Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		3.5

The Entity Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov May 20, 2017

Sidney J. Furie's "The Entity" (1982) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Eureka Entertainment. The only bonus feature on the disc is an original trailer for the film. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".

He was in the room

I saw The Entity on a cold and windy winter night some years after it had already been released. I remember picking it up on VHS in my favorite video store while browsing through the latest genre selections -- different corners of the store had themed sections that would highlight either the latest hits or some of the manager’s favorite picks -- after the box cover piqued my interest. There was a small picture of Barbara Hershey’s face right under the title and this was a good enough reason for me to rent the film, but then I also saw that it was directed by Sidney J. Furie, which was even better because I really liked his early work. So, I did not even read the synopsis. I grabbed the plastic box and headed to the front of the store where I had to pick up the tape. I would never forget that night because the two hours that I spent later on in front of my TV turned out to be the most intense viewing experience that I have had to date. I am not trying to be overly melodramatic here. The film stayed with me for years after that night and I actually did quite a bit of research on the true story it recreates. Of course I also read Frank De Felitta’s novel, but this is one of those rare cases where the film is actually a lot better than the original material that inspired it. The novel has more detailed descriptions, but they also add a different flavor to the story. The film uses sound -- and I bet De Felitta, who also wrote the script for it, had some very specific instructions how it should be incorporated -- in some strikingly effective ways which becomes an essential element of the nightmarish atmosphere. The heavy thumping during the attacks, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, goes right into your head, and when Hershey panics moments before she is attacked, the atmosphere is absolutely phenomenal.

The film was completed in 1982 and there is a lot that has been written about it since then, so I am just going to mention a few bits about the true story it reconstructs. If you don’t know anything about it but wish to see the film, ignore old reviews and promotional materials that were published by CBS/Fox Video (this includes more recent printed material and original trailers from Twentieth Century Fox) as they contain some major spoilers. This way you will likely experience the entire range of emotions that I did years ago.

At the center of the story is Carla Moran (Hershey), a single mother, who lives a fairly uneventful life in sunny California. She goes to work, takes care of her children, and occasionally spends time with her friends. Then one night after she returns from work something, like an invisible force, rapes her in her house. Then the force does it again, and again, and again. Eventually, Carla meets Dr. Phil Sneiderman (Ron Silver), a psychoanalyst, and he vows to help her recover, assuming that the force is hiding somewhere in the deep corners of her mind. But the more Dr. Sneiderman learns about Carla’s disturbing experiences, the more convinced he becomes that they are in fact real.

The film merges the illogical and logical parts of Carla’s story in a truly brilliant fashion. It is structured as a thriller, but instead of moving toward a conventional resolution it actually goes deep into a territory where there is essentially very little room for conventional logic. Admittedly, this isn’t the first film to bend reality like that, but it is the only one that I am aware of that does it while recreating true events.

Hershey is outstanding and it is such a shame that the Academy did not at least recognize the quality of her performance with an Oscar nomination. Silver is also very convincing as the psychoanalyst who is willing to trust his new patient despite the reservations of his colleagues.

Furie worked with cinematographer Stephen Burum, who is probably best known for his contributions to many of Brian De Palma’s best films (Rumble Fish, Body Double).

The Entity Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, The Entity arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Eureka Entertainment.

The release is sourced from the same older master that Anchor Bay Home Entertainment licensed from Twentieth Century Fox when it prepared its Blu-ray release of The Entity in 2012. Generally speaking it is a decent master, but with a few obvious issues. During footage with an abundance of light clarity and detail are mostly pleasing, but during the darker/indoor footage there is quite a bit of light to moderate crush that collapses existing detail and ultimately affects depth. Fluidity is also a bit inconsistent. The bigger issue, however, is that contrast is slightly elevated and as a result there are some random spikes of harsher grain. In other words, instead of heaving uneven grain because of some inherited limitations, there is actually some quite unnatural grain that makes different segments having a bit of a digital edge (see screencaptures #2 and 11). Still, the film does not have the distracting harsh digital appearance that many catalog titles from Universal's vaults do. The color scheme is good, though a proper new master will undoubtedly produce better saturated primaries and wider ranges of nuances. Image stability is very good. There are no large cuts, debris, or damage marks, but a few tiny flecks occasionally can be spotted. My score is 3.25/5.00. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

The Entity Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature. When turned on, they split the image frame and the black bar below it.

While clarity is quite good, I find depth to be slightly underwhelming. I actually would have loved to see a 2.0 track on one of these Blu-ray releases (my Region-A release also has a 5.1 track which is undoubtedly from the same master that was used to source this release), but apparently there were also theatrical releases with an original 6-track. Either way, I think that if the audio is ever remastered the new track will undoubtedly introduce a number of meaningful improvements.

The Entity Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - original trailer for The Entity. In English, not subtitled. (3 min).

The Entity Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

There are all sorts of different opinions about what makes a film scary and there is probably a little bit of truth in all of them. I think that the best ones always engage the mind in a special way and in the process introduce a number of credible what-if scenarios. These are also films with tremendous atmosphere. Sidney J. Furie's The Entity is quite possibly the most effective chiller that I have seen to date, and on top of this it recreates true events. It is great to see that it is now available on Blu-ray in the United Kingdom, but it is a bit underwhelming that this release is essentially a replica of the old North American release. Let's hope that in the not so distant future we will see a big special edition that finally does the film justice. RECOMMENDED.