The Entity was based on a book by horror author Frank De Felitta. Has anyone else read it? How well do you think it was translated to film? It was recently republished around the same time the DVD and blu-ray was released.
shareI read the book having seen the film several times.
::: SPOILER BELOW :::
I was surprised to find the whole liquid helium sequence in the book. I thought for sure that was created solely for the movie. I always felt that was the weakest part of the story.
I thought Barbara Hershey's performance completely saved the film from B-movie oblivion. The range of emotions she had to convincingly portray was amazing. One of her most underrated roles ever.
The story itself has its flaws and could have been more chilling with some tweaks here and there but I'm no writer so it's just my opinion as a horror fan.
If you liked the film, you'll probably like the book: same stuff as in the movie, but a lot more detailed (the ending is a little different, though).
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The book is very good. In some ways, its better than the film. It describes the demon in detail, gives a lot more background about Carlotta and the ending is different & more detailed.
I agree with the poster who said the novel does have its flaws, the very end (epilogue) is rather poor and rushed.
But I've read it several times & its a scary read.
"I'd say this cloud is Cumulo Nimbus."
"Didn't he discover America?"
"Penfold, shush."
Excellent book, and one of the few books I had to read end to end in a couple of sittings.
shareI read the book when it came out, and it was the scariest thing I've ever read. If you can get through a copy of The Exorcist -- terribly written -- it's even scarier.
Thirty-five years later -- I was 4 when I read it -- it's still the scariest novel I've ever read. (I've read a few biographies that read like horror stories.)
It's even scarier than the movie. I had trouble with the movie. It was too much to watch a woman get beaten and raped for 90 mins by something invisible. It was too much like modern porn, minus the money shot. Just not fun, even from a voyeuristic perspective. I think the movie got the horror of it as well as it could. He also wrote the script, so that makes sense.
I don't know if Hershey was the best casting. She's not a bad actress, but I never find her very "sympathetic". I do here because going through THAT... I wouldn't even wish that on a certain presidential candidate. A more sympathetic type probably would've made this even more horrific.
If this is "based on a true story", how scary is THAT?! If it's purely based on fantasy, how sick is that?!
"Thirty-five years later -- I was 4 when I read it -- it's still the scariest novel I've ever read."
Yeah right, sure you read the book at 4 years old. Likely story. Suppose you were reading James Joyce at 3 years old
The Exorcist....terribly written?!! That is one of the best horror novels out there!
There's nothing to even dislike about it prose~wise, that I can see!
I'd say this cloud is Cumulo Nimbus.
Didn't he discover America?
Penfold, shush.
Yes, they made a great MOVIE out of it. To me, the novel's pretty prosaic. It just drags with superfluous detail. I hated reading The Lord of the Rings, too. Tolkien does what a lot of writers of the fantasy genre do: he'll have 30 different names (of characters, races, tribes, trolls, dragons, languages, etc.) on one page x many pages, which makes following everything that much more difficult and confusing. But, I loved the movies. Go figure.
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