is a highly intensive flick, it's definitely NOT for younger viewers. I guess the frightening thing about this movie is that was based on a true story. Whatever it is, The Entity is definitely worth seeing and I'm sure it's a movie you won't soon forget.

What makes this movie great is that it is based on a true story.It's hard to believe this really happened!!The acting was very good and Barbara Hershey was terrific.

Look out, folks, fasten your seatbelts. Like "The Exorcist", "The Entity" is based upon a drama that really happened, in Los Angeles. This is an excellent and very underrated terror movie that can easily make "Poltergeist" (released this same year 1982) look like a fairy tale. This story of a young and attractive woman, regularly sexually attacked by an invisible 'entity' is so believable, so realistic that we can't be nothing else but terrified, really chilled, from the beginning to the ending.

There is not any failed element in this movie, everything is perfect, from the special effects by Joe Lombardi and Stan Winston to the directing and self-adaptation, through the performance of always excellent Barbara Hershey - who won the Prize as Best Actress in Avoriaz Film Festival, in 1983 - in one of her best roles, and also Ron Silver's, perfect as the stubborn shrink. The chilling soundtrack is also ideal. But the movie is also remarkable because (and on the contrary of "Poltergeist"), it never tells us about the nature of this entity, we never know if it's a ghost, or a demon, or something else, even not a poltergeist... In the end the entity is neutralized, with liquid helium, but manages to escape and the film leaves us, filled up with questions with no response, exciting our imagination. This makes "The Entity" much more interesting to most of the poor, too predictible horror movies we can see today.

Another question with no response: where's the DVD? I'm very surprised because in France, there is a DVD edition of this movie...

THE ENTITY is easily one of the most unfairly maligned films ever made. Most critics take exception to the frankness in which the "rape" scenes are depicted, deeming them sensationalistic and trashy. Well sorry folks. To drive home the terror that this women is feeling, I think its appropriate to show us in a brutal fashinon exactly what is happening to her.
The acting is top notch. Barbara Hershy is fantastic, hands down!The material is treated incredibly seriously and it contains some great music and truly moody cinematography! Granted, the finale is a little out of control, but lets not forget THE EXORCIST. A classic that spends most of its screen time out of control.
I wont rattle on and anilyze it too much. If you havent seen it, give it a go. You will no doubt be want to leave the lights on.....

Barbara Hershey gives a wonderful performance in this ghostly but exotic tale of a woman who is constantly assaulted by an entity. This movie will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very end, and since the movie is based on a true story I think that makes it that much more scary and anyone who is intrested in a good bizzare movie should diffinately not miss this one !!!

This movie truly freaked me out with its terrifying psychological plot when I first saw it at 22-years old while living in a new place. During the film "something" crashed in my bedroom and neither me nor my roommates would investigate. I ended up staying in the living room that night.

Just a few months ago, I came across the Entity and decided to stay up and watch to see if it still scared me. Well...even as I write this short review, I am struggling not to hear the thundering sound effects of the attacks and (yikes!) YES! I didn't want to go up to bed after seeing this film even all these years later. I also don't wish to view this movie a third time, however I know I probably will. There is nothing like a great mind-fright!

The Entity was one of my favorite scary movies; one of the reasons is that it was based on a factual account of another's life. Imagine being that woman, the horrors she must have faced, and the terror she still must be facing. I think that Barbara Hershey did a wonderful job portraying in this role. The effects for that time were done very well, especially when the hands were touching her and you could actually see the imprints on her skin. It surely left chills up my spine. I can't wait until this movie comes out on DVD. One of your previous reviewers from Greenville, SC USA said," This movie had great acting, intriguing story, and good music, but it is not even the least bit scary or disturbing. I really think it had potential, but it was way too predictable. If you thought it was scary, well whatever. I didn't think it was scary. If you want real scary get The Other (not The Others), The Exorcist, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Salem's Lot, Pet Cemetery, or Evil Dead". That person needs to realize the difference between the Gore factors and the Fear factors. His/her opinion is fine if your looking for blood and gore then this movie isn't for you. I found this movie to be more of a suspense/drama/thriller. So, if you are looking for blood and gore like (i.e.: Troma type movies) than this movie isn't what you'll be getting. So, Mr./Ms. Greenville, SC USA should really reevaluate his or her perspective before giving an opinion on movie genre's and not compare suspense and fear flicks with blood and gore....it just isn't appropriate.

Single California mom Barbara Hershey, living in a comfy ramshackle house with her brood, is sexually assaulted one night by a poltergeist. After repeated similar attacks (one while she's driving!), Hershey seeks help from para-psychologists. Having Tobe Hooper's more mainstream and slick "Poltergeist" come out on this movie's heels certainly wasn't good for its legacy, and promoting the film as a true story didn't wash with skeptics, but having an actress of Hershey's caliber at the film's center was a superlative move; her presence alone makes the film absorbing and provocative. Appearing like a grown-up flower child, with a likably tossled hairdo and lifestyle, Hershey slips right into these outlandish goings-on with nonchalant ease. The effects are quite good (relying upon tight editing and fine cinematography), and the climactic events don't cop out. This thriller goes in all the directions you're hoping it will, and it is never less than satisfying. 'B'