The Sentinel

source: The Sentinel

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.

Sentinel, The (1977) ** (out of 4) Many reviews label this as another attempt to rip-off THE EXORCIST but I think the film has a lot more in common with Polanski's ROSEMARY'S BABY as well as THE TENANT. The story has a pretty but unstable model (Cristina Raines) not wanting to move in with her boyfriend (Christ Sarandon) due to it being to close to the time when his wife killed herself so she decides to look for her own apartment. She eventually finds one at a great price but slowly the woman starts to lose her mind and it appears the apartment is hiding many more secrets including the gateway to Hell. THE SENTINEL is basically an interesting idea that never really comes to life thanks to some rather bland direction but film buffs are going to have a field day counting all the famous faces that show up. Just check out this cast: Martin Balsam, John Carradine, Jose Ferrer, Ava Gardner, Burgess Meredith, Sylvia Miles, William Hickey and Eli Wallach. On top of those we get others just starting their careers including Beverly D'Angelo, Jerry Orbach, Christopher Walken, Jeff Goldblum, Tom Berenger and even Richard Dreyfuss can be spotted during a quick cameo. With all these familiar faces on hand it's impossible to every get bored but at the same time one wishes that director Winner had done a better job bringing the material to life. There's a lot of mystery going on as we try to figure out what is happening to the young woman and the director at least keeps it interesting but this is one of those movies where you just wait for something to finally happen and before you know it the movie is over and nothing interesting ever did happen. There were several moments that would build up your interest and before you knew it nothing came of what they were going for or something would just hit a wall. I will say that it seems obvious that THE SHINING was influenced by this film and especially the ending where our female begins seeing haunting images as she runs frantically through the apartment building. Of course it goes without saying but the Kubrick film was a lot more successful and suspenseful. The exploitation factor was also quite high here as we get quite a few bloody moments including one where a man gets his eye ripped out before then getting his nose cut off. We even get quite a bit of nudity including D'Angelo and Miles who play the lesbian neighbors. D'Angelo is also part of an unintentionally funny scene where she introduces herself to our female hero by masturbating in front of her. The cast does what they can but most of them just basically have cameo parts and don't appear in more than a couple scenes. I found Sarandon to be rather bland in his part and while Raines looks great she doesn't have the ability to pull off the mental issues of the character. Carradine doesn't appear until the final minutes of the film even though he gets fourth-billing. It's also worth noting that director Winner decided to use real deformed humans, which was probably the most exploitive they've had to do since Tod Browning's FREAKS. In the end there's quite a bit going on in this film but sadly most is just wasted. This is certainly a film that needs to be remade as there are some very good elements but they just never come together.

Bizarre horror movie filled with famous faces but stolen by Cristina Raines (later of TV's "Flamingo Road") as a pretty but somewhat unstable model with a gummy smile who is slated to pay for her attempted suicides by guarding the Gateway to Hell! The scenes with Raines modeling are very well captured, the mood music is perfect, Deborah Raffin is charming as Cristina's pal, but when Raines moves into a creepy Brooklyn Heights brownstone (inhabited by a blind priest on the top floor), things really start cooking. The neighbors, including a fantastically wicked Burgess Meredith and kinky couple Sylvia Miles & Beverly D'Angelo, are a diabolical lot, and Eli Wallach is great fun as a wily police detective. The movie is nearly a cross-pollination of "Rosemary's Baby" and "The Exorcist"--but what a combination! Based on the best-seller by Jeffrey Konvitz, "The Sentinel" is entertainingly spooky, full of shocks brought off well by director Michael Winner, who mounts a thoughtfully downbeat ending with skill. ***1/2 from ****

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.

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!

''The Sentinel'' is one of the best horror movies already made in the movie's Industry! I think it is very scary as very few movies actually are. Alison Parker is a model with some fame. She dates a lawyer called Michael Lerman, and has as a best friend, another model called Jennifer. Everything was great in her life, until she decides to live alone for some time and rents a beautiful and old apartment. The problem are her neighbors, who are very, VERY strange. Suddenly Alison starts to have health problems and faints with frequency; She also remembers some painful facts about her past that makes her have nightmares or illusions. But everything has a reason, and it has to do with the new house she is living... I personally find ''The Sentinel'' a very creepy movie, and along with ''The Exorcist'' they are two of the scariest movies I already watched. When we discover that Alison's house is only occupied by the priest and herself my blood froze! It's also horrible to see that she needs to become blind in the end of the movie in order to be the new sentinel to keep the monsters away from our world.

Not ready for marriage, a fashion model (Cristine Raines) moves into an unbelievably nice Brooklyn Heights apartment, where scary occurrences turn into a much more frightening turn of events. I have to first call out the cast: Chris Sarandon (so young he is unrecognizable), Jeff Goldblum, Christopher Walken (in a far too small role), Eli Wallach, Jerry Orbach (also quite young), Burgess Meredith, John Carradine... and more (including a very, very small cameo by Richard Dreyfuss). If you think a film with both Walken and Goldblum is a bad idea, you may as well just walk away now. The biggest thing for me is how I did not know what this film was or had even heard of it. How has it escaped my attention? With that cast, the great plot and solid storytelling? This is really a must-see for horror fans. It has been ranked in the top 100 of the scariest horror films. I have seen 1000s of horror films, and I would debate putting it in the top 100, but it is not a stretch by any means. Before Dana Barrett opened her refrigerator and found Zuul, this story was out there of another apartment complex with another kind of doorway...

Of all the movies of the seventies, none captured to truest essence of the good versus evil battle as did the Sentinel. I mean, yes, there were movies like the Exorcist, and other ones; but none of them captured the human element of the protagonist like this one. If you have time, check this one out. You may not be able to get past the dated devices as such, but this is a story worth getting into.Then there are all the stars and soon-to-be stars. My absolute favorites were Eli Wallach, Sylvia Miles, and Burgess Meredith. Then there are the subtle clues that lead to what's going on too. Pay close attention. I had to watch it four times to catch on to all the smaller weird statements like 'black and white cat, black and white cake'. Plus, the books are really good as well. I'm just sorry that they're not going to turn the second book into a film. It's so scary that it would outdo this movie.

"Rosemary's Baby" meets "The Exorcist" in this trashy and derivative freak show, which tries to cash in on every occult movie cliché imaginable. In it, a beautiful actress/model who's in a shaky relationship moves into a glamorous apartment at very reasonable rent, only to discover it's haunted by various weirdos. She has the usual health problems (migranes and fainting spells) and the freaks who are her neighbors are becoming increasingly menacing. Many of the scenes are meant to be shocking, but are merely embarrassing and hard to watch. Sylvia Miles and Beverly D'Angelo have a particularly vulgar scene. The one thing one wonders is how did they get all these high-powered stars to take on supporting roles. Also, one is surprised by how many actors with bit parts who were unknown at the time have since gone on to successful careers. It's a virtual galaxy of the stars of yesterday, today, and tomorrow. There are so many, it's distracting. However, playing "spot the star" is far more entertaining than anything that happens in this film. The main character had attempted suicide once and has thoughts of it again. If I had been forced to watch this film repeatedly, I might have attempted suicide. The climax to the film was particularly unpleasant without being scary. The only pleasure besides the cast would be the big budget, which brings a professional veneer to a graze Z script. What an overwhelming waste of Hollywood talent and audiences time.