Total Sci-Fi’s Guide to the Incredibly Strange and Obscure in Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Movies

The Facts

Written by Michael Winner, based on the novel by Jeffrey Konvitz
Directed by Michael Winner
Produced by Jeffrey Konvitz, Michael Winner
Music: Gil Melle
Cast: Chris Sarandon, Cristina Raines, Jeff Goldblum, Christopher Walken, Martin Balsam, John Carradine
Running time: 92 minutes

The Plot

A commitment-shy model moves into an affordable apartment, meets her weird neighbours and discovers she’s sitting on the gateway to Hell…

The Lowdown

Overall, this Michael Winner (yes, that Death Wish “Calm down, dear” bloke) movie is relatively straightforward: a young woman moves into a suspiciously cheap apartment, meets the strange neighbours, then discovers they are all ghosts of dead murderers and the building is the gateway to Hell, guarded by a lone sentinel (John Carradine). Guess who’s lined up to be his replacement?


The joy here, though, is in the bizarre cast list. It’s great fun spotting actors who later became bigger names in minor roles. Poor old Jeff Goldblum, as a photographer, even has his voiced dubbed by someone else — the indignity!

Among the cast are Hollywood great Ava Gardner (rather past her prime), up-and-coming Beverly D’Angelo (who gets her kit off), and a young-ish William Hickey. Burgess Meredith plays his role with a twinkle in his eye, while the final scenes see blink-and-you’ll-miss-them appearances by Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’s Nana Visitor (billed as Nana Tucker) and Tom Berenger. Christopher Walken even pops up, but says nothing!

Drawing from early-to-mid-1970s films like The Exorcist and The Omen, The Sentinel is a cack-handed attempt at a supernatural chiller. While Christina Raines is OK as the lead, Chris Sarandon appears to be sleep walking through events, until the end reveals him as a demon.

As haunted apartment movies go, The Sentinel is not a patch on Rosemary’s Baby (1968) or The Tenant (1976, both Roman Polanski films, oddly), but it tries hard. Winner’s direction is functionary at best, but with that cast and a weird atmosphere, the film is worth seeking out as it is not part of the much-written-about approved 1970s horror canon.

Cult Cast

Chris Sarandon was never much of an actor, but is best remembered for turns in The Princess Bride (1987) and Fright Night (1985, recently remade with David Tennant). His biggest role, though, was probably providing the voice for Jack Skellington in Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993). Sarandon graduated from soap The Guiding Light, was Al Pacino’s partner in Dog Day Afternoon (1975, he scored a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nod), and later moved into TV with a recurring role on E.R. He went on to play Necromancer demon Armand (typecasting!) in Charmed.

Burgess Meredith has clocked up quite a few significant SF, horror and fantasy credits including his turn as the Penguin in the 1960s Adam West-starring Batman TV series. He appeared in four episodes of the original The Twilight Zone, notably in Time Enough At Last, as well as narrating Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983). Blacklisted in Hollywood in the 1950s, Meredith appeared in the Batman movie (1966) and Clash of the Titans (1981). He died in 1997.

Director’s Cut

Michael Winner writes the Winner’s Dinners food column for The Sunday Times, but was once a controversial film director (notably on the Death Wish series of vigilante films). The 75-year-old started out as a gossip columnist and met many old-time Hollywood stars. He started directing for BBC TV, moving into feature films with Shoot to Kill (1960). His fantasy-related movies include The Nightcomers (1972), a prequel to The Turn of the Screw.


WTF? Moment

There are a couple of unexpected moments in The Sentinel. The first is the realisation that the neighbours we’ve been shown the lead character spending time with don’t exist — the building is empty, apart from the blind priest on the fifth floor!

The second comes when all Hell breaks loose (literally) and our heroine is assaulted by a bunch of weirdo freaks (make-up courtesy of Dick Smith). Turns out many of these were real-life disfigured people or circus entertainers that un-PC Winner used to represent demons.

Behind-the-Scenes

Actress Sylvia Miles was originally hoping to play the Real Estate agent role in The Sentinel that eventually went to Ava Gardner. Instead, she ended up playing a nude German lesbian murderer ghost. “[Michael Winner said] ‘I’d rather you play this.’ ‘Yeah, but that’s a mad dead crazed German zombie lesbian ballet dancer!’ He said, ‘Well, anybody could play the real estate agent.’ I said, ‘Well, who the hell would want to...’ I mean, can you imagine a mad dead crazed German zombie lesbian ballet dancer?”

Creators Talk

“I’d have loved to have worked with Edward G Robinson. Of the newer people of course Hoffman, De Niro and Pacino. I also think that Renée Zellweger is a wonderful actress. Very versatile. I also managed to turn down King Kong, James Bond, The French Connection and The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie. Four of my many errors in life... I don’t know why I turned down James Bond. I can’t imagine. I took the call [in] 1971. ‘Are you interested in James Bond?’ they said. ‘Harry Saltzman would like you to do it.’ I said, ‘No.’ I mean, it’s not as if I was making Hamlet! ‘Oh, no thanks, I only do Ibsen!’ I was only doing thrillers anyway. A moment of lunacy.” — Michael Winner


Availability

Long unavailable, The Sentinel was released on DVD in 2008 and can still be tracked down via online retailers.

Online Resources

Sylvia Miles Interview
[www.brightlightsfilm.com/24/24miles.php]

Remake

The Sentinel has escaped the horror remake band wagon (probably for good reason) and the title has even been nicked by the 2006 Michael Douglas-Kiefer Sutherland secret service thriller…

The Bottom Line

Amusing, and great for star spotting, Winner’s horror film is a worthwhile watch.

Brian J. Robb