Not ready for marriage, a fashion model (Cristine Raines) moves into an unbelievably nice Brooklyn Heights apartment, where scary occurrences turn into a much more frightening turn of events.

I have to first call out the cast: Chris Sarandon (so young he is unrecognizable),Jeff Goldblum, Christopher Walken (in a far too small role),Eli Wallach, Jerry Orbach (also quite young),Burgess Meredith, John Carradine... and more (including a very, very small cameo by Richard Dreyfuss). If you think a film with both Walken and Goldblum is a bad idea, you may as well just walk away now.

The biggest thing for me is how I did not know what this film was or had even heard of it. How has it escaped my attention? With that cast, the great plot and solid storytelling? This is really a must-see for horror fans. It has been ranked in the top 100 of the scariest horror films. I have seen 1000s of horror films, and I would debate putting it in the top 100, but it is not a stretch by any means.

Before Dana Barrett opened her refrigerator and found Zuul, this story was out there of another apartment complex with another kind of doorway...

Before The Sentinel was made the area of Brooklyn Heights was made famous by The Patty Duke Show whose theme mentioned that Patty only saw the sights that one can see from Brooklyn Heights. They never shot that show in Brooklyn Heights, but The Sentinel was filmed in and around that most quaint and historic neighborhood. Most especially that house on the promenade where all kinds of strange people are living and not living.

A lot of movie names have small roles including Ava Gardner as a real estate agent who gets fashion model Cristina Raines an apartment in a building I'd kill to live in if it was real life. And Cristina finds she has a whole lot of strange and interesting neighbors including Burgess Meredith and his cat, a pair of lesbians played by Sylvia Miles and Beverly D'Angelo and a retired priest who just stares out the window which is unusual enough. That would be John Carradine whose magnificent voice that was made for such films is not used all that much.

Well it turns out that except for Carradine and Raines, the rest are all quite dead and the apartments vacant. And furthermore this magnificent brownstone is the gateway to hell and it needs an other worldly traffic cop which we call The Sentinel. That's Carradine's job, but he's due to be replaced.

Forgive my ignorance, but I would have thought that hell's gateway would be in a place that had more religious significance than Brooklyn Heights, but I didn't write this story. But that's only one criticism of what I thought was an incoherent plot. Good thing so much talent was in front of the camera, they carry this story and you glide over the rough patches.

Alison Parker (Cristina Raines) is a successful top model, living with the lawyer Michael Lerman (Chris Sarandon) in his apartment. She tried to commit suicide twice in the past: the first time, when she was a teenager and saw her father cheating her mother with two women in her home, and then when Michael's wife died. Since then, she left Christ and the Catholic Church behind. Alison wants to live alone in her own apartment and with the help of the real state agent Miss Logan (Ava Gardner),she finds a wonderful furnished old apartment in Brooklyn Heights for a reasonable rental. She sees a weird man in the window in the last floor of the building, and Miss Logan informs that he is Father Francis Matthew Halloran (John Carradine),a blinded priest who lives alone supported by the Catholic Church. Alison moves to her new place, and once there, she receives a visitor: her neighbor Charles Chazen (Burgess Meredith) welcomes her and introduces the new neighbors to her. Then, he invites Alison to his cat Jezebel's birthday party in the night. On the next day, weird things happen with Alison in her apartment and with her health. Alison looks for Miss Logan and is informed that she lives alone with the priest in the building. A further investigation shows that all the persons she knew in the party were dead criminals. Frightened with the situation, Alison embraces Christ again, while Michael investigates the creepy events. Alison realizes that she is living in the gateway to hell.

Although underrated in IMDb User Rating, 'The Sentinel' is one of the best horror movies ever. I have seen this film at least six times, being the first time in the 70's, in the movie theater. In 07 September 2002, I bought the imported DVD and saw it again. Yesterday I saw this movie once more. Even after so many years, this film is still terrific. The creepy and lurid story frightens even in the present days. The cast is a constellation of stars and starlets. You can see many actors and actresses, who became famous, in the beginning of career. Fans of horror movie certainly worship 'The Sentinel', and I am one of them. My vote is nine.

Title (Brazil): 'A Sentinela dos Malditos' ('The Sentinel of the Damned')

Note: On 02 September 2007, I saw this movie again. Note: On 03 November 2013, I saw this movie again. Note: On 15 September 2019, I saw this movie again.