INTRADA Announces:
THE ENTITY
Composed and Conducted by CHARLES BERNSTEIN
INTRADA Special Collection Volume 119
With the ominous promotional line of “Based on a true story—that isn’t over yet,” the 1981 20th Century Fox thriller The Entity revealed the supernatural abuse that befell “Carla Moran" (Barbara Hershey), a single mother of three who for years was the victim of an unseen attacker and its “helpers.” Moran wasn’t seeking publicity when she encountered a group of parapsychologists in a bookstore and spoke of her ordeal. Their interest piqued, the researchers returned with Carla to her “shack” in Culver City. Any disbelief was quickly silenced in the presence of ice-cold air, the stench of rotten flesh, falling furniture, and lights skittering across the ceiling. The remarkable experience appeared first as a book by Frank DeFelitta, then this film directed by Sidney J. Furie.
For composer Charles Bernstein, his was a most important assignment -- to portray the entity’s psychological presence, as opposed to its brutally physical one. “Sidney wanted my score to ask if the entity was an inner manifestation of a mental problem that Carla had or if it was indeed menacing her from the outer, real world,” Bernstein recalls. The result would be a stunningly effective score that takes shape from distinctive themes and motifs, where alternately eerie and vengeful electronics prey upon the human sound of a symphony orchestra. Bernstein’s motifs give the entity shape, particularly in the fearful imagination of the audience, because Furie deliberately denied making his monster explicit. Furie asked Bernstein for “high” and “low dread” motifs that would signal the phantasm’s proximity to Carla. The first tone is signaled with a piercing synth sustain as the entity lurks about her, ready to pounce at the beginning of “Bath/Attack.” Its assault is the brutally repetitive “thrasher” motif, angry thrusts embodied by hammering electric guitar chords and percussion. As Furie succinctly puts it: “The Entity’s the kind of score you never forget.”
This release is limited to 1200 units.
INTRADA Special Collection Vol. 119
Retail Price: $19.99
AVAILABLE 12/15/2009
For track listing and sound samples, please visit
http://store.intrada.com/s.nl/it.A/id.6466/.f
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