The Entity

The Entity (1981), directed by Sidney J. Furie, Shout! Factory remaster, encoded in 10 bit HEVC with AAC sound, including 5.1 remaster, original theatrical stereo, original theatrical 4.1, commentary track, and English subtitles.

IMDb : https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082334/

Video encoded in two-pass 10.0 Mbps x265 10bit with the veryslow preset for archive quality image.

English SDH subtitles OCRed, proofed and corrected.

Note : Apparently considered by Martin Scorsese to be the 4th scariest film of all time, this weird hybrid of 70s demon possession film and more commercial and exploitative 80s fare is an odd duck, but it's definitely interesting. The early parts deftly walk the line between saying outright something supernatural is going on, and making you think it's all in the main character's head, but then suddenly there's apparently objective proof, and the last part of the film reminds me of a rapy Poltergeist. It flirts with science fiction too, towards the end, with the science experiment designed to prove the existence of the entity, and the ending falls a little flat for me, but it's a nice thrill ride. Supposedly based on a true story, but we all know how much that means.

Single mother Carla Moran is clearly struggling to keep it all together, with a low-paid job, night school, and three kids. When she's suddenly raped by an invisible entity, followed by bouts of poltergeist activity, she flees to her friend's house with the family, but her friend's husband doesn't want her there, and she ends up going to a well-meaning psychiatrist who tries to convince her it's all connected to childhood trauma. The events continue, however, and when a group of paranormal investigators from the local university get involved, she finally has someone who believes her version of the story, but they're planning an ambitious experiment that might prove once and for all that something is stalking her, but might also place her in more danger than before.

This is an ok remaster, a little grainy, but nothing horrible, and both the 5.1 remaster and the two original audio tracks sound good. The commentary track is middle of the road, but fine.

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