The concept alone is terrifying. It doesn't matter if you are a man or a woman. The idea of an invisible being or force repeatedly attacking you is enough to explore in one film especially a horror film. To do it right you need someone who can sell this to the audience. Someone who will keep it from coming off as sleazy. Thankfully, Barbara Hershey succeeds in her portrayal of Carla Moran and her performance is one of the biggest strengths of the film. However, without Hershey the film would suffer tremendously and fall apart because unfortunately Hershey's performance is not only one of it's biggest strengths, but one of it's only strengths.
Now I'm not saying the supporting cast is not good. In fact, the performances by the supporting cast members are solid all around for what the script gives them. As others have pointed out in their reviews the script is indeed sloppy. The tension steadily rises for the first half of the film, but after the halfway point the tension is jagged going up and down to the point that it almost feels like another movie. Of course in order for me to go any further I'd have to go into spoiler territory.
***SPOILERS*** Once Carla's friend witnesses the titular Entity in action and Carla no longer feels that she's alone (Hershey does an excellent job portraying the wave of relief one would feel in that situation) the second half of the movie begins leading the film to decline in quality. Earlier I said the second half feels another movie and it does, specifically "Ghostbusters" (1984), but not in a good way.
I'm not joking. Carla gets the help of three parapsychologists who help her combat the supernatural Entity and try to capture it. The film even has it's own Walter Peck in the form of Dr. Sneiderman (Ron Silver), who looks like the coke-head executive Harry Ellis from Die Hard. Sneiderman is a character that is fine for the first half of the film, but ruined in the second half no thanks to the sloppy script.
In the first half of the film Dr. Sneiderman is portrayed as an understandably skeptical and logical man, who is reasonably reticent to think that Carla is affected by anything supernatural. He comes across as fair, level-headed man of science. Yet that all dissolves at the beginning of the second half. Unlike Walter Peck, who had never talked to eyewitnesses of the supernatural had justification for being skeptical of the supernatural whereas Dr. Sneiderman has none. Dr. Sneiderman devolves into an incredibly annoying, close-minded jerk who ignores eyewitness accounts from several people including Carla's boyfriend.
I know I'm spending a lot of time on Dr. Sneiderman, but he really is a big problem for the film during the second half and frankly this character really drags the film down. The psychologists are frustrating to watch at this point because the audience and other characters know there's supernatural forces at work, but they refuse to listen. The end is also a bit of a mess.
By that point in the film Hershey and the supporting cast are doing their best with the material they're given. Sadly, the ending leaves much to be desired. You really don't know what the Entity is and this is an instance where ambiguity hurts the film. There is no real satisfaction save for that Carla has become stronger from this ordeal I guess. Other than that there are a lot of unanswered questions and not in any contemplative or compelling way.
All in all the Entity is a mixed bag of a horror film that starts off strong for a solid hour, but falters at the second half. Still its worth your time at least for Barbara Hershey's wonderful performance. In short, I personally wouldn't call this one of the 11 scariest films of all time like legendary filmmaker Martin Scorsese, but to each their own.
Now I'm not saying the supporting cast is not good. In fact, the performances by the supporting cast members are solid all around for what the script gives them. As others have pointed out in their reviews the script is indeed sloppy. The tension steadily rises for the first half of the film, but after the halfway point the tension is jagged going up and down to the point that it almost feels like another movie. Of course in order for me to go any further I'd have to go into spoiler territory.
***SPOILERS*** Once Carla's friend witnesses the titular Entity in action and Carla no longer feels that she's alone (Hershey does an excellent job portraying the wave of relief one would feel in that situation) the second half of the movie begins leading the film to decline in quality. Earlier I said the second half feels another movie and it does, specifically "Ghostbusters" (1984), but not in a good way.
I'm not joking. Carla gets the help of three parapsychologists who help her combat the supernatural Entity and try to capture it. The film even has it's own Walter Peck in the form of Dr. Sneiderman (Ron Silver), who looks like the coke-head executive Harry Ellis from Die Hard. Sneiderman is a character that is fine for the first half of the film, but ruined in the second half no thanks to the sloppy script.
In the first half of the film Dr. Sneiderman is portrayed as an understandably skeptical and logical man, who is reasonably reticent to think that Carla is affected by anything supernatural. He comes across as fair, level-headed man of science. Yet that all dissolves at the beginning of the second half. Unlike Walter Peck, who had never talked to eyewitnesses of the supernatural had justification for being skeptical of the supernatural whereas Dr. Sneiderman has none. Dr. Sneiderman devolves into an incredibly annoying, close-minded jerk who ignores eyewitness accounts from several people including Carla's boyfriend.
I know I'm spending a lot of time on Dr. Sneiderman, but he really is a big problem for the film during the second half and frankly this character really drags the film down. The psychologists are frustrating to watch at this point because the audience and other characters know there's supernatural forces at work, but they refuse to listen. The end is also a bit of a mess.
By that point in the film Hershey and the supporting cast are doing their best with the material they're given. Sadly, the ending leaves much to be desired. You really don't know what the Entity is and this is an instance where ambiguity hurts the film. There is no real satisfaction save for that Carla has become stronger from this ordeal I guess. Other than that there are a lot of unanswered questions and not in any contemplative or compelling way.
All in all the Entity is a mixed bag of a horror film that starts off strong for a solid hour, but falters at the second half. Still its worth your time at least for Barbara Hershey's wonderful performance. In short, I personally wouldn't call this one of the 11 scariest films of all time like legendary filmmaker Martin Scorsese, but to each their own.