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The Sentinel (1977)

Rate: 7
Viewed: 10/21

Sentinel77
10/21: What a super strong cast Michael Winner had for The Sentinel.

Look at the names: Chris Sarandon, Martin Balsam, John Carradine, José Ferrer, Ava Gardner, Arthur Kennedy, Burgess Meredith, Sylvia Miles, Eli Wallach, Christopher Walken, Jerry Orbach, Beverly D'Angelo, Tom Berenger, William Hickey, Jeff Goldblum, and Richard Dreyfuss (yep, that's him standing right there on the sidewalk). That's 22 Oscar nominations and 5 wins among them.

And they all turned out for this above-average supernatural horror flick?!? It's weird. Worse, The Sentinel had barely made much at the box office. Showing shades of Rosemary's Baby with lots of Carnival of Souls and Freaks thrown in, it is the closest to the theme of Burnt Offerings.

Cristina Raines headlines the star-studded cast. As beautiful as Cristina is, she's good for the most part, but what the heck happened to her? She left the business in 1991 to become a nurse, specializing in patients on dialysis for kidney failure. Meanwhile, the story moves at a decent pace, but the scenes don't flow well together due to lack of depth. Although suspenseful at key moments with strong cinematography, the film is rather ordinary much of the time.

All in all, The Sentinel should've been more than it actually is.