Surprised there isn't a thread here about what I consider to be one of the most frightening cinematic assaults on a female character in film history. The masculine/feminine dynamic is extraordinarily affecting, as main character Carla Moran is beset by neglect and abuse from men both seen and unseen––even those who apparently care for her. A side plot concerning a female friend and her controlling boyfriend only piles on the theme of female victimization.
Despite a somewhat hokey set-piece climax that felt forced by a studio exec, Barbara Hershey and director Sidney Furie elevate this to classic status for me because it was brave in all the right ways and almost twenty-eight years later chilled me right to the bone. A few plot questions linger (as with most just-get-out-of-the-house-and-call-the-police horror) but I had moments of genuine fright, and that's truly rare anymore. The brutal aggression of the demonic rapist is deeply terrifying, and thank you, Furie, for reminding me that no amount of roaring, technicolor CGI is as frightening as a quiet moment and a closed door if you know what you're doing.
Highly recommended, but beware the highly sensitive and graphic subject matter. If you can deal, please do. The performances are top-notch (including an intense turn from Ron Silver as a disbelieving psychologist) and the special effects and score do a disturbingly apt job at ratcheting up the horror. Even Martin Scorcese thinks it's high on the list of the eleven scariest films of all time.
Rarely does a movie ever scare me, but The Entity did just that a few years ago when I first saw it. It scared me so much that I really don't want to watch it again. Brilliant film, good review.
Oh this movie terrifies and terrified me back then, too. The idea of an invisible, extremely strong rapist is incomprehensibly awful.
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"Another great thing about being 70,000 light years away from the nearest Starfleet vessel is that once we finally get back to Earth, we can makeup bullshit stories. Off the top of my head: 'We met Amelia Earhart,' 'We singlehandedly eliminated most of the Borg fleet' or 'Paris and I turned into giant pink lizards and mated.'"
I just saw it the other day and let me tell you so scary and the music they sampled in it Inglouris Bastards and it was a really great peice of music. But I can't imagine a ghost terrifying you and raping you as well in front of your kids and they can't help you. The end especially got me where the ghost shuts the door and says "Welcome home cunt" Man I would of been running out of that house like a bat out of hell.
I'm so buying this movie
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"I hurt" - Karen Cooper "Night Of The Living Dead"
Funny story - When I lived in the sticks of upper northern California near Mt. Shasta it turned out there was a very well known horror author living near me. We became friends (for awhile, until he started obsessing on me, in a weird alomost MISERY-esque revearsal, but that's another story...) and he said another well known horror author who I won't name (but is the son and namesake of yet anooooother very well known horror author, you can do the guess work) had been a member of the clergy, and was involved somewhat in the case the film is based on. Supposedly, this guy left the church because of what he saw workign on that case. And he was left out of the film version.
I have no way to validate this, and I took what the aforementioned nutsoid author said with a grain of salt, but it's still a neat story.
I also highly recommend THE SENTINEL, which has it's own brand of ultra-fucking-creepy going for it as well.
I also highly recommend THE SENTINEL, which has it's own brand of ultra-fucking-creepy going for it as well.
See, now The Sentinel was one of the films I was thinking about when I started feeling disappointed with The House of the Devil. Great lead (the brilliant Cristina Raines), excellent dread, very tight story, and a total ending deliverance. I'd seen the gates of hell open up with my own eyes, and as a youngster, it stuck with me...well, until now! Fantastic shout, but I guess I should go a little easy on THofTD. The Sentinel had excellent source material and some real talent involved.
Ooo this movie gives me the wiggins. Just watched it a few months back and sometimes even still if I'm home alone I get freaked out just thinking about it. The music adds to the terror, and even in Inglourious Basterds like you said MoonButterfly it brought me right back and shook me. Its an amazing movie (Well, The Entity AND Basterds).
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- If you were the only suspect in a senseless bloodbath - would you be standing in the horror section?
Don't knock The Sentinel novel, or the sequel, The Guardian, either. Creeeeeppppy novels...
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"Another great thing about being 70,000 light years away from the nearest Starfleet vessel is that once we finally get back to Earth, we can makeup bullshit stories. Off the top of my head: 'We met Amelia Earhart,' 'We singlehandedly eliminated most of the Borg fleet' or 'Paris and I turned into giant pink lizards and mated.'"
I watched this all alone one night. Big mistake. Even worse, I watched the accompanying documentary. I didn't have 'mares but my house was a living hell for days. :ghost:
The Entity is one of my favorite horror movies (despite me having a terrifying, Entitity-like night once when I was in high school after using a Ouija board) and a great example of "less is more" filmmaking.
It's weird that you mentioned the Sentinel - I thought the novel was great but the movie pulled too many punches to be as effect as the novel.
The novel of The Sentinel (and the sequel, The Guardian) was indeed better than the film version.
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"Another great thing about being 70,000 light years away from the nearest Starfleet vessel is that once we finally get back to Earth, we can makeup bullshit stories. Off the top of my head: 'We met Amelia Earhart,' 'We singlehandedly eliminated most of the Borg fleet' or 'Paris and I turned into giant pink lizards and mated.'"
Rarely does a movie ever scare me, but The Entity did just that a few years ago when I first saw it. It scared me so much that I really don't want to watch it again. Brilliant film, good review.