THE ENTITY
Just kinda unpleasant and icky
I was never a big fan of Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer. Oh, I admire the artistry of those involved, the purity of vision that remained throughout the film, never bowing to commerciality by inserting a little more humor here, some "fun" there. But ultimately, it was just 90 minutes of ghastliness I found uniformly unpleasant to watch, and when it was done, I was glad it was over. Yes, I know, that's the point. But, in a nutshell, it wasn't any fun at all.
The Entity is kind of the same way. The performances are excellent all around (especially by Barbara Hershey, who must have had guts to play such a strange role), it's mostly well-written, and tells a mostly engrossing tale, culminating in a really interesting experiment to try to isolate and contain the titular entity.
But the thing is, my idea of a good time just doesn't include watching somebody get raped, again and again and again, even if it is Barbara Hershey, who will forever remind me of my last girlfriend after having seen Beaches (ah, the things I do to spread the gospel of horror). Once-discussed "stunt tits" notwithstanding, this movie does what few movies attempt - tries to make the viewer really uncomfortable. And yes, it does succeed on that level. But it's just no fun at all. And all I feel coming out of this one was a bit of rejoicing that it's over (which is even more understandable considering its exorbitant 119 min. running length).
It's a well-made movie, and maybe not a bad one, but it's not a good one. A good movie has to do something good - like make me glad I watched it. After this was over, I just wanted to forget it - and really, it hasn't been that hard.
By the way - how do you think you'd look after getting splashed repeatedly with liquid helium? Well, Barbara Hershey, for some reason, looks just fine.