Recently
there was much talk online about a recent Netflix acquisition called
Veronica. Out of nowhere a bunch of people were praising the
film as crazy scary and quite good, then others came out and declared
it a total bore. Deciding to add it to my Saturday night viewing
schedule I found it to be a pretty hollow experience. Nowhere near
good enough to thrill me yet not awful enough to provide much fun.
Some of the scares would have been effective had I given a crap and
not been convinced that the whole thing was leading towards a cheap
twist, which it somewhat did. Frankly due to it's general storyline
involving the evils of spirit boards it felt like another one of
those dull Ouija movies.
Watching
something like Veronica makes me wonder how so many people
could find it scary or entertaining. Were they simply caught off
guard? Maybe they have very low standards? It's just very confusing
for a guy who can walk back to his bedroom and bring out something
much better and more frightening.
I'm not here to bash on Veronica's brief burst of internet
fame though. Actually I wanted to use it as a bridge towards talking
about a much better film with some similar themes. The whole time
spent watching a girl who apparently struggles with sexuality and is
burdened with parental responsibilities, in this case for her
siblings reminded me of the 1982 shocker, The Entity.
The
film has a an wide range of talents in-front of an behind the camera.
Directed by Sidney J. Furie (who has an incredibly diverse list of
credits) and staring Barbara Hershey and Ron Silver, with a script
from Frank De Felitta based on his novel. It should also be noted
that Felitta's original book is supposedly focused on true events
though there are arguments against the legitimacy of that case.
Regardless of any basis in reality, Felitta can count this among his
list of worthwhile horror credits along with Audrey Rose and
Dark Night of the Scarecrow which he also directed. One has to
wonder how he would have approached this story from the directors
chair but it's tough to complain when Furie does an excellent job
overall.
The
Entity is the tale of a single mother name Carla Moran who
struggles with almost nightly visitations from a sexually abusive
entity. The film waste no time in getting to the scary shit either as
we're offered just a few moments with Carla before she suffers her
first attack. That's vital to the progression of the story as her
connections to others make up so much of the deeper meaning to this
film. She has a negative history with men ranging from her abusive
father to past husbands. Her current lot in life is with her three
kids, a decent traveling salesman boyfriend, one female friend, and
upon seeking aid, a doctor (Ron Silver) who begins to develop
feelings towards her.
A
particularly interesting aspect to the film is that it become
perfectly clear that something supernatural is afoot, there's no
trickery on that end. However; we never learn exactly what the cause
of all this mayhem really is. It could be a ghost such as Carla's
father or one of her ex-lovers. Maybe it's a demon that latched on
during a low-point in her life. Or could it be a psychic
manifestation of of her sexual frustrations as a woman chained down
by motherhood? Multiple potential explanations are given without any
singular answer. While this may sound frustrating, the writing
handles it beautifully as it makes the subject Carla's fear so
ambiguous. Should she be weary of her past, a dark force from beyond,
or herself?
Hopefully
I've made it clear that the movie has some good dramatic elements and
surprisingly deep writing, but let's remember that I wanted to tell
you about the scare-factor. The Entity features so many freaky
sequences that it becomes an issue as the audience starts to build a
tolerance for all the abuse. The initial attacks are all downright
terrifying and highly sexual but eventually you'll become exhausted
from seeing this poor woman raped over and over again by some unseen
force. The final act of the film attempts to correct this issue by
changing things up, but we'll have to come back to that.
Two
elements that help to make this film so scary are the cinematography
by Stephen H. Burum who finds ways to make normal rooms look
threatening, and then there's the music. Charles Bernstein who is
likely best remembered for his work on Nightmare on Elm Street
does what may be his best work here. The main theme is good enough
but if you really want a clue as to what makes so many scenes extra
spooky just head over to Youtube and look up Bath Attack.
Quentin Tarantino even sampled the song for Inglorious Basterds
so a few of you may already be familiar with the tune.
As
I mentioned earlier, the film takes a bit of a left turn in the final
act and I'd say it weakens the film considerably, though not enough
to kill the effect. By that point in the story, Carla is aided by a
group of ghost-hunting academics who seek to find proof of the
supernatural. This involves an outlandish plan to capture her
tormentor, and well... it just gets weird before wrapping up.
Even
with the oddball final act, The Entity is an incredible
fright-fest. Direction is tight, the drama is engaging, and above all
the terror is based around something quite real as it draws parallels
to abusive relationships. Martin Scorsese has apparently praised the
movie as one of the scariest horror films ever. I may find most of
the mans work to be overrated but it sure sounds like he's got some
solid taste in fright flicks.
Apologies
for taking so long between posts. Last week was a weird one and I
ended up with portions of three separate articles before finally
completing this one. There should definitely be another post up
before the week is out. Can't say when or what it will be exactly,
I'm actually looking into putting my name in for a city council seat.
If nothing else I'm guessing there's a worthwhile story in trying.
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