The Sentinel

Introduction

She's a model and she's looking good, I'd like to take her home that's understood. Well maybe, but I doubt I'd want to be taking her to her own home. It's the gateway to hell, you know.

Alison Parker (Cristina Raines) is a successful model who has been living for a couple of years with lawyer boyfriend Michael Lerman (Chris Sarandon), whose wife died prior to their relationship. All is kind of rosy until Alison receives the news that her father has died and she flies home for the funeral. Whilst at her old home, Alison has visions of her tragic past where she once attempted suicide after catching her father in flagrante with a couple of naked women with a penchant for cake. Alison was a devout Catholic girl up until this point, but has since left the Church behind and gotten on with her life.

Talking to her mother at the funeral, she questions her about why she never left. The reply was that she never had anywhere to go, so Alison decides that she needs her own space rather than marrying Michael and looks to rent a suitable and cheap apartment. Her estate agent Miss Logan (Ava Gardner) has the perfect place, a steal at $400 a month. The place looks great and the only weird thing appears to be the old priest who sits staring out of the top floor window. Miss Logan explains that is old Father Francis Matthew Halloran (John Carradine) who is a bit of a recluse.



After moving in, Alison meets a few of her neighbours. Charles Chazen (Burgess Meredith) seems a gentle soul, whilst ballet loving Gerde Engstrom (Sylvia Miles) and her younger lover Sandra (Beverley D'Angelo) are a little too weird for her liking. Alison likes Chazen though, and he sets up a surprise for the young model by hosting a birthday party for his cat and inviting all the neighbours. When Alison mentions all this to Miss Logan, she looks puzzled and explains that the building is completely empty bar Alison and the old priest on the top floor.

Hmm, more to this than meets the eye…

Visual

Considering the age and the fact that it looks quite low budget, the picture is in really good shape. I'd almost say pristine. A couple of the visual effects look a little off kilter, but they don't really detract from the story.

Audio

Suitably over the top soundtrack for this genre piece by Gil Mellé. Film soundtrack is Stereo but sadly no subtitles.

Extras

Audio Commentary - rather rambling commentary by Michael Winner where he rants about incompetent Studio Executives, drops stories in on his admittedly great cast, and throws in a recipe for scrambled eggs while namedropping Sinatra.

Stills Gallery

Biographies - text bio's of not only the main cast but also those who appeared and went onto bigger and better things.

Original theatrical trailer

Overall

I'll be honest, I only really know Michael Winner's career through the likes of Death Wish and Dirty Weekend, which I guess is a female version of Death Wish. You're more likely to find Winner on TV filming insurance adverts with a grimace inducing catchphrase thrown in rather inappropriately, although he did write a column for the News Of The World (and may still, who knows). I knew that this was going to be a 70's horror film, but I didn't know much about it at all and it was a pleasant surprise.

Winner has assembled a superb cast for a genre film, and presumably a low budget one at that. Some of the cast were very well known at the time, such as Eli Wallach, Sylvia Miles, Ava Gardner, José Ferrer and John Carradine. Others not so much, but would soon move onto become household names like Jerry Orbach, Jeff Goldblum, Christopher Walken and Beverley D'Angelo (in a rather short but memorable first film appearance).

A lot of old horror films, good and cheesy alike, from the 70's that I've seen had a good dose of Catholicism thrown into the mix for the horror was almost certainly the devil's work. And so it is here. Mysterious priests, secret organisations within the church and ghostly goings-on. It's a potent mix and as someone who isn't religious, it has a strange attraction to it. It's not that great a film, but good fun for an hour and a half. You can see the end coming a mile away, but it's the journey to get there that counts.

Worth a view at least, but this is apparently well thought-of by genre fans according to iMDB. I can see why, even if I didn't find it that scary myself.