Sidney Furie’s 1982 film The Entity is based off of a true story, adapted by Frank De Felitta into a novel and subsequently a film screenplay. The actual case of Doris Bither, otherwise known as the Entity Hauntings, is a sad story that most likely had no true connections to supernatural phenomena; however, The Entity as an adaptation certainly enhances some of the events of those “hauntings” into a surprisingly adept look at emotional and psychological trauma and the plight of a single mother attempting to understand her real phenomena while being unknowingly misled by modern science unwilling to allow for mystical acts of nature.
Barbara Hershey plays the afflicted woman Carla, who, as the film explains, has experienced her own fair share of psychological and physiological abuse in her past. The first half of the film finds Furie focusing on Carla’s interviews with Dr. Sneiderman (Ron Silver) after she experiences a supernatural rape and nonsexual assaults. The psychological focus allows the audience to understand Carla as a protagonist and also gives reasoning why she would be left open to these kinds of paranormal attacks; it also forces the viewer to question whether Carla’s experiences truly are part of her own psychic hallucinations.
Both Silver and Hershey give great performances and play off of each other very well. The first hour of the film is some of the most rich and rewarding, not only because of the various attacks in Carla’s home – all quite disturbing due to their sexual nature, sometimes taking place in front of her young children – but also because the film brings up interesting questions about how to define real and imagined trauma. There is a moment, though, where The Entity presents two paths the film could travel. One is more problematic, that Carla truly is hallucinating these events making her a weak character that is a constant victim.
However, De Felitta and Furie choose to take the film in a different direction, treating the entity as a literal manifestation of a dark force and dropping the psychological exploration in the second hour for a paranormal investigation. While some may not like the direction, it is arguably the better decision: the paranormal entity is a real force for Carla to overcome and not some psychological trauma that she has carried with her over time, and it allows her character to strengthen and progress from the timid woman at the beginning of the film.
In this sense, The Entity showcases a great example of a powerful woman throughout. Hershey’s character has overcome past abuse; she’s forged a life for herself and her kids despite some bad experiences; and at the end of the film, she’s found a strength in battling the entity despite its constant presence in her life, even after the film ends. There’s no perfect resolution in The Entity, and Carla’s hauntings presumably continue; but Furie shows us that she’s figured out how to confront the beast, like waging a war. It’s indicative because of the entity’s only piece of dialogue throughout the film: “Welcome home, cunt.” It seems sinister, but more than that, it’s a verbalized threat meant to scare because the entity’s actions no longer affect Carla the way they used to. There’s a powerful motif here, and thankfully it doesn’t rely on Carla’s past vulnerabilities.
Furie’s film is often spooky and disturbing, with some great special effects from Stan Winston and his crew. Charles Bernstein helps by providing a memorable score, and the cast puts in an excellent performance. The Entity might not have the same visceral scares as The Exorcist nearly ten years before it, but its more sexual focus is a welcome addition to the paranormal genre. In many ways, this is an overlooked gem in the horror genre (though many seem to be appreciating it more and more).