Sidney J. Furie’s 1982 film The Entity, based on Frank De Felitta’s 1978 novel of the same name, itself based on the real case of Doris Bither, is one of the most disturbing horror films ever made. That’s a hyperbolic statement that is thrown around often (a hair’s width away from “the scariest film since The Exorcist“), but to this critic, it remains true. Often reduced to being described as “the Barbara Hershey ghost rape movie,” The Entity remains controversial to this day, primarily for its emphasis on the repeated sexual assault of its main character and a perceived lack of empathy for her. Hollywood never attempted to adapt the story again until now with What Happened to Doris?
Doris Bither (Heather Graham) is a single working mother of three living in Culver City, California in the fall of 1974. One night, her children are awoken to the sounds of moans coming from their mother’s bedroom. Eldest son Ricky (Daniel Ferrell) brushes it off as another of Doris’ suitors, while youngest Sylvia (Island Austin, Insidious: Out of the Further) insists it’s “Mr. Whosit,” an ethereal presence she has felt around the house.
When Doris is sexually assaulted by the entity the following night, she seeks comfort in her friend Kandy (Candi Marie), who believes her without question and takes her to the paranormal section of a local bookstore. It is there that they meet UCLA paranormal investigators Gordon (Marcus Coloma) and Taylor (Morgan Peter Brown), who enlist the help of their supervisor, Dr. Lillian Ross (Mimi Rogers), to investigate the haunting.
Director Nick Simon (The Girl in the Photograph) and screenwriter Thomas Fenton (I Spit on Your Grave 2) do not intend to one-up The Entity with more intense assault sequences (how could/why would they?), but rather shift its perspective. Sexual assault is not the focus of What Happened to Doris?, a decision that wisely highlights Doris’ plight without feeling exploitative, though the single act looms over the remainder of the film. Consequently, it often lacks the intensity of its forebearer, lessening its impact. This is not to say the film needs those sequences to be effective. It’s just that it doesn’t match it in any other way.
In its approach, What Happened to Doris? owes much more to Poltergeist and James Wan’s The Conjuring than The Entity, though Simon’s direction is far flatter than Wan’s. Cinematographer Lucia Zavarcikova‘s primary tactic is to survey empty rooms with a rotating camera, but there is little variety there. Supernatural horror clichés like foul odors, cabinets opening by themselves, creepy children’s toys, and “boo!” jump scares abound, but a fairly haunting atmosphere is captured within the house.
While the horror elements are all fairly milquetoast, the character work is where the film rises above those shortcomings. Graham, who also produces the film, is having a welcome, genre-focused career resurgence after a standout performance in Joe Lynch’s Suitable Flesh, as well as this year’s They Will Kill You and Mike Flanagan’s upcoming Carrie miniseries. Her scenes with Rogers and Marie are the film’s strongest, though the former’s arrival essentially jettisons the latter out of the film. A few more shared scenes between the three actresses would have been beneficial, but what is here remains strong. Graham’s performance isn’t showy, but it doesn’t need to be. Her naturalistic performance grounds the film.
Pacing is a mixed bag. On the one hand, it’s relieving to have Doris’ claims immediately believed by Kandy, while Gordon and Taylor’s skepticism thankfully takes up very little screen time. On the other, one can’t help but feel a slight truncation when Doris’ strained relationship with Ricky is seemingly resolved offscreen before the big climactic showdown. Running at just 92 minutes, a few extra minutes would have allowed subplots like that to have a little more breathing room.
As to whether the film has anything new to say about the case, that’s another matter. The real Doris Bither, who died in 1999, never gave interviews about her experiences, for fear that her children would be taken away from her. In their research, Fenton and Simon interviewed the middle Bither child, Brian (played in the film by Kayden Alexander Koshelev), but there’s not much new information here outside of delving further into Doris’ spiritual life and giving the entity a more concrete motive. In a rather bold change, the specter is given a corporeal presence, here played by Kevin Heppy (Smile). The gender politics feel decidedly modern for 1974, but it works in service of the story Fenton is trying to tell.
What Happened to Doris? may lack the intensity of The Entity, but strong character work and a softer approach to the admittedly heavy material help justify its existence.
What Happened to Doris? made its world premiere at Fantastic Fest.
