In the wake of such Satanic-themed thrillers as Rosemary's Baby, The Exorcist and The Omen comes The Sentinel. When New York fashion model (Cristina Raines) splits with her fiance (Chris Sarandon) and moves into an old brownstone, she soon discovers she has more than she bargained for in the lease. As luck would have it, a mysterious blind priest (John Carradine) who lives upstairs happens to be guarding the doorway to Hell, and she has been chosen as his replacement. Incidentally, when the door is finally opened, out spills an assortment of deformed humans whom director Michael Winner hand-picked from hospital wards and circus sideshows


The Sentinel is a 1977 American horror film directed by Michael Winner and starring Cristina Raines, Chris Sarandon, Ava Gardner, Burgess Meredith, Sylvia Miles, and Eli Wallach.[1] Christopher Walken, Jeff Goldblum, John Carradine, Jerry Orbach, Tom Berenger, and Beverly D'Angelo also appear in the film. It is based on the 1974 novel of the same name by Jeffrey Konvitz who also co-wrote the screenplay with director Michael Winner. The plot focuses on a young model who moves into a historic Brooklyn brownstone that has been sectioned into apartments, only to find that its proprietors are excommunicated Catholic priests, and the building is a gateway to hell.
The film was released by Universal Pictures in 1977. It is completely unrelated to the 2006 political thriller of the same name.


The Sentinel received mixed reviews and on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 10 reviews collