O Enigma do Mal

Carla Moran is violently raped by a seemingly invisible force. She tried to tell the people around her about what has happened but finds only resistance as her family and friends don't believe her as she didn't see who assaulted her especially when she says that her house was locked up when it happened and the assailant seemingly vanished into thin air.

Frank De Felitta's bestselling book based on a true story (the case of Doris Bither) translates very well to the big screen with Barbara Hershey cast as Carla doing a phenomenal job in invoking the terror of a woman going through something very real but undertaken by someone or something very unreal. Apparently Bette Midler, Sally Field, Jane Fonda and Jill Clayburgh were all offered the role but declined.

Sidney J. Furie's film stands alone as a one-off film of a one-off case that most people will have thought of as too much of a tall story to be true.

Carla not being believed can also be seen as an allegory of something that far too many women (and men) go through when they find the courage and strength to report a rape or sexual assault- that their horror isn't over yet as they try to seek justice whilst being met with an unfeeling and cruel judicial system that views their account with scepticism and disbelief. If it actually makes it to a court of law they will be made to relive their trauma. Those opposing them will try to disprove and belittle the magnitude of what they've been through. Or they will try to convince a jury that it didn't happen at all.

The film all too harrowingly shows the full horror of what Carla goes through when she is raped and does a great job of showing the trail of very disturbing signs when the spirit or entity is approaching (objects shaking, a certain odour that permeates the surroundings Moran is in, a very sudden drop in temperature). Hershey's performance, just like the film in general, never slides into TV movie melodramatics or sensationalism.

There needs to be special mention to Charles Bernstein's insistent, pulsating and truly shocking score that is perfect for the movie and it's subject matter. There are also echoes of the music he would write three years later for a new film called A Nightmare on Elm Street.

Also the special effects for the scenes in which Moran is molested by the invisible force are very effective indeed. For one sequence a body cast of Hershey was made that was manipulated by currents of air to make it look like the invisible entity was touching her. It succeeds eerily well. Stan Winston supervised the practical effects.

The effects also come into their own when Carla meets professionals who actually believe her story and work in the field of parapsychology. But to tell you more about this would make me tiptoe into spoiler territory...

When the film opened it was met with protests from those who thought that such a film was exploiting such a serious topic as rape. Hershey actually defended this claim and voiced that herself and the filmmakers had actually worked hard not to make the film exploitative and to display the true horror of sexual assault and rape.

All in all a terrifying film that still feels underrated and excluded from serious writings regarding 80's horror.

Carla(Barbara Hershey) is a mother living happily with his sons,when is spontaneously raped ,sexually molested and caught up by a ominous,devilish horror.And now a possessed mother is plunged by a demonic force into supernatural spirit that mistreat and beat her.Meanwhile numerous rare,mysterious things are happening and a parapsychologists try to help her to get the bottom of mystery and vanquish the malignant entity but her psychologist(Ron Silver)doesn't believe her.The movie is pàrtially based on a supposedly true events.

The film contains restless horror as when the invisible being attacks.Tension,creepy atmosphere,genuine chills,suspense is continued and appears lurking and menacing into house,rooms and car .Great loads of screams,shocks,exploitation and terror abound with the usual poltergeists phenomenon caused by the weird entity.It's recreated with magnificent make-up and high grade plethora special effects by the master Stan Winston which are frightening and horrifying the spectator.The eerie music(Charles Berstein) with an excessive utilizing of synthesizer adds sensation to the spooky atmosphere. The original ¨Exorcist¨(Friedkin)film spread a wave of demonic possessions movies that continues unabated nowadays ,¨Changeling¨, ¨Amytiville ¨(Stuart Rosemberg )¨are two further examples of this sub-genre following a great number of sequels,imitations and rip off.This is one of the highest horror movie of the 80s .The writing credits by the terror specialist FranK De Felitta.The motion picture is well directed by Sidney J. Furie

Actually, "The Entity" isn't a haunted house movie as much as it is a haunted person movie since the ghost or "the entity" only follows the main character around. What makes this movie darker than say "Poltergeist" is that we hardly ever see the demon that causes all the trouble. We only see what it does and that's raping its poor victim without remorse.

A story such as this could easily have become campy, especially since it was made in 1981. Surprisingly, "The Entity" still holds up very well. The performances are convincing, the characters are believable and the special effects are reduced to a minimum. The whole script comes dangerously close to losing its balance when in the last third of the movie a team of parapsychologists turns up and has some "really rad ideas" on how to destroy The Entity. However, thankfully the movie doesn't go too much over the top.

The weak points of "The Entity" are that it's not too scary and too long, both for the sake of maintaining veracity since this is supposedly based on a true story. As a horror movie it could have used better pacing and some jump scenes. The score is minimalist in that it's only a thunderous beat that kicks in as soon as The Entity turns up. What worked well in "The Thing" is a bit too little here. The same can be said about the ending. An open ending can be a good thing, but there should at least come a satisfying climax before it and at the end the main character's situation should have changed for better or for worse. "The Entity" kind of just stops without the heroine achieving anything.

A remake by Hideo Nakata is in the works and it seems to be a good idea to hand the project to an Asian director as the rawness of the story would probably get lost in the hands of an American. Here's one original movie that can be bettered as much as it could be worsened. We'll see what happens.

I remember seeing this movie for the first time when I was 12 years old and being scarred wittless. While wandering through the video store recently I decided to rewatch this movie, to see if the intervening years had dulled the edge on this movie. Not only was I surprised that I still liked this movie, I was more surprised at how effective the film is on so many different levels. "The Entity" works as a horror film - no question. But, it's one of the rare instances in horror where you actually feel the anguish the main character is going through and truly care about the outcome of the character, not just when is "it" going to strike again. For anyone that wants to see a great horror movie that is usually overlooked in the "best of" lists, this is definitely it.

'The Entity' is a disturbing account of what are supposed to be true events, obviously they are the usual dramatisation's and alterations to the plot to heighten the viewing experience, but it's still a damn good film.

Barbara Hershey gives the performance of her life as the frightened character of Carla, who grows and evolves as the film moves forward. She is adequately supported by the rest of the cast who all play likable characters, except for the doctor; he just becomes annoying and ultimately ends up looking very stupid.

Unfortunately the special effects have not withstood the test of time very well, they aren't laughably bad by any stretch of the imagination, but they really do look pretty tired now.

Overall 'The Entity' is an under-rated film that is actually one of the best horror movies of the 80's. It has great tension that starts right from the word 'action', it successfully grabs your attention and doesn't let you go and it's very graphic and disturbing in the way a horror movie should be.

8/10 brilliant supernatural Horror