Rating: 3.5/5
A woman with a son and two daughters begins to experience brutal beatings and rapes from an unknown, unseen entity. Her son sees it, and in trying to protect her, the thing breaks his arm
Her close friend tells her to see a psychiatrist, who is convinced it is hysteria, contagious to the children, and living in her house. She comes in with bruises and bite marks, but he explained them away away
Though the movie goes towards a paranormal explanation for what occurs, the patterns onscreen mirror domestic abuse in horrifying ways. Days will pass when she feels in control and unafraid. Then, without notice, it will start up again. Slowly, she resigns herself to the experience, and it never really stops
The soundtrack is industrial and frightening, maybe one of the more effective 80s horror soundtracks I’ve heard
From a filmmaking perspective, I think the story arc is uneven and takes an odd turn toward the end. I suppose because it’s “based on a true account,” it wanted to follow that account as closely as possible while still making a spectacle
I don’t think it’s a hidden classic, but I do think it is underrated and worth seeing because, despite its adjacency to familiar horror movie territory, its meta text is on another level