Horror icon Barbara Hershey stars in this underseen and affecting film about a single mother repeatedly attacked by an unseen force. She is beaten, sexually assaulted and hounded by this spectral creature for no apparent reason – and no one will believe or help her in her ordeal. Released in the same year as Poltergeist, whose success eclipsed it, this remains one of the most affecting horror films you’ll see.
Anna Bogutskaya, bfi.org.uk
Given the story’s claim to a basis in truth (though what self-respecting horror movie can nowadays dispense with such a claim?), The Entity’s formulary aspect is doubly disturbing, as though the thing itself had been observing trends in the movie market and come up with a combination guaranteed to get it on the screen: an invisible macho rapist violating a single working mother in Southern California.
Frank DeFelitta’s screenplay, taken from his own ‘true’ novel, dutifully surrounds Carla with a supporting cast from any B-horror flick: a psychiatrist who argues earnestly for a rational interpretation (Sneiderman may look modern, object to smoking, say ‘fuck’ a lot and drive a late-model Volkswagen, but is otherwise straight out of the 1950s); a boyfriend who sees the attacks as rendering Carla unfit to be his wife; and a team of daffy parapsychologists who look as though they may at any moment decide to play it all for laughs, but are nevertheless on hand to provide the requisite note of religious awe (‘Hang in there, Joe’, comments one as the experiment gets under way. ‘And pray’ adds Dr Cooley thoughtfully).
The plot is equally full of loose ends: how, for example, does Carla manage to hide from Jerry the appalling bruises she shows to Sneiderman? Why is the total destruction of Cindy’s apartment never referred to again, since it is plainly the work of a force infinitely stronger than Carla? And would the parapsychologists really walk out on Carla pre-midnight, muttering, ‘If you’ll excuse us, Mrs Moran… ‘? The nature of the attacks is also a highly ambiguous, not to say exploitative, approach to certain areas of sexuality, notably wife-battering and the implication that Carla may encourage and even, in some way, enjoy her defilement.
But leaving aside such niceties of interpretation, the film barrels its way through events, helped by a finely understated performance from Barbara Hershey and a highly skilled construction along the lines of basic cinematic effect. DeFelitta’s screenplay has much of the genuine chill of his earlier Audrey Rose, and The Entity, despite all its formulary ingredients, actually works rather well. The attack in the bathroom, building from an ominous series of strange angles of Carla relaxing in the tub, via a door quietly closing, to her being jerked round the room by her invisible assailant, is neither very profound nor very pleasant, but it is well put together.
Nick Roddick, Monthly Film Bulletin, November 1982
THE ENTITY
Director: Sidney J. Furie
©: Pelleport Investors
Production Company: American Cinema Productions
Executive Producers: Michael Leone, Andrew D.T. Pfeffer
Producer: Harold Schneider
Production Executive: David Salven
Production Manager: David Salven
Production Co-ordinator: Jane Prosnit
Production Co-ordinator (Visual Effects Unit): Elizabeth Goldsmith
Production Controller: Ann Tait
Location Manager: Robert Eggenweiler
Assistant Directors: Tommy Thompson, William Cosentino
Screenplay and Original Novel: Frank De Felitta
Director of Photography: Stephen H. Burum
Optical Camera Operator: Hubert Nichols
Camera Operator: Joe Marquette Jr
Camera Operator (Visual Effects Unit): Sam Di Maggio
Visual Effects Designer: William Cruse
Process Projectionists: Thomas Ajar, Norman Markowitz
Special Effects: Joe Lombardi, Special Effects Unlimited, Marty Bresin, Joe Digaetano, Steve Lombardi, Gary Monak, Bob Willard
Editor: Frank J. Urioste
Production Designer: Charles Rosen
Set Designer: Boyd Willat, Daniel Gluck
Set Decorator: Jerry Wunderlich
Prod Illustrator (Visual Effects Unit): Mentor Huebner
Ice Sculpture: George Risko
Costume Supervisor: Nancy McArdle
Costumes: Darryl Athons
