Scream Factory unleashes the traumatic supernatural thriller The Entity on their Collector’s Edition line.
Carla Morgan (Barbra Hershey) is a single mother, struggling to get by. She has an older son Billy (David Labiosa) and two younger children Julie (Natasha Ryan) and Kim (Melanie Gaffin). Carla comes home after a long day at work one night and goes to bed. In her room she is attacked and raped by an invisible force. Carla does not know what to make of her attack.
She visits Dr. Sneiderman (Ron Pearlman) who tries to comfort her both emotionally and physically. Dr. Sneiderman has a hard time believing Carla’s story and recommends her to continue to see a psychiatrist.
It doesn’t help however as she is soon attacked more frequently and more violently by her unseen assailant.
The Entity is a harrowing film to watch. The attacks on Carla are brutal and scary. Yes, this film is truly scary as the attacks are unprovoked and seem to come out of nowhere. Also, there is no explanation why this single, hard working mother is being targeted by this demonic force, she just is. Barbra Hershey gives a hell of a performance acting against something we, and she cannot see. It’s a powerhouse class in acting. I can only imagine the toll it took on her making this film.
Overall, The Entity is a solid to great horror film. It delves into not only the supernatural but the real horror women face from sexual predators. Only a couple of missteps keep this from being an all-time great and that is the music when “The Entity” shows up is over the top and too much. And there is a little bit of dialogue at the end the end of the film that is totally unnecessary. The line is infamous, stupid and has no place in the film.
The Entity haunts blu-ray with a solid transfer. The film has a nice organic look to it, with subtle colors that don’t necessarily pop, but do a good job projecting the film and its mood.
The Entity screams onto blu-ray with a thumping and terrifying mix. Although I am not the biggest fan of the score that accompanies the “Entity” it is nonetheless effective. It does give the “demon” a personality and the rest of the sound mix will stress your home theater setup.
Being a Scream Factory Collector’s Edition, The Entity comes packed with great special features!
Audio Commentary with Author/Filmmaker Daniel Kramer: Not a bad track from the author of a biography about the director Sidney J. Furie. There are pauses but Kramer certainly knows his stuff.
Inner Strength: An Interview with Actress Barbra Hershey: A wonderful interview where Hershey rightly points out the difficulties with the role of Carla. Hershey is great here that makes the 20 minute interview fly by.
Seeing is Believing: An Interview with Actor David Labiosa: Another solid interview with the actor where he details his career and his work on The Entity.
High Dread: An Interview with Composer Charles Bernstein: Bernstein talks about his process on scoring a horror film, something he hadn’t done before.
Spirits and Sprocket Holes: An Interview with Editor Frank J. Urinate: This is a really fun interview as the editor talks not only about the film, but the strange occurrences that happened on set and in the editing room.
Trailers From Hell: The Entity with Audio Commentary by Luca Guadagnino
The Entity Files: An older documentary that examines “real” paranormal cases.
Trailers, TV Spots, Radio Spots and a Still Gallery
The Entity was a blind buy for me. I do that a lot with Scream Factory titles as they are all well produced. What you get here is a great horror film, given a great blu-ray release that you should buy if you like horror. It is a tough watch but if you can handle the sexual assault scenes, you are rewarded with a well acted, well directed fright flick.
Film: A-
Video: B
Audio: A
Extras: A+
Overall: A