MovieChat Forums > The Entity (1983) Discussion > Last 45 minutes felt like POLTERGEIST

Last 45 minutes felt like POLTERGEIST

posted 8 years ago by filmklassik
3 replies | jump to latest

THE ENTITY began production in 1981 but wasnt actually released to theaters until early '83. So, why the delay?

I have a theory...

The FX-heavy ghost story POLTERGEIST came out in the summer of '82 and made a ton of money, and I wonder if the runaway success of that Spielberg-produced shocker didn't lead to some last- minute reshoots of THE ENTITY.

That would explain the nonsense with the "phaser bolts" streaking across the room and the arcs of electricty and of course the hokey "science experiment" finale in the gymnasium.

All ridiculous, and out of keeping with the dark, gritty, realstic tone of the first half of the film.

[–] MikeCable (1663) 7 years ago

That's a good theory and entirely plausable. However it was caused by more mundane types of problems.

The film's production company ACI went bankrupt after completion and Fox's original plan to release it was dropped due to their own corporate shake-ups at the time.

More here:

https://books.google.com.au/books?id=2CavCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA271&lpg=PA271&dq=the+entity+delayed+released+1981&source=bl&ots=8oILfI5L2W&sig=D2RzkKInVXhH9jU4cBghOkbPMl0&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjvj5_Z5bnTAhVKQLwKHeoeB4UQ6AEIKjAB#v=onepage&q=the%20entity%20delayed%20released%201981&f=false

[–] Xcalat3 (3701) 6 years ago

I was thinking the same thing, It's very similar similar to Poltergeist near the end which doesn't really fit with the rest of the movie.

[–] [deleted] 6 years ago

[deleted]