A real film or just some phantom from my memory?

November 22, 2010 1:16 PM

Can anyone identify a 1980s TV movie about ghosts? I recall seeing it in the early- to mid-1980s as a child. I don't remember much except a scene in which a woman gets out of the shower in a very misty bathroom and goes to the mirror. Behind her in the heavy steam you see a ghost standing there in the reflection. At another point in the film the ghost may write on the mirror in the mist? But I may be misremembering that last part. Many thanks.
posted by ktoad to Media & Arts (11 answers total)

That describes a lot of movies and TV shows. You might have some luck with these TV Tropes pages, Mirror Monster and Mirror Scare.
posted by L'Estrange Fruit at 2:13 PM on November 22, 2010

Yeah, this is a well-worn horror cliche, but might it be What Lies Beneath? The first ghost reflection is here, and the writing ("YOU KNOW") is here.
posted by hot soup girl at 2:37 PM on November 22, 2010

Oh, god—totally wrong timeframe. Sorry.
posted by hot soup girl at 2:39 PM on November 22, 2010

May be the Ghost and Mrs. Muir. Was a movie then made into a TV show.
posted by shaarog at 2:40 PM on November 22, 2010

Candyman? But it's 1992.
Here's the trailer.
posted by sourwookie at 3:17 PM on November 22, 2010

Response by poster: Hmm...some more "research" (read: sifting through Google results) has me wondering if it might be a 1982 theatrical release called The Entity. Anyone recall a scene in a steamy bathroom?
posted by ktoad at 3:40 PM on November 22, 2010

Definitely The Entity. The movie was a good idea that suffered from poor execution. Your memories -- if they are fond -- are almost certainly better than it was.
posted by coolguymichael at 3:47 PM on November 22, 2010

Not The Shining, I hope.
posted by ovvl at 5:44 PM on November 22, 2010

If it isn't The Entity, making a quick check through this shouldn't hurt.
posted by KChasm at 8:13 PM on November 22, 2010

I just watched The Entity a few weeks ago. It's a flawed movie, but very disturbing and effective for its genre. There is indeed a steamy bathroom scene, in which poor Barbara Hershey's character gets raped by the poltergeist. You'll find a bit of it at :59 in this (G-rated) trailer.
posted by Paris Elk at 1:55 AM on November 23, 2010

You never see the ghost in The Entity, though, not in a light-reflected-off-it sort of way anyway, IIRC.
posted by galaksit at 7:52 AM on November 23, 2010