La sentinelle des maudits

Where does one begin in reviewing The Sentinel? The movie starts out with cheesy, made-for-TV music and a sweeping view of Central Park in New York. During the first half of the film the dialog is poor, the acting bad and the editing off. One second an actor has a smile on his or her face and the next split second they are serious.

Some of the scenes are laughable-so poorly done and choppy and with abrupt endings.

The film is sort of a horror/melodrama and uneven at best. There are actors that are very good here like Ava Gardner, Burgess Meredith and Sylvia Miles who make the lesser known actors look like amateurs!

The second half of the film becomes even more bizarre and yet very interesting when we learn that this young model is living over the entrance to hell which is actually ridiculous.

It's hard to get too involved in a lot of this because of the absurdity of it all. And yet the actors take everything so seriously.

But during that last 30 minutes of the film things become very bizarre indeed. Real deformed people were used in the film which stirred some controversy.

There are some very interesting moments in this film that are really very intense. Especially when Chris Sarandon explains what is happening. However,........this is really a low budget mess and very little thought was put into the script. With all of these great actors no one came forward and tried to improve this? Unbelievable.

It's too bad because a lot of time and money went into this film. A lot of talented, seasoned people are here yet the lead actors seem ill prepared and their dialog is horrible. Horror fans will love the blatant gore but most people will dismiss this as trashy.

Boasting an all-star cast so impressive that it almost seems like the "Mad Mad Mad Mad World" of horror pictures, "The Sentinel" (1977) is nevertheless an effectively creepy film centering on the relatively unknown actress Cristina Raines. In this one, she plays a fashion model, Alison Parker, who moves into a Brooklyn Heights brownstone that is (and I don't think I'm giving away too much at this late date) very close to the gateway of Hell. And as a tenant in this building, she suffers far worse conditions than leaky plumbing and the occasional water bug, to put it mildly! Indeed, the scene in which Alison encounters her noisy upstairs neighbor is truly terrifying, and should certainly send the ice water coursing down the spines of most viewers. Despite many critics' complaints regarding Raines' acting ability, I thought she was just fine, more than ably holding her own in scenes with Ava Gardner, Burgess Meredith, Arthur Kennedy, Chris Sarandon and Eli Wallach. The picture builds to an effectively eerie conclusion, and although some plot points go unexplained, I was left feeling more than satisfied. As the book "DVD Delirium" puts it, "any movie with Beverly D'Angelo and Sylvia Miles as topless cannibal lesbians in leotards can't be all bad"! On a side note, yesterday I walked over to 10 Montague Terrace in Brooklyn Heights to take a look at the Sentinel House. Yes, it's still there, and although shorn of its heavy coat of ivy and lacking a blind priest/nun at the top-floor window, looks much the same as it did in this picture. If this house really does sit atop the entrance to Hell, I take it that Hell is...the Brooklyn Queens Expressway. But we New Yorkers have known THAT for some time!

Christina Raines plays a lovely model in New York who seeks out a new apartment and begins to meet strange neighbors and reveal a secret about the building and herself slowly building up to quite a climax by film's end. This film has all kinds of neat plot elements from the Roman Catholic Church vs. the Devil, to the gateway to Hell, to bizarre rituals, to a growing conspiracy, and finally to a host of talented famous actors and actresses flooding the film. We get Ava Gardner, Burgess Meredith, Chris Sarandon, Jerry Orbach, Deborah Raffin, Arthur Kennedy, Jose Ferrer, Slyvia Miles, Beverly DeAngelo, Eli Wallach, Martin Balsam, Christopher Walkin, William Hickey, Tom Berenger, Jeff Goldblum, and who can forget John Carradine as the old priest. Many of these actors ham it up - particularly Burgess Meredith giving a fine comic/demented performance as one of the neighbors with a little bird and a cat. Meredith is memorable as is Balsam and Chris Sarandon. Some of the performers have virtually nothing to do like Jose Ferrer in a thankless role even if it is nothing more than a cameo. The Sentinel is a fine horror film with plenty of psychological elements and some truly terrifying scenes. The end scene is repulsive and yet chilling. I do find fault with some of the gratuitous sex and violence in the film, particularly that whole scene with DeAngelo and Miles. Was that really necessary? I think not. Also, the father/daughter stuff was a bit much as well, but overall the film works and has a winning pace. Director Michael Winner does a workmanlike job and is effective creating tension and scary movie moments. The scenes with Carradine are particularly effective.

I was an usherette in an old theater in Northern California when this movie came out. As good as it is on DVD, it's even more eerie and terrifying on the big screen. Although it has been about 9 years since I have seen it, it is still one of my all-time favorites. At the risk of sounding trite, "They just don't make 'em like this anymore!" If Sixth Sense freaked you out at all, this movie is definitely for you! Great storyline, incredible cast of characters, ominous setting; even the soundtrack has a haunting quality to it. I highly recommend you not watch it alone. What a brownstone apartment was renting for in 1977 alone, will have you gasping (it would be at least 10-times that price today).

A fashion model (Christina Raines) begins having strange visions, physical problems, and nightmares after moving into a new apartment. Her neighbors are acting even weirder. She keeps having flashbacks about a past suicide attempt and her boyfriend (Chris Sarandon) is in total disbelief.

As far as shock value is concerned this film is a total success. It features some of the strangest, most disturbing images in movie history and that ending is really something. However, it is extremely dull and uneven for most of the films running time. Still, it has a GREAT cast.

Rated R; Nudity, Graphic Violence, Sexual Situations, and Profanity.