The Sentinel

At the end of the movie you will see a very disfigured man, seems like great makeup job, with warts all over his face, similar to the elephant man but not as severe. This was no makeup. Louie was from my neighborhood and was severely disfigured from birth. He was picked for the movie while on the train coming from work where he used to mop floors in a hospital. Everyone in my neighborhood loved Louie and his disfigurement never bothered us. He actually was married to a normal looking woman and had a child, a son. He had his 15 minutes of fame and we were all happy for him, great guy that made a deficit into an asset.

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!

"Campy" doesn't adequately describe THE SENTINEL, I'm not sure what does! If for no other reason, but to see actors of the caliber of Martin Balsam, Ava Gardner, Jose Ferrer, Arthur Kennedy, Christopher Walken, Chris Sarandon, Eli Wallach and Burgess Meredith all making fools of themselves, is an opportunity you simply cannot pass up in this dumb tale of yet another gateway to Hell!

Cristina Raines plays Alison Parker, a willowy model who decides to move in to a spooky Brooklyn apartment building, remarkably similar to that which Rosemary and her baby recently vacated. Looks like the place is managed by the same body corporate! Tenanted mainly by the aforementioned actors, Miss Raines soon discovers that things are just not kosher somehow. Scenes decidedly campy and less so, blur both her and the audience's lines of reality. Worthy of an academy award alone is that where Raines is seated opposite D'Angelo watching her masturbate. The camera remains on her face as she begins to crack-up in obvious embarrassment at D'Angelo's antics - who wouldn't have? It's arguably the shot of the century!

Michael Winner directs with his usual "God knows what this is gonna turn out like" philosophy. Responsible for such good films as THE MECHANIC and such losers as DEATH WISH 4, its a 50:50 proposition with ANY of his pics!

Horrific or laugh-out-loud funny? you choose! Outrageous fun though, however you look at it!

No, this is not a great movie. But I give the casting director extra stars for the cast, Ava Gardner, Eli Wallach, Chris Sarandon, John Carradine, Burgess Meredith, a very young Christopher Walken (he was quite handsome then), Beverly D'Ángelo, and Jerry Orbach, among others.

The film quality of the 70's adds that special touch, the chrome, shag rugs and gaudy artwork. The apartment Cristina Raines rents for $400.00 per month would probably cost $7000.00 now, so it is fun to see Brooklyn Heights, and days when New York was a little cleaner, filmed during the turbulent 70's when we had Son of Sam, movies like the Exorcist, Amityville Horror, Helter Skelter, and the like.

I am not sure if this is a pro-Catholic film, as one reviewer said. The church is certainly portrayed as Cristina Raines' only salvation; I will have to read the book to see if that is the case.

At any rate, you will enjoy parts of this movie. Beverly D'Angelo is quite strange, Cristina Raines is believable, the scary scenes are a little weird, but if you are up for it, this is an okay movie.

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.