The Sentinel (1977) Reviewed by Geno McGahee – December 10, 2007
I often beat off a dead horse, stating that the 1970s put out the best horror films and here is another example, “The Sentinel.” Directed and co-written by Michael Winner, who also directed the fantastic Charles Bronson movie, “Death Wish,” and co-written by Jeffrey Konvitz who wrote a pretty good horror movie called, “Silent Night, Bloody Night.” They took their collective talent and added an all star cast to make a creepy and dark horror classic that can be easily compared to the other 1970's Satanic Masterpieces in “The Exorcist” and “Rosemary's Baby.”
 Alison Parker (Cristina Raines) is a model with a shady past, twice attempting to commit suicide and once finding her grotesque father in some sort of threesome with two unattractive women. Seeing that would force me head first off a building. Her hubby, Michael Lerman (Chris Sarandon), who is best known as the “Fright Night” guy...well, at least in my opinion. He was the vampire in that flick and he is just as good in this movie but, sadly, he is fangless.
Alison finds a Brooklyn Heights apartment that is enormous and cheap. The deal can't be beat and the neighbors are as nice as can be. The nicest of the bunch is Charles (Burgess Meredith), who warmly welcomes her to the building and introduces her to the rest of the residents. Meredith is such a great actor and no matter what role he is in, good or evil, he is likable and you want to be on his side. One of the residents is Sandra (Beverly D'Angelo) and she, by far, is my favorite tenant. The first day that she meets Alison, she masturbates in front of her, and at this time, D'Angelo was a knockout! I meet new people every day and none of them have ever masturbated in front of me. Why is that? Then again, it's safe to say that 60% of the people I meet per day are men, so maybe I should count my blessings.
Life in the apartment building gets stranger by the minute for Alison, beginning with the creepy priest that just stares out of the window on the top floor of the building. She also cannot stand her noisy neighbors directly above her. The only problem is that she doesn't have neighbors directly above her. The apartment is empty, but the next night her chandeliers begin to swing wildly and the noise is very loud. Something is going on upstairs and she has to investigate. With flashlight in hand she enters the empty apartment and boy is it creepy and then the unexpected happens: the ghosts of her dead father and the two women he was with attack. She slashes her dad up with a knife and runs out of the building screaming. It is an incredibly creepy scene, but now we have the police involved because a woman with a bloody knife and claiming to kill ghosts may have actually killed a real person.
Detective Gatz (Eli Wallach) and Detective Rizzo (Christopher Walken) are on the case and they obviously don't believe the “Ghost Dad” story. They probably would believe that “Ghost Dad” with Bill Cosby was a horrible movie but they were never confronted with that evidence. As they interview Alison, some strange things come to light. First, all of the residents of the apartment building that she names are deceased people that have been convicted or suspected in murders...even masturbating Beverly D'Angelo. Alison is also getting sickly and claiming that books are written in Latin when they are not. All of this concerns Michael, who begins to investigate and finds out some very disturbing things, all of which lead to the apartment building that his girlfriend resides in. When he confronts the evil, he must confront the evil within himself.
 This movie is very creepy and if you liked the before mentioned “The Exorcist” and “Rosemary's Baby,” this will be right up your alley. I really enjoyed this and highly recommend it. I also got a kick out of seeing a younger Jerry Orbach playing a photographer, and sporting a mustache. Then again, most of the men in this film had mustaches. Was this a horror film or a Village People tribute? Well, the 1970s was also known for mustaches...so, I guess I understand why everyone had one. We also saw Jeff Goldblum and Tom Berenger in small parts, so if you ever wanted to see their small parts this movie is for you. Goldblum is another connection to Death Wish too, considering that he was one of the thugs that raped Bronson's wife. And if that wasn't enough Death Wish for you, we also have Martin Balsam playing Professor Ruzinsky, who was also in Death Wish III. I can still hear his voice booming, “That's my shop,” as those hoodlums set it afire on the poor old guy.
So, if you have a Good Movie Wish, you got it here.
Scared Stiff Rating: 8/10. What room is D'Angelo in?
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