Summary: When an invisible attacker beats and rapes Carla Moran (Barbara Hershey), the mother of three seeks comfort from her friends and family, who dismiss her story as insane. But a psychiatrist (Ron Silver) and a team of paranormal experts come to believe Carla and devise a plan to trap the mysterious Entity. The thriller blends chilling horror with kinky exploitation, as exemplified in the scene in which Carla`s breasts are fondled by unseen hands.

Great Horror Film Now Available on Blu-Ray
Reviewed by GregMO ROberts

1983 was a pretty unspectacular year for horror films. Jaws 3D, Psycho II and Stephen King’s Christine were the top grossing genre films of the year while The Hunger, Amityville 3D and Nightmares all flopped at the box office. Yet the year wasn’t a total write-off. Right there in 53rd place on the highest grossing films of 1983 was a supernatural film based on a shocking true story. The film was The Entity and starred Oscar Nominee Barbara Hershey (Insidious, Black Swan) as Carla Moran, a single mother who is repeatedly tormented and raped by a powerful paranormal entity. There is no true explanation as to why the attacks begin but a thundering original score by Charles Bernstein accompanies each increasingly violent encounter and signals some frightening and terrifying events. Carla soon takes refuge first in psychiatrist Phil Sneiderman (Ron Silver). Phil is a rational voice who is open to many possibilities as to why Carla believes she is being attacked. But when Phil and Carla’s frustrations reach a boiling point, Carla turns to a team of parapsychologists who set up elaborate equipment and perform various tests in an attempt to prove that ghosts and the entity that is distressing Carla are indeed real. The Entity was directed by Sidney Furie (Iron Eagle) based on the bestselling novel by Frank DeFelitta and has been hard to find outside of some rare European VHS copies that can be found on Ebay. That is until this week when The Entity finally gets released on Blu-Ray ready to be experienced by a whole new audience. Being over 30-years since its production, The Entity has a few scenes that do feel dated. The concluding chapters capture of the entity in liquid hydrogen being the most groan worthy. But the story, the acting and the fascination of the story being a fictionalized account of a true story lead to some shocking good scares and even film maestro Martin Scorsese listed The Entity as the 11th scariest film of all-time. Granted, Marty’s list was circa 2009. For a film shot in 1981, there is a mixed bag of good and bad special effects. When the entity appears in some form of laser show, the sound effects that accompany the practical effects seemed ripped right out of Flash Gordon. On the other hand, the rape scenes were incredible effective and the unseen fondling of Hersey’s breasts remain one of my most memorable horror scenes (I originally screened the film in 1985). Anchor Bay Entertainment has now given the film new life with the release of the stripped down blu-ray disc. There are no special features to be found. But there is a fascinating and at times frightening movie. One that every horror aficionado should seek out.

Making A Case For Ghosts In-Your-Face...
Reviewed by Katanasting

Noticing the review for AN AMERICAN HAUNTING, I have to confess that I was interested in seeing it from the preview trailer, but one thing made my interest go soft about as quickly as the hard-on of an adolescent leafing through a medical textbook about STD`s...the PG-13 rating. A case has to be made somehow for ghost stories (actually for ALL horror stories worth telling) that haven`t been crafted for members of the Cult of Mary Kate and Ashley. THE ENTITY is one of those stories: a full-strength, balls-to-the-wall excursion into terror about things that go `bump` in the night. HARD. Barbara Hershey got critical raves for her unguarded performance as single-mom Carla Moran, who has enough problems in her life just trying to raise two kids and make ends meet. Then one night she is viciously attacked and raped. And if that`s not bad enough, she can`t I.D. her assailant to the police...because he was INVISIBLE. An unseen assailant? How does anybody give a logical explanation for that one? That`s the least of poor Carla`s worries, because the attacks continue, growing in ferocity. Desperate for help, she consults a psychiatrist (Ron Silver), whose advice turns out to be, of course, about as useful as putting Anna Nicole Smith`s tits on Horatio Sanz. When the assaults begin to affect her friends and family, Carla finally turns to a team of parapsycologists for help. The ending is a rush to a certain point, but unfortunately, unlike the wallop packed into the ending of such ghostly thrillers as POLTERGEIST, THE ENTITY`s finale seems oddly anti-climactic, (especially since the special FX budget was probably compromised...you`ll see what I mean.) Hershey and Sidney J. Furie took great pains to make the rape/attack scenes as squirm-inducing as possible, so that even though Carla is admittedly in the "hot babe" category, you still feel like a slimy perv, watching not only what seems incredible, but scenes you feel like you SHOULDN`T be watching or becoming aroused by. Which is not a minus, believe me. Ron Silver and respected character actor Jacqueline Brookes ably represent the opposite sides of science and the supernatural with their characters, debating heatedly about how the two disciplines can never come to terms with which is right in helping Carla with her case. But Hershey puts a strong human face on the semantic arguments; where these academics and scholars are struggling for their reputations, Carla is fighting for her life. Though the film is somewhat dated in its execution now, thanks to all the advances that we`ve made with CGI and blue/green screen work, THE ENTITY still has a worthy place in the pantheon of great modern-day ghost stories, or tales of the unexplained. I`m not a big fan of remakes, but if done right, maybe someone should take a stab at this one.