Opening

76% Fast & Furious 6 May 24
29% The Hangover Part III May 23
83% Epic May 24
97% Before Midnight May 24
70% We Steal Secrets: The Story Of Wikileaks May 24
88% Fill the Void May 24
—— A Green Story May 24
—— Alyce Kills May 24

Top Box Office

86% Star Trek Into Darkness $70.2M
78% Iron Man 3 $35.8M
50% The Great Gatsby $23.9M
46% Pain & Gain $3.2M
69% The Croods $3.0M
77% 42 $2.8M
55% Oblivion $2.3M
98% Mud $2.2M
36% Peeples $2.2M
8% The Big Wedding $1.2M

Coming Soon

—— After Earth May 31
—— Now You See Me May 31
100% The Kings of Summer May 31
89% The East May 31

The Sentinel (1976)

tomatometer

No Reviews Yet...

Release Date: Jan 7, 1977 Wide

audience

48

liked it
Average Rating: 3.1/5
User Ratings: 2,670

My Rating

Movie Info

In the wake of such Satanic-themed thrillers as Rosemary's Baby, The Exorcist and The Omen comes The Sentinel. When New York fashion model (Cristina Raines) splits with her fiance (Chris Sarandon) and moves into an old brownstone, she soon discovers she has more than she bargained for in the lease. As luck would have it, a mysterious blind priest (John Carradine) who lives upstairs happens to be guarding the doorway to Hell, and she has been chosen as his replacement. Incidentally, when the door

R,

Drama, Horror, Mystery & Suspense

Michael Winner

Sep 7, 2004

MCA Universal Home Video

Cast

ADVERTISEMENT

All Critics (12) | Top Critics (1) | Fresh (5) | Rotten (5) | DVD (5)

The cast is certainly impressive, but in every other respect this horror in the vein of Rosemary's Baby and The Exorcist is a second-rate piece of tut.

February 28, 2011 Full Review Source: SFX Magazine
SFX Magazine

way too predictable

August 9, 2006 Full Review Source: sbs.is | Comment (1)

...satisfies much like French fries, without asking too much of the kitchen but irresistible in the context %u2013 and notable if it were to disappoint. Here, it's the full big Mac package.

July 27, 2006 Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile
Urban Cinefile

Dead people who throw cat birthday parties. Gotta love it!

January 28, 2005 Full Review Source: StaciWilson.com
StaciWilson.com

One of the best horror films of the 70's. An intriguing story and disturbing imagery make this one stick out in the psyche.

March 21, 2003
eFilmCritic.com

How any self-respecting horror film fan can not like a movie that works on the premise that the entrance to hell is in a Brooklyn apartment building is beyond me.

August 26, 2002 Full Review Source: Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

Audience Reviews for The Sentinel

Around this time in the seventies there was a resurgence of films with demonic presences, amongst which were "Rosemary's Baby", "The Omen", and "The Exorcist". It was popular to give children the power of demonic powers, as they are vulnerable beings without much threat towards stronger adults. "The Sentinel" capitalized on the trend of giving demonic presence, but instead placed it within your home, where you supposedly feel safe. Instead of being a ubiquitous haunted house tale, the apartment in which model Alison is residing is the gateway into Hell, and though she believes she is surrounded by oddball, perverted, frankly creepy neighbors, she is all alone in the building except for a blind priest who lives upstairs. The film itself is not very horrific, doesn't try to be ultimately gory, and often tries to build up tension or show the depths of characters that aren't that interesting to begin with. Alison, our main protagonist, is living on her own since failing to commit suicide several times from being depressed as a teenager and from witnessing a gluttonous orgy brought about by her elderly father (it wasn't a pretty scene, and was probably the strangest part of a film that gets stranger as it goes). For over half of the film the model hears weird sounds, has problems concentrating and fainting, and seems stressed over her new home, but there is rarely a moment of true horror until the very end. Some seriously big names from the Golden Age of Hollywood show up in this including Ava Gardner, Burgess Meredith, Jose Ferrer, and Arthur Kennedy, in minor roles, some as demonic neighbors. The lead actress isn't horrible, but she seems out of her element on more than one occasion, looking bedroom eyed and confused. It has a really great concept, and the ending is creepy, but the film doesn't take its time to establish the concept or enlighten the audience, but instead traipses around making ghostly noises.
August 27, 2010
FrizzDrop

Super Reviewer

A rather odd big budget studio horror film made to cash-in the late 60s-70s satanic craze that produced a few masterpieces of the genre. Michael Winner's lack of subtlety condemns the film to look as a poor and shoddy attempt, despite an all star cast and an eerie premise.
May 13, 2008
pier007

Super Reviewer

No quotes approved yet for The Sentinel. Logged in users can submit quotes.

Discussion Forum

There are no discussion threads for The Sentinel yet.

Latest News on The Sentinel

June 23, 2008:
Kim Newman on... Hex
RT Obscura, the exclusive column by renowned critic Kim Newman, sees the writer plumbing the depths...

Help | About | Jobs | Critics Submission | API | Licensing | Mobile