The Entity Files

"The Entity Files", an interview / featurette included as an extra for the Anchor Bay DVD of the movie "The Entity", is a worthy companion piece to the movie in that it goes into a fair bit of detail on the real-life story behind the book and movie. The interview is with Dr. Barry Taff, a paranormal researcher who'd displayed psychic gifts as a young man and been the subject of a study. Soon, he was doing research himself, under the guidance of a professor named Thelma Moss. He talks about his years of doing research, of interviewing a great many people about their supposed unearthly encounters, and states some important things. For one, many of these interviews typically don't amount to much, and for another, he and his associates abide by the principle of Occam's Razor, meaning "All things being equal, the simplest solution tends to be the correct one.". And in most cases, this means something NOT paranormal: a hoax / fraud, or an overactive imagination, for example. But some cases turn out to be something special, such as the story behind "The Entity", which involved a woman named Doris Bither (Carlotta Moran in the book, Carla Moran in the movie) who lived in terror as she claimed she was being violated by some malevolent spirit. Taff and company investigated the house and they and as many as 25 people were witness to strange phenomena, such as balls of lime green light that dashed around and even appeared to take on the form of a (large) man's head, arms, and upper torso. Taff is careful to stress that while maybe two or so people could share a hallucination, it couldn't happen with two dozen or so. He talks about associating with Frank De Felitta, the author / filmmaker who'd penned the book, and helping in the writing of parts of the book and serving as technical advisors on the movie (in the movie, he gets renamed "Gene Kraft"). As I've said in the review for the actual movie, this is fascinating & intriguing stuff (although maybe not so much if one has a pretty closed mind), and Taff proves to be a likable and engaging interview subject and he keeps you listening. Recommended viewing for those who have enjoyed the "Entity" movie. Eight out of 10.