Movie Review - The Sentinel

The Sentinel

1977

The Cast

Alison Parker (Raines) is a working model who is not yet ready to marry her boyfriend Michael (Sarandon) and who needs to find a place of her own to get her mind and thoughts right.  However, the city isn't cheap and Alison is about to give up when she comes across an apartment in an old house.  The house and the apartments inside are in the process of being renovated, giving her the opportunity to rent for a reasonable amount.  However, once there, things start to get strange... not only are the other tenants peculiar in the way they act and behave towards her... but she starts to get a feeling of apprehension and a sense of being watched... there's something not quite right with this big old house and it may have something to do with the priest in the top apartment; though he's blind he spends every hour sat in front of his window looking out over the city...

Michael Winner opted to go the route of the original Rosemary's Baby with this little "Big" horror flick of good versus evil.  The entire atmosphere of the film is reminiscent of Polanski.  Even the camera work, at times, has a similar feel.  However, it's Winner's direction and use of actors that make this a more enjoyable affair.  I have to admit I found Rosemary quite boring, though it was nicely shot and had a decent cast.  Winner injects a little more action and tries for a more ominous and eerie atmosphere, which he doesn't quite pull off.

Another positive is the story, based on a novel by Jeffrey Convitz (which I now want to read as the movie had so many elements that could only be expanded and improved upon in written form), as this has more than a few twists and turns along its way.  It would have been nice to see some of these utilised a tad better as it could have made for a stronger movie.  Though, back in '77, movies were frowned upon when they went over an hour and a half, which probably meant quite a few bits of celluloid on the floor.

As for the actors, well the cast is massive for a horror flick.  Granted the big names are in supporting roles, though this is a good ploy by Winner, as the story is mostly revolving around the occupants.  We have Burgess "WARK! WARK!" Meredith as the enigmatic and gentlemanly Charles Chazon; Sylvia Miles and Beverly D'Angelo as the uninhabited lesbians Gerde Engstrom and Sandra; and as the omnipresent blind priest Father Halliran we have John Carradine.  But the names don't stop there, and Winner has a good eye for up and coming talent as there's Christopher Walken, Tom Berenger, Jeff Goldblum, and Richard Dreyfuss thrown into the mix for good measure.

However, though the cast is great it's too big.  There are too many characters knocking about and this gives the entire film the feeling of being crowded.  This would work well in a novel as there's more space to work in.  However, in the confines of an hour and a half, it may have been better to reduce the cast to essential characters and built on them a little more, giving them more depth and making the film stronger in the process.

That said, I will say this is worth at least one watch, especially if you're an old-school-horror fan who likes the religious good versus evil twist... or if you just want to give zombies and wimped out vampires a miss...

I give this a Blind For God Creepy 6 out of 10.

The Trailer

Video Nasty - Let Sleeping Corpses Lie

Let Sleeping Corpses Lie

(1974)

Original Title - Non Si Deve Profanare Il Sonno Dei Morti

AKA - The Living Dead

AKA - The Living Dead At The Manchester Morgue

AKA - Do Not Profane The Sleep Of The Dead

AKA - Don't Open The Window

Star Films SA / Flaminia Produzioni Cinematografiche : Anchor Bay Entertainment / Blue Underground

7.75 / 10

As you can see the film goes under many names though I chose the "Let Sleeping Corpses Lie" as this is the translation of the original Italian and better suits the film than all the rest.  However, I believe that "The Living Dead At The Manchester Morgue" is one of the most popular names used - once I'd watched the film I thought the title misleading as we never get to the Manchester Morgue.

This is definitely a film of its time and not just for the low budget or dodgy acting but for the context.  The dead reanimator is an experimental low-frequency radiation emitting pest controller, which our anti-hero keeps telling people that they shouldn't trust it.  We also shouldn't trust the police to do their job correctly.  I remember these being the underlying feelings of quite a few people in the 1970's.  It's a shame it got banned because it could have had quite a following for these ideologies alone.

What you have is your standard fare of Italian horror, though this time, transferred into the English countryside.  If you were in doubt that this is England the Director punches it home in the opening sequence as our anti-hero, George Meaning (Ray Lovelock) rides through the countryside on his Norton.  When he pulls into a garage for supplies our heroine Edna (poor lass) Simmonds (Cristina Galbo) reverses into the Norton in her Mini.  From here on out they are pretty much joined at the hip as he commands her to take him to Windermere because it's the least she could do... then he jumps into the driver's seat since he doesn't want to go there in reverse.

George is a bullish man who likes to command everybody and isn't afraid to speak out and let everybody know how he feels.  There are sometimes that you would love to hit this guy for being so rude, though most of the time it made me giggle.

As with most Italian Horror Films, the dubbing is pretty atrocious, however, it does give it a strange kind of ambience, maybe I've watched too many and I've grown fond of the sub-genre.  Jorge Grau does a satisfying job of bringing the story, wrote by Sandro Continenza and Marcello Coscia, to the screen.  He creates nice tension as the film progresses.  You can feel the uneasiness that Edna feels when she first sees the dead homeless man Guthrie Wilson for the first time.  This scene reminded me of Romero's Night Of The Living Dead, though it's not a rip-off more of a tribute as the rest of the film try to add something to the Zombie folklore, such as the way other cadavers can be resurrected.

On the whole, the acting is okay, though the dubbing does detract from the actor's skills because their voices don't feel like they're their own.  The only character who appeared to have his own voice was The Inspector.  The trouble was that Arthur Kennedy who portrayed him is American and his accent was a mix of Irish, Scottish, and American, he never quite landed on just one.  This made his character unintentionally humourous at times.

I've always like the Italian FX as they really know how to deliver the gory goods.  For me, the tearing apart of the Hospital Nurse come receptionist was the best.  There were rumours of a scene where a Zombie eats an eyeball, I think this is the church scene; a policeman is food for the zombies and you see his face sans eye, then you get a shot of Granny-Z popping something into her mouth, though you don't see what.  It would have been so good to have that shot.

All-in-All it's not a bad movie though it has its flaws it's still worth a watch.  If only half the horrors today were like this then I'd be happy.

Nergling - The Video Nasties Scare - The Living Dead At The Manchester Morgue