Out of Fantastic Fest, Nick Simon’s What Happened to Doris? shatters the real-life paranormal case of Doris Bither, who claimed an unseen entity raped her. In style and visual aesthetic, the indie stands in stark contrast to the glossier 1982 horror/thriller The Entity, starring Barbara Hershey and based on Frank De Felitta’s 1978 book about the case. What Happened to Doris? feels far more grounded and raw, tightening the emotional stakes in a heart-pounding, visceral way. It’s quite easy to draw parallels to other modern fare such as The Conjuring and Insidious, but that shallow reading does a disservice to the material and devalues the actors’ intense performances.
Heather Graham slips into the role of Doris Bither, a single mother with three kids and a dead-end job. Sylvia (Island Austin) and Brian (Kayden Koshelev) adore their mother, but their older brother Ricky (Daniel Ferrell) couldn’t care less. Rebellious teenagers, you know. Their tiny house in Culver City, California, makes family friction even more suffocating and inescapable. When a dark presence descends upon the home, Doris fights to keep both her children safe and sanity intact. Early on, the entity sexually assaults her in the middle of the night, and the upsetting scene triggers the entrance of a team of paranormal investigators itching for a truly frightening case.
Gordon (Marcus Coloma) and Taylor (Morgan Peter Brown) reluctantly agree to check out the home after Doris and her friend Kandy (Candi Marie) run into them in a bookstore. An unsuccessful preliminary investigation leaves Doris bereft, but when the entity grows bolder and more violent, Gordon and Taylor approach their boss Ross (Mimi Rogers) and launch a full-scale probe with all the trusty detectors and gadgets at their disposal. Simon delights in reliable jump scares and ghastly images that’ll get stuck just behind the eyeballs. Where the viewer never saw a being in The Entity, What Happened to Doris? gives the entity an effectively haunting, gangly form, played by Kevin Keppy. Even when the force fantastically shows itself, there’s still a feeling that it has remained rooted in the earth.
Graham offers one of her most provocative performances of her career. She hammers out even the quiet moments with a profound energy, electrifying everything and everyone else in the room. Austin, Koshelev, and Ferrell gravitate toward her and deliver their own thrilling, emotionally galvanized performances. What Happened to Doris? works so well because it is an unwavering ensemble piece. While the focus lies irrefutably on Graham’s shoulders, the film would not be nearly as striking without every performer carrying their weight. Simon presents the story with a keen eye for the very real danger woven into case, leaning fully into the facts and centering Doris Bither at its center. This is thankfully not a sensationalized Ryan Murphy production.
Nick Simon challenges the audience to think differently about the paranormal, sexual assault victims, and the stigma around coming forward. But he also packs What Happened to Doris? with plenty of chilling scares to keep your eyes darting around the empty space of every single frame. From start to finish, there’s a palpable dread that leaks from the corners of the screen until it damn near swallows the viewer whole.
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