Plot
Supposedly based partially on a true story, a woman is tormented and sexually molested by an invisible demon.

Release Year: 1982

Rating: 6.4/10 (5,603 voted)

Director: Sidney J. Furie

Stars: Barbara Hershey, Ron Silver, David Labiosa

Storyline
Carla Moran awakens one night to find herself being beaten and raped by an unseen presence. Terrified of what's happening to her, and shunned by friends and family who think she's lost her mind, she seeks help from parapsychologists. The researchers soon discover that evil spiritual force has been drawn to Carla and is responsible for the violent attacks. The question now, however, is how do they stop it? Based on a supposedly true story.

Writers: Frank De Felitta, Frank De Felitta

Cast:
Barbara Hershey - Carla Moran
Ron Silver - Phil Sneiderman
David Labiosa - Billy
George Coe - Dr. Weber
Margaret Blye - Cindy Nash
Jacqueline Brookes - Dr. 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

Taglines: Something evil is after Carla Moran, and it will stop at nothing to get her.

Release Date: 4 February 1983

Filming Locations: Laird International Studio - 9336 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Opening Weekend: $3,685,654 (USA) (6 February 1983) (1 Screen)

Gross: $13,277,558 (USA)

Runtime: 125 min

Trivia:
The real-life Carla Moran's teenage son described a particularly vicious attack in which Carla was thrown by the malevolent force and hit her head. He tried to intervene, but he was also thrown, breaking his arm. In the filming of the movie, the actor playing the son broke his arm in that scene, and the curtains tore from top to bottom without explanation.

Goofs:
Continuity: When Carla is first attacked by the demon, she is slapped rather hard in the face and her lip is bloodied. But in the subsequent scenes and the days following, there is no mark on her lip.

Quotes:
Carla Moran: Your halo is burning.

To have stirred up such diametrically opposite views here, THE ENTITY must rate above mediocre.

Rating:

When any film incurs user-comments that are at a 180 degree variance from one to the next, the odds are it is the subject itself which is the catalyst behind the emotion. We have those who admire its technical expertise (at least for 1981) and who recall its fear-factor and professionalism to others who deplore the entire work, branding its laughable script and effects. The truth I suspect lies midway between these inconsistent comments.

To start with there are always going to be a significant percentage of the population who are affronted by the concept of a young girl being sexually assaulted by a ghost for a prolonged period of time....whether it actually happened or not. This, incidentally IS based on a true story that was itself the grounding for Frank De Felita's top selling book. If the notion is a distasteful one, the chances of you liking the film are slim HOWEVER technically adept it is. As it transpires, Barbara Hershey is remarkably good as Carla Moran, the young lady with a problem neither the Police, the Medical Profession or the supposed experts of the paranormal have much luck with. The rapes and sexual assaults are both graphic and quite worrying. Some loopy reviewer likened them to scenes in the SCREAM and I KNOW WHAT YOU DID films! Huh? I think being taken apart by a psycho with a knife or hook is way THIS side of normal compared to being sexually molested in your own bed! but hey, thats just MY opinion!

For its day THE ENTITY was nearer the edge of hard-core horror than many of its contemporaries. I suspect those who claimed to have "laughed" at the entire thing are having themselves on or at least putting up a front for whatever reason. The film was not laughable! I can understand those who believed the film was exploitive and bordering on the distasteful - but hey, so was SILENCE OF THE LAMBS!

I believe you owe it to yourself to find a copy of this film (a) If you have never seen it or (b) If some reasonably heavy-duty horror scenes appeal to you!

All up I would rate this a 6.6 which probably errs on the side of conservativeness.

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