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 - The Boogey Man

The Boogey Man

(1980)

The Jerry Gross Organisation : Anchor Bay Entertainment / 88 Films

4.25 / 10

This another one of those movies that make me feel sad as it could have been so much better had the writer, director and producer, Ulli Lommel, spent a little more time on it.  I can say this in fairness as the story is pretty sound and there are some good original bits in the movie.  Though what you get is a lacklustre movie which steals shots and feeling from other movies to ignite the viewers fear.  The opening panning shot to the front of the house is very reminiscent of John Carpenter and Halloween, even the soundtrack is very similar to Carpenter's style, as well as the Phantasm movies.  The two protagonists of the film move in with their aunt and uncle on their farm... the farmhouse looks to have had the same architect as the Amityville house and in the end sequence all the windows glow red.

These rip-offs scream of laziness.  However, I liked the idea of a killer trapped in a mirror until the mirror is smashed and his soul is released to kill again.  I think Lommel missed a major scene here.  Instead of starting the film with the mother and her lover getting frisky as the kids spied on them.  He should have started with the lover killing somebody on the way to his rendezvous with the mother.  This would have added a depth to the "killer" character.  As it is he's just a man wearing a stocking over his head... not really boogey man material... would he really go on a killing spree?  This actually weakens the story as it's hard to believe.

As for the special FX, these are hit and miss and I think the budget was spent on the more gruesome FX, though on the whole, they're more than passable.  I particularly like the bathroom death sequence, especially the death by scissors, and the teenagers "kiss of death" in the mustang.

The direction, for the most part, is okay.  Lommel does create tension at times, there could have been more of it though.  Some are obvious so it doesn't really work, like when Will is in the barn as a pitchfork gets ready to impale him.  The pitchfork raises and hangs in the air for an eternity before his sister Lacey arrives to save him.  If this had been trimmed down it would have worked much better, it's just too long.

As for the acting... well, the best actors are the three kids who are in the original house where the murder took place.  They actually do a good portrayal of brother and sisters.  Their interaction is spot-on, each has their own life but still interact with each other.  They're in the movie for only a few minutes, though this section is the best in the whole film.

Lacey is portrayed by Suzanna Love (who also part scripted the screenplay), who takes woodenness to a new level - Suzanna Love Oak.  The only person worse than her is the guy playing her brother, Will, Nicholas Love.  For most of the movie he's mute, a psychological reaction to the murder, so you would think he would act using his body and facial expressions...  Don't be silly.  At times it looks like he's taken root.  His stand-in could have been a store mannequin.

The other actors are average and really try to do their best with speeches, which at times, are awkward and unconvincing.  Even John Carradine cannot add any credence to this film.

This is a movie for die hard horror fans.  I watch films like this to find the hidden treasure in a quagmire of rubbish.  It could be a good actor, an outstanding scene, or an effect that is well thought out and executed.  Sometimes there's no treasure... but most of the time, like this film, there a couple of things.

Nergling - The Video Nasties Scare - The Boogey Man