The Entity

     This is one of the more mainstream cult films out there (translation for mainstream-they had a little bit of money to spend on production and had a rising newcomer for the lead actress, Barbara Hershey). It became a little more well-known due to the DVD release.

      I have to admit, this movie STILL scares the piss out of me every time I watch it. Probably because I know that it had been partially based on a true event. I've been a believer in ghosts, poltergeists, and other such phenomena all my life and I knew the basic story of this particular case before actually seeing the film. The thought of being violently physically and sexually assaulted by something that you cannot see is such a frightening concept.  And the thought of no one believing you when you beg for help is an even scarier thought.

     Barbara Hershey was amazing in this movie and truly made us all believe that she really was going through one hell of a paranormal incident that showed us that a living person can be just as easily haunted as old dusty mansions can. A truly gut-wrenching performance that ensured she'd be offered more film roles to add to her growing resume. 

     About the first 3/4 of the movie is actually very close to the truth, but the last quarter of the film is complete fiction. We'll just start at the beginning and work our way through, including the occasional inserts of what supposedly really happened. 

      Carla Moran (her real name was Doris Bither) has a very difficult life. She's a single mother struggling to keep a job, going to night school to get a better job in order to financially survive in this world, dealing with three difficult children, and having a boyfriend who is almost never in town. One night she is raped in her bedroom. When the rape was over, there was no one there to call the police on. The attacker simply vanished as though he'd never been there. Everyone assumes that she dreamt it, but Carla knows it really happened. Another violent attack ensues while Carla is taking a bath. Again she is brutally raped. Carla seeks the help of a doctor, clearly displaying bruises and bite marks in places that Carla could not have possibly bitten herself. As is usually the case, the doctors aren't much help and are determined to convince Carla that the attacks are a result of Carla's imagination and her checkered past. 

      Frustrated with being told that she's just crazy, she abandons her doctors in favor of parapsychology. When other people start to witness the phenomenon for themselves and even capture photographic evidence of it, things finally start to look up for Carla. She enlists the help of some researchers in the field of parapsychology from the local university.  Finally, someone believes her and these are people who are trained (as best as someone could be) to help her. All of the above is supposedly true. Even the photographic proof, which most photography experts say are some of the most authentic photos of this type ever captured, both witnessed and photographed by many people. After a "big showdown" where Carla confronts her ghostly attacker, he shows up as a full apparition, with a room full of witnesses who photographed the entire incident, the attacks begin to wane but do not stop entirely.  The photographers helped other people believe her story, but her trauma continued. The true part of Carla's ordeal that's portrayed in the film ends here.  The real Carla Moran (Doris Bither) moved her family from state to state but was never able to escape her ruthless entity. It followed her and the attacks continued. After some ten years on the run, Doris was no longer able to be found. Efforts to locate her continued unsuccessfully. 

      OK, now for the fictional conclusion to the story, which in my opinion is kinda stupid, but what the hell, it's Hollywood. The parapsychology team that investigated and witnessed the entity at Carla's house has now decided to try to capture this being, using Carla as bait, since it seems to follow her outside of her home, at one point taking control of her car and causing her to crash. They build a basic replica of Carla's real home, consisting of a chemical toilet, hot plate, and some furniture to make her (and her torturous entity) feel more at home. They have also added a special little ghost-catching device, that shoots liquid nitrogen, which we all know, freezes virtually anything on contact. Their theory is to catch a ghost in a block of ice. Poor Carla not only is bait for the entity but has only a glass "safe room" to keep the liquid nitrogen from killing her instantly (which by the way doesn't work). An annoying doctor that (very inappropriately) cares too much for Carla interferes endlessly at this point, trying to convince her of the dangers of liquid nitrogen. She simply states that she would rather die than go on living the way she's been living. And with that, he's thrown out for good. The entity finally shows up takes control of the nitrogen machine and destroys just about everything. The huge tanks of liquid nitrogen that are stored above are ruptured and encase the entire replica in ice. Carla survives by running for her life when she can obviously see that all hell is breaking loose. The ice glows green, shakes for a moment, and the entity bursts loose. The end. There's a brief epilogue about how the attacks on Carla and her family, though decreased in frequency and violence, continue to this day.

      As I said earlier, the real Carla Moran has been identified as Doris Bither. Author Frank DeFelitta, who originally wrote the book "The Entity" on which the film is based had kept in touch with Ms. Bither. The events had originated in her house in Culver City, California, so in an effort to escape the attacks of her entity, she moved to San Bernardino. Again unsuccessful at evading the entity, which followed her wherever she moved to, she finally tried moving all the way to Texas. Again it followed, and she even reported that her neighbors would experience poltergeist activity, almost as a radial effect. By now convinced that the entity would follow her anywhere she goes, she decided to move back to California. The parapsychologists who investigated this case had lost track of Doris' whereabouts after her move to Texas. But, Frank DeFelitta managed to track her down once she moved back to California and the two remained in contact. When he revealed that he was writing a book based on her story, it was at her suggestion that her name be changed to protect what privacy she had left (he actually changed her name to "Carlotta" for the novel).  

     Since the investigation, the release of Frank DeFelittas book, and the eventual movie based on her story, Doris Bither succeeded in fading into the background as much as she could, not wanting a single bit of attention for fear of always being thought of as a haunted woman, or worse...simply crazy.  She died in 2006, due to liver failure brought on by extremely heavy alcohol consumption, but can you blame her?  I'd have stayed plastered myself if I had to deal with something as out of this world scary as constant violent spectral rape.