Review of The Sentinel (1977) by Paul C — 03 Dec 2009

I really liked this movie. Besides a few errors in the story and the way it was filmed, I enjoy it all. First off it has a wonderful cast of people. Some big names like Ava Gardner, Chris Sarandon, Jeff Goldblum, Arthur Kennedy, Eli Wallach, Christopher Walken, Burgess Meredith, you name it.

A great little surprise was of Richard Dreyfus. In the beginning of the film he was talking to a woman in red. He was just a background character and it looked like he was wearing the same outfit from Jaws; which was filmed two years before this film.

At first I didn't know it was him until I looked it up. The film does keep you in a little suspense and adds some gore for a horror type flavor. But the one thing that freaked me out and freaked people out when the movie came out was the demons.

This is a spoiler. The demons from hell all looked like they had disabilities or were deformed in someway. I come to figure out that Michael Winner really did cast deformed people and circus freaks to make it more real.

Once I found this out, I had a sick creepy feeling in the pit of my stomach. Some people say they didn't enjoy this film. But I really did and it has a somewhat creepy feel like the movie The Shining.

You just don't get that type of feel anymore and that is why I liked it.