Carla Moran (Barbara Hershey) lives with her three children and has had a difficult past. One evening she senses an intruder in her bedroom, and is physically assaulted and raped -- but no one is there! Periodically this continues, and she wonders if she's going crazy. A sympathetic psychiatrist named Phil Sneiderman (Ron Silver) tries to get to the bottom of what's happening to her, but he, understandably thinks it's in her mind and she's doing it to herself, even though there are wounds on her body in places that she couldn't possibly reach. Fed up as the attacks continue, Carla eventually turns to a team of parapsychologists, a trio whose presence in Carla's life and home Phil strenuously objects to. They believe a strange "entity" is responsible for the attacks on Carla, and arrange for her to help trap this invisible creature in a huge "set" erected in a gymnasium equipped with cameras and canisters of a liquid that can freeze the entity. But, as Phil fears, will Carla get caught in the trap instead of the monster?
The Entity is a suspenseful film that benefits from two excellent lead performances from Hershey and Silver, as well as good work from the supporting cast, which includes David Labiosa [Mega Piranha] as Carla's grown son, Billy; Margaret Blye as her caring friend, Cindy; Alex Rocco as her freaked-out boyfriend, Jerry; Jacqueline Brooks as Dr. Cooley; and others. The thumping on the soundtrack during the "thrill" sequences becomes irritating and there are a few moments of illogic, but the picture -- if not always in the best taste -- is absorbing. This is based on a novel by Frank De Felitta which was supposedly inspired by an actual case. You decide.
Verdict: Compelling psychological-supernatural horror story. ***.
2 comments:
I like this one, too. A big fan of Hershey/Seagull! And of course of the great Ron Silver, who is wonderful in one of my favorite films, Reversal of Fortune as well as in Silkwood.
This is a forgotten horror classic, so much better than the similar story that Rock Hudson starred in around the same time...was it called Embryo? And I also remember a schlocky thing called It's Alive, scared me to death as a kid.
-Chris
Yeah, wasn't it weird when Hershey temporarily changed her name to Seagull because, I think, a seagull died during the filming of "Last Summer" or something?
Ron Silver was a terrific actor and I liked him in virtually everything I saw him in.
Rock Hudson did do a film called "Embryo," but I think that was basically about cloning. Haven't seen it in years. Amazon Prime has a murky print of it I haven't watched yet.
There was Larry Cohen's "It's Alive" about the killer infant and Larry Buchanan's (I think) "It's Alive," a 99 cent item about a creature in a cave.
Post a Comment