Free Great Movies Review

The Sentinel isn't director Michael Winner's finest film, but it's still entertaining. Winner isn't known for deep character development or the subtle details that this story might demand. The movie is a Rosemary's Baby knockoff and Winner tries many scare tactics that mostly don't work. His directing skills were better suited for hard-hitting action and thriller films (like in Death Wish 1, 2, & 3) where his quick pacing and shocking violence suited the simple story and characters. The Sentinel does have a lot of good actors in it including Cristina Raines, Chris Sarandon, Ava Gardner, Burgess Meredith, and Eli Wallach, with small roles for Christopher Walken, Jeff Goldblum, Jerry Orbach, Tom Berenger, and an unforgettable scene with Beverly D'Angelo. Alison Parker (Cristina Raines) moves into a Brooklyn brownstone apartment complex that she eventually finds out is a gateway to Hell. Ultimately there's too much story and dialogue crammed into the film that you don't care about, and not enough psychological or supernatural terror like in Rosemary's Baby.