"Something evil is after Carla Moran, and it will stop at nothing to get her."
The Entity is a 1982 horror film directed by Sidney J. Furie, based on the 1978 novel of the same name by Frank DeFellita and inspired by the supposed real-life hauntings of Doris Bither.
Carla Moran (Barbara Hershey) is a single mother of two girls and a teenage son who one night finds herself attacked and raped by an invisible assailant, an event that continues to repeat itself. Her friends, family, and psychologist all believe she's going crazy, but a team of paranormal scientists believe her and are determined to bring an end to her attacker.
This film provides examples of:
- All Psychology Is Freudian: Dr Sneiderman suggests Carla's bathroom assault by the Entity assisted by two smaller creatures is a delusion brought on by a repressed desire for her teenage son with the two underlings representing her young daughters. Carla is understandably appalled by this.
- Antagonist Title: While the creature is never called "The Entity" during the film, it is referred to as an entity.
- Badass Boast: When the finally attempt to get rid of the creature fails, Carla stands up to it, fed up with all of the torment and rape, saying it can do whatever it wants, but can't have her. This only gets it angry and attempts to kill her
- Bittersweet Ending: The Entity breaks free from the ice and will continue to visit Carla for many years. On the plus side, it doesn't rape her anymore.
- Cassandra Truth: Few people believe Carla about the creature until they witness the attacks for themselves.
- Country Matters: Possibly the most menacing example in cinema history.
- Disappeared Dad: The father of Carla's son, Jimmy, died in a motorcycle accident before the events of the film. The father of her daughters just up and left one day and never came back.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: The film isn't subtle about being a metaphor for sexual assault, and how the victim has a hard time convincing others of the seriousness of the situation, or whether they believe her at all.
- Eldritch Abomination: The titular entity, an invisible creature obsessed with tormenting and raping Carla. The large ice it's trapped in at the end of the film suggests it's as big as 2 stories.
- Evil Sounds Deep: The Entity's only line in this movie, towards Carla. "Welcome home, cunt."
- Fan Disservice: Getting raped by the Entity was horrific enough even without the bite marks, but the part where a naked Carla is getting molested by the Entity is plenty unappealing.
- Harmless Freezing: The Entity inadvertently freezes itself in a large block of ice during Carla's final attempt to get rid of it. It breaks out.
- If I Can't Have You…: The Entity flat out tries to kill Carla when she refuses to let it rape her anymore.
- Neverending Terror: Carla's attempt at getting rid of the Entity failed and it will keep coming after her, no matter where she is, for a long time to come if not the rest of her life. The only bright spot is that it stops raping her.
- Rape as Drama: Despite the attacker being a supernatural being, Carla treats her rape as seriously as one would treat a real world version.
- Screw This, I'm Out of Here!: After witnessing Carla being attacked by the entity (and being attacked by her son, who mistakenly believed he was the one hurting her), Jerry, Carla's boyfriend, freaks out and breaks up her. At the end of the film when Carla returns home, only to be greeted by the entity in a demonic voice, she simply turns around, walks back out the door and drives off with her kids.
- The Shrink: Dr Sneiderman. He's well-meaning, but utterly refuses to believe Carla's is being attacked by a supernatural creature and tries to convince her that the attacks are delusions, which doesn't help her much. In the end, he finally believes her after seeing the entity for himself; he also gets points for rushing in to save Carla from the creature.
- Title Drop: During a conversation between Sneiderman and Gene the parapsychologist, the latter dubs the malevolent force "The Entity." In the following scene, a skeptical Sneiderman tells his department head the name as well.
- Trauma Conga Line: Carla is revealed to have suffered one; she was physically and sexually abused as a child, got pregnant as a teenager and her first husband died suddenly. And on top of that, she is repeatedly attacked by an unseen entity. Dr Sneiderman believes that Carla is imagining the hauntings as a result of her past trauma.
- Would Hurt a Child: The entity throws down Carla's son, resulting in a broken wrist, when he tries to help his mother.
