Our old friend Michael Winner's oft-mocked mainstream excursion into the horror genre. Based on a novel of the same name by Jeffrey Konvitz, who co-wrote the screenplay with Winner, the plot of The Sentinel begins with beautiful young model Alison Parker moving into an old apartment block in Brooklyn Heights. Having attempted suicide in the past and only recently having buried her deceased father who was linked to several traumatic childhood experiences which continue to haunt her, Alison is already a vulnerable soul, who despite having the support of her successful businessman boyfriend Michael, desperately seeks strength and independence.
Upon moving into her apartment the already troubled Alison begins to experience a series of strange and frightening phenomena. Her sleep is constantly broken by nightmarish vision's of her past and the sound of footsteps in the apartment above hers in the dead of night. Meanwhile she is constantly harassed by a group of odd, eccentric individual's who claim to be her neighbour's, even though Alison's landlady insists that the only other tenant living in the building is an old, blind priest Father Halloran who lives on the top floor and spends his days sat at the window. As Alison's behaviour becomes increasingly erratic, Michael becomes concerned and begins to investigate the history of the building where she now resides. He soon discovers to his horror that not only is the property purportedly built upon the gateway to hell, but Alison is being lined up to replace the blind, long-suffering Father Halloran as it's new guardian. Will Alison escape her grim fate? Or will she be doomed to guard the gates of hell forever?
Although much maligned and widely dismissed as a crude, tasteless, exploitative and laughable attempt to jump upon the mainstream bandwagon for Satanic horror picture's set in motion by the popularity of Rosemary's Baby and The Exorcist, by uptight critics at the time of its original release, The Sentinel has actually aged pretty well over the years and, in the opinion of this writer, is a film worthy of reevaluation. In fact I would personally stick my neck out and say that with The Sentinel, Michael Winner actually delivers one of the better mainstream haunted house suspense horror picture's of the mid to late seventies.
Of course the central plot device of Konvitz's narrative in which a vulnerable young woman living in an apartment building is gradually made to feel uneasy by seemingly kind yet creepily overbearing neighbour's who hide a diabolical secret is not only quite predictable, but also a fairly derivative and blatant rehash of the basic plot of Rosemary's Baby. However, in spite of it's not exactly subtle tinge of familiarity, The Sentinel remains a solid seventies horror film in its own right. While reputation alone would suggest that Winner simply goes overboard here in terms of exploitative content, in actuality Winner, during the films early stages, succeed's in crafting an unsettling and surprisingly understated atmosphere of creeping dread, the denizen's of hell slowly encroaching on the land of the living as the already troubled Alison becomes acquainted with the sinister Brooklyn Heights apartment block which she has made her new home, and it's macabre tenant's who it goes without saying turn out to be much more than they first appear.
Supporting character's such as the elderly, eccentric Charles Chazen (played with aplomb by Burgess Meredith) with his intrusive, almost suffocating kindness, blind old priest who sits and stares sightlessly from his top floor window all day (portrayed by horror legend John Carradine) and lesbian couple Gerde and Sandra (played by Sylvia Miles and Beverly D'Angelo respectively) , the latter of whom rigorously masturbates in front of an embarrassed Alison in one of the films most memorable and acutely uncomfortable scenes, contribute strongly to the films atmosphere of unease. While Winner is not a director normally associated with the horror genre, he demonstrates a surprising aptitude for putting together creepy and suspenseful sequences as Alison is constantly woken in the middle of the night, eventually leading to a beautifully timed shock moment involving the ghoulish, cadaverous spectre of Alison's recent deceased father, which has been known to make more than one viewer jump on an initial viewing.
The quality of the performance's from the films surprisingly star-studded cast is inconsistent, but on the whole quite strong. The attractive Christina Raines, whilst unexceptional at least makes for a functional and fairly appealing central female protagonist as Alison. By contrast however, Chris Sarandon, just a year on from his Oscar nomination for his role in Dog Day Afternoon, sleepwalks his way through his role as Alison's smarmy and unlikable boyfriend Michael. As I have already touched upon the best performances come from seasoned supporting players Burgess Meredith, John Carradine and Sylvia Miles as Alison's sinister new neighbour's, while old hands Mel Ferrer and Arthur Kennedy skulk around on the fringes of the film as god fearing priest's, offering further pointer's that something demonic is afoot. Meanwhile those who get a kick from spotting name actors in "before they were famous" bit parts will no doubt have fun spotting Jeff Goldblum, Christopher Walken and Tom Berenger in small supporting roles.
Unfortunately following the films engaging and suspenseful first half in which Alison discovers that something evil is at work in her new home, The Sentinel does unfortunately get stuck in something of a rut in its middle act as Winner rather drudgingly pieces together the particular's of the films rather obvious "mystery". Fortunately however, The Sentinel recovers in its closing stages as Winner rallies to deliver an intense and fairly unsettling finale in which Alison finally discovers the horrific truth about the apartment building and her creepy neighbour's as the forces of hell are, quite literally, unleashed. Over the years it has been the finale of The Sentinel which has been the main source of controversy and criticism, due to Winner's decision to utilise genuinely deformed extra's to portray the unleashed minion's of hell. However, while it's hard to deny that this tactic is pretty tasteless and insensitive, it does in my opinion at least, make for an effectively horrifying spectacle as a terrified Alison flee's through the building, navigating her way past leering, horrifically deformed extra's in the films intense concluding scene's. Meanwhile I also appreciated the nicely downbeat final denouement, even if it is admittedly heavily signposted from a fairly early juncture in the film.
