Rent The Entity (2015)

Spoilers follow ... - The Entity review by NP

In this Peruvian horror, a group of students (don’t fret – they are quite a likeable bunch) decide to film ‘reaction videos’ as they watch a legendary old film located in the archive room of an old cemetery. Emerging as a kind of cross between ‘The Ring’ and The Blair Witch series, their viewing releases a curse that causes all kinds of carnage.

This would have been so much more effective if the makers had resisted the temptation to abandon subtlety in their otherwise interesting scares. The shrieks and wails are turned up high, the scars are deep and the blood runs plentifully, and sadly, when possessed characters rise up and float around, the result is an unsteady mix of the ‘exorcist-style’ and the blatantly absurd.

The performances are never less than very good, with Mario Gaviria’s mischievous Benjamin emerging as possibly the most memorable (certainly the most playful), although Daniella Mendoza certainly makes the most of Carla, who as a character, is someone to keep a careful eye on.

The familiar shaky cam is used to good effect here, and the locations are dark and sombre, with only occasional moments (like the CGI moving statues) lapsing into cartoon incredulity (again, more subtle techniques may well have been less intrusive). A very interesting, if flawed addition to the found footage genre.