Critics reviews

Whatever reputation The Entity has today is primarily due to the championing of Martin Scorsese . . . , and Peter Tscherkassky, whose found footage shorts Outer Space (2000) and Dream Work (2002) were derived from it. Critically, The Entity is generally regarded as a somewhat sleazy mainstream horror film. Yet it remains a distinguished intervention in a genre whose assumptions it at every point resists.

It occurs to me that The Entity (1982) could be considered timeless. Not for the content of the film itself; it's a barely competent film, absurd and surreal in the worst sense of those words. Not for the story, either, which tries and fails to weave a cursory commentary on the evils of patriarchy into a confusing and gangrenous narrative. Rather, I consider it timeless because of the theoretical implications within the film, and because of the story that lies festering beneath.

The sensitivity of this adaptation speaks volumes for all involved. Rather than revel in the visual effects and the enticing magical possibilities of the supernatural, the movie suggests that whether or not Carol is really haunted, violence and abuse have a way of echoing through people's lives and experiences. Unlike most of the other cases of "true" supernatural reports, Carol's circumstances are tragic and haunting regardless of whether or not ghosts exist.