So in conclusion The Sentinel, whilst far from perfect, on the whole registers as an enjoyable, efficiently directed and at times disarmingly suspenseful and creepy seventies horror film, despite the over familiar predictability of its narrative and its variable performance's. Indeed, while certainly no classic of the genre, The Sentinel is certainly an entertaining and fairly effective chiller, which really deserves better than the reputation as a tasteless, badly made piece of shock which it has undeservedly acquired over the years.
Recommended.
At present The Sentinel is available on both US Region One and UK Region Two DVD from Universal and Fabulous Films respectively. Both release's present The Sentinel fully uncut in a 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen print, however while the Universal US DVD release contains only the theatrical trailer in terms of extra's, the UK Fabulous Films disc features an audio commentary with director Michael Winner and a stills gallery in addition to the same trailer. Therefore fans of the film may wish to fork out a little more for the UK disc. There is also an older, now long out of print US R1 DVD release on the Goodtimes imprint which presents The Sentinel uncut in a watchable yet predictably unspectacular full screen print, whilst offering production notes and the theatrical trailer in terms of extra's.
The Sentinel (Fabulous Films - UK R2 DVD):amazon.co.uk
Good to see this brought up again - a classick of 70s horror, and what a cast. I have the R1 but will probably pick up the UK disc for the commentary at some point.
Didn't the 15 rated video contain a TV print of the film with deleted footage?
The last UK VHS release issued by 4Front in the late nineties was indeed a censored TV print of the film. Not sure what was missing all in all, but I do recall that the scene of Beverly D'Angelo, as one half on the sinister lesbian couple, masturbating infront of Alison was cut out entirely leaving that scene completely unfathomable as the viewer is left with no idea as to why Alison makes a sudden exit from their apartment.
I wasn't aware that this version contained any extra footage missing from the non-truncated version though? Are you sure of this? Any details? I'd be eager to find out.
I agree about the awesome cast two. Chris Sarandon, Burgess Meredith, Sylvia Miles, John Carradine, Eli Wallach, Deborah Raffin, Ava Gardner... the names just speak for themselves. That has to arguably be the biggest and most high profile ensemble ever put together for a horror/exploitation picture of that ilk up to that point.
I personally have yet to see a Michael Winner film I have not liked in one form or another.
Ive never understood the outright dismissal of his films by so called serious film fans.
A few scenes that were added for the TV version include a brief scene after the climax which shows detectives Gatz and Rizzo arriving at the brownstone house the morning after and seeing Father Hallin being being carried out by paramedics on a stretcher and being informed that he died of a heart attack.
The original opening of the film, including some outdoors shots filmed in northern Italy, implied that the sentinels were controlled by an order of the Catholic Church. These scenes were replaced in the American broadcast version with new scenes involving the same cast, now describing the sentinels as minions of an excommunicated order of defrocked priests, the "Brotherhood of the Protectors." In the TV version, Jose Ferrer's character is a monsignor instead of a cardinal, and has more dialog.
In the theatrical version, there is no voiceover in the final scene while the camera orbits the new Sentinel. The effect of seeing Alison transformed is startling, unsettling, and frightening. For the TV version, a voiceover has been added which diminishes this effect by implying that Alison is much happier in her new life than she was before.
I personally have yet to see a Michael Winner film I have not liked in one form or another.
Ive never understood the outright dismissal of his films by so called serious film fans.
The Sentinel is indeed no exception.
I think it's been a case of people measuring Winner's career by what they think of him as a person. He's been quite outspoken on talk shows (check out the debate between him an a feminist regarding the rape scene in Death Wish II – it's on YouTube and is hilarious!), his newspaper columns (in which he used to name-drop like there was no tomorrow), etc, etc. With the exception of BULLSEYE I've not seen a Winner film I've dislike, either. Let's be fair though, Winner was not a filmmaking genius but he made some hugely enjoyable films. THE JOKERS, HANNIBAL BROOKS, I'LL NEVER FORGET WHAT'S 'IS NAME, THE MECHANIC, DEATH WISH are all great. I've a lot of time for Winner's films and I'm not embarrassed to admit it. Usually when someone like Winner is completely dismissed by critics many film aficionados will hold the same view out of fear of being seen to be stupid. What a completely ridiculous notion!
Good review again, Jack. I must check THE SENTINEL out again. I have the R1 Universal disc but haven't seen the film since owning the pre-cert in the early 90s. My first memory of the film was from seeing the trailer on a CIC rental tape when I was eight, back in the 80s (was on THE THING, I seem to remember). Anyhoo, it proper shit me up!
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