Review of The Entity (1982) by Timothy S — 09 Dec 2011

"The Entity" is a film that has never really gotten a lot of respect from me over the years, but all of that changed with my most recent viewing. I saw it with a fresh set of eyes and appreciated it for the first time ever. It's gotten a bad rap for the demoralizing and graphic rape scenes, and they are indeed hard to watch, but the rest of the film is simply riveting. Barbara Hershey gives such a strong central performance, pretty much carrying the entire film on her own, that it's hard to view her character as a victim. She's smart and strong-willed, and because of that, I was rooting for her the whole way.

The film is based on an alleged true story, and as with all films of this nature, there is a great amount of skepticism that comes along with that. But Hershey is so good that she made me a believer. She's convincing, and I completely bought into it. I couldn't wait to see what would happen next, and I didn't want the film to end before all of the loose ends were wrapped up satisfyingly.

The movie does a great job of creating a lot of atmosphere on a shoestring budget, and because the story is so involving, it doesn't need a lot of expensive special effects. It creates a mood, and the viewer's imagination takes over from there. Ron Silver adds a lot of tension as a well-meaning psychiatrist, even though you do spend most of the time rooting against him.

"The Entity" is smart, gripping and completely credible and I don't know why I never saw those attributes before. I was completely riveted.