"The Entity" - - A Ghost Movie For Athiests

So it's been a crazy couple of weeks. Some health problems, working a crazy shift at work . . .

Here, let's get a close up:

49 Hours . . .





Geez, what a waste of time. And I beat the game 20 hours ago! Now I'm just playing it with a mod so that one bite from a zombie kills you. But when I get off work I just want to play "State Of Decay" for awhile to unwind, then do some reading, and go to bed.

But I have stuff I need to do. This website for one. I'm finishing a script for a friend of mine as well. And yet I always seem to find enough time to waste it.

But last night I was like, "OK, the game is fun but it's stressing you out now too because it's so hard. I know! I'll watch a movie! That's kind of like work, at least I can tell myself I'm being productive! Now, I'll just watch something at random. Oh, what's this?"

"The Entity" is the exact opposite of a relaxing movie to watch after a hard day of work and a hard afternoon of naps. "The Entity" is about a young mother named Carla being repeatedly and violently raped by a ghost, once right in front of her children. And just so you know, it's not implied rape, like her hair gets mussed up and her bra strap is off her shoulder. We see an invisible force slam her head against a wall as it does her doggy style, and watch her legs get spread wide as her wrists are held down and she alternates between screams and pants.

Did I mention this happens in front of her kids? I did? Ok, let's move on.

Not a yoga position.

What makes "The Entity" impressive is a few things: First off, the acting is great, far above what you would normally expect in a horror movie. Characters are constantly shifting their gaze (it's amazing how the little things add so much to the realism of acting) and talking over each other. Not in a quick paced Tarantino-esque fashion but how a normal group of people talk when they're . . .well, talking. Normal people don't wait for the other person to finish, or stare at them the whole time.

Another interesting thing is the word "ghost" isn't used at all in the movie, at least not that I can remember. This movie takes a purely scientific approach to what is going on. We, as audience members, know something weird is going on because we see it. And her kids do too, because they also unfortunately see it. But how would you convince the outside world?

"The Entity" doesn't exist in the fictional world of "The Conjuring" with it's super-elite ghost hunters who travel America collecting artifacts and rubbing white sage on their nipples. "The Entity" exists in a world of Child Protective Services and psychologists who think something is wrong all right, but it's mental illness. When Carol's boyfriend watches her get attacked, he is shaken up. "I can deal with anything," he says. "Disease. Cancer even. But not this." And he straight up leaves her. Even though he loves her, in the real world people deal with unreal events in real ways.

The amount of crazy you are (x) is directly proportional
 to the amount of doctors it takes to treat you (y).

The bulk of the movie (when Carla isn't being raped over and over again) has to do with her interactions with her best friend Cindy and a psychologist, Phil. Cindy invites Carla to stay with her after the first attack but Cindy's husband wants nothing to do with it. Phil is intent on helping Carla in any way he can. When the entity takes her for a joyride in her car and causes an accident, Phil only sees that as proof that she is a danger to herself and her children. Again, we know it's something paranormal, but in the real world, a real person would think, "I need to get her away from her family."

There are no priests, no magic charms or incantations in "The Entity." No talk of demonic possession or dark curses. A team of parapsychologists come on to the scene in the second act to document the activity, causing a conflict between the science of mental health and the pseudoscience of EVPs and cold spots, but even they speak in terms of interdimensional lifeforms, not "ghosts".

As good as "The Entity" is, the final act is a bit ridiculous. The parapsychologists build a replica of her house sans roof in a college gym and outfit a massive array of liquid hydrogen tanks with nozzles. Their plan: Wait till the ghost shows up, and then freeze it! Then they'll have proof!

And how are they going to explain to the college what happened to their basketball court right before March Madness?

"OK, so we built this elaborate cage and replica of your home,
but don't wear black soled shoes."

To everyone's shock, though, the extremely powerful and unexplainable entity has the ability to work the controls of the hydrogen tank. I mean, it's not like it was able to slam doors and pinch nipples throughout the rest of the movie, right? Since the attacks were so personal in the beginning, to see Carol dodging blasts of liquid hydrogen like she's Chell from "Portal 2", it's actually quite disappointing. But what are you going to do? I guess the movie needed a big action set piece in the end, and it does, but overall the third act drags "The Entity" from going into my "Best of The Best" Category and is simply Good. But it's still worth a watch.

One Finale Note: In my review for "The Conjuring" I made a joke about how these movies are always about white families living in dream houses and they can't move away. In "The Entity," this convention is played with. Carla is a struggling single mother who can barely pay the bills. At first, the family goes to Carla's friend's house but that can only last a night. So where to go next? Why the beach, of course!

This is what most beaches look like in L.A., despite what you see in the movies

This is early on in the movie, and even her family thinks she's losing it. We get a long panning shot from her son quietly eating a banana to Carla watching her children play in the distance. Still wearing their pajamas. The children are too young to understand something is wrong, but her son knows. But what can he do?

The scene finally ends hours later. The family is sitting in their car, parked at the beach. The sun is setting. Carla sits behind the wheel in silence. Finally her son says "Are we going to stay out here all night?" Of course not. Against her better judgement, she drives home.

Supposedly, this movie is based on a true story, and it ends on a slightly high note if "still getting raped, but not as often" is a happy ending. Overall, "The Entity" is worth a watch but if you find yourself getting a boner while watching it, you might want to be the one who talks to a psychologist.