Make-up: Zoltan Elek
Special Make-up Effects: Stan Winston, James Kagel
Puppeteer: James Cotten
Title Design: Gene Kraft
Titles: Modern Film Effects
Music: Charles Bernstein
Music Editor: Ken Wilhoit
Music Recording: Joel Fein
Sound Recording: Willie Burton
Sound Re-recording: Bill Varney, Gregg Landaker, Steve Maslow
Sound Effects Editor: Keith Stafford
ADR (Additional voices): Custom Looping
Stunt Co-ordinator: Chris Howell
Video Consultant: Hal Landaker
Technical Adviser: Barry Taff, Kerry Gaynor
Projection Consultant: Jim Brigham
Cast
Barbara Hershey (Carla Moran)
Ron Silver (Dr Phil Sneiderman)
David Labiosa (Billy Moran)
George Coe (Dr Weber)
Maggie Blye (Cindy Nash)
Jacqueline Brookes (Dr Elizabeth Cooley)
Richard Brestoff (Gene Kraft)
Michael Alldredge (George Nash)
Raymond Singer (Joe Mehan)
Allan Rich (Dr Walcott)
Natasha Ryan (Julie)
Melanie Gaffin (Kim)
Alex Rocco (Jerry Anderson)
Sully Boyar (Mr Reisz)
Tom Stern (Woody Browne)
Curt Lowens (Dr Wilkes)
Paula Victor (Dr Chevalier)
Lee Wilkof (Dr L. Hase)
Deborah Stevenson, Mark Weiner (interns)
Lisa Gurley (receptionist)
Chris Howell (guard)
John Branagan, Daniel Furie, Amy Kirkpatric, Todd Kutches, Pauline Lomas (students)
Renee Neimark (nurse)
Ed Begley, Leigh French (additional voices)
USA 1982
125 mins
IN DREAMS ARE MONSTERS
Nosferatu (Nosferatu – Eine Symphonie des Grauens)
Mon 17 Oct 20:50; Sun 13 Nov 15:50 (+ intro by Silent Film Curator Bryony Dixon); Sat 19 Nov 14:10
Frankenstein
Tue 18 Oct 20:50; Fri 28 Oct 18:20; Tue 8 Nov 18:20; Sun 27 Nov 13:00
The Skeleton Key
Wed 19 Oct 18:00; Mon 14 Nov 20:45
Meet the Monsters: A Season Introduction
Thu 20 Oct 19:30 BFI YouTube
I Walked With a Zombie
Thu 20 Oct 20:40; Tue 1 Nov 18:10
Creature from the Black Lagoon (3D)
Sat 22 Oct 18:15 (+ pre-recorded intro by Mallory O’Meara, award winning and bestselling author of ‘The Lady from the Black Lagoon’); Sat 29 Oct 11:40; Tue 1 Nov 20:50
In Dreams Are Monsters Quiz
Sun 23 Oct 19:00-22:00 Blue Room
Kuroneko (Yabu no naka no kuroneko)
Tue 25 Oct 20:45; Mon 31 Oct 21:00; Fri 18 Nov 18:15
The Fly
Wed 26 Oct 21:00
La Llorona
Thu 27 Oct 20:30; Mon 7 Nov 21:00
Celluloid Screams and Live Cinema UK presents: Ghostwatch + Q&A
Fri 28 Oct 20:20
Viy
Fri 28 Oct 20:45; Tue 8 Nov 20:50
A Nightmare on Elm Street
Sat 29 Oct 18:30; Wed 30 Nov 20:50
Candyman
Sat 29 Oct 20:45; Thu 17 Nov 20:50 (+ intro)
Nightbreed – Director’s Cut
Sun 30 Oct 15:10 (+ intro); Sat 12 Nov 20:35
28 Days Later
Mon 31 Oct 18:00 (+ Q&A with director Danny Boyle); Sat 26 Nov 20:45
Us
Tue 1 Nov 20:40; Sat 19 Nov 15:10; Tue 29 Nov 20:40
The Autopsy of Jane Doe
Wed 2 Nov 18:10; Sat 26 Nov 20:40
Let’s Scare Jessica to Death
Wed 2 Nov 20:45; Sat 19 Nov 20:45
Blacula
Thu 3 Nov 20:55; Sat 26 Nov 13:00
Cronos
Fri 4 Nov 18:30; Sat 19 Nov 12:10; Sun 20 Nov 18:30
Fright Night
Fri 4 Nov 20:50; Tue 22 Nov 20:40 (+ intro)
Possession
Sat 5 Nov 20:20 (+ intro by author Kier-La Janisse); Sun 27 Nov 15:30
Ganja & Hess
Mon 7 Nov 18:00; Sat 26 Nov 15:20
Inferno
Wed 9 Nov 20:40; Sat 26 Nov 18:20
The Entity
Fri 11 Nov 17:55; Tue 15 Nov 20:30
Def by Temptation
Wed 16 Nov 18:10 (+ intro); Sat 26 Nov 18:10
Jennifer’s Body
Sun 20 Nov 15:15; Mon 21 Nov 18:00; Fri 25 Nov 20:45
Pontypool
Mon 21 Nov 20:30; Sun 27 Nov 12:20
Under the Shadow
Wed 23 Nov 20:40; Tue 29 Nov 18:10
Ouija: Origin of Evil
Thu 24 Nov 20:40; Mon 28 Nov 18:10
Pet Sematary
Fri 25 Nov 18:15; Mon 28 Nov 20:40
Good Manners (As Boas Maneiras)
Sun 27 Nov 18:10; Wed 30 Nov 20:25
IN DREAMS ARE MONSTERS EVENTS
City Lit at BFI: Screen Horrors – Screen Monsters
Thu 20 Oct – Thu 15 Dec 18:30-20:30
Beyond Nollywood World Premiere: Inside Life + Q&A with director Clarence A Peters
Sat 29 Oct 14:00
Matchbox Cine presents House of Psychotic Women
Sat 5 Nov 17:50
Son of Ingagi + Panel Discussion
Wed 9 Nov 18:10
Live Commentary with Evolution of Horror, Brain Rot and The Final Girls
Sat 19 Nov 18:00
Big Monster Energy
Tue 22 Nov 18:30
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Programme notes and credits compiled by the BFI Documentation Unit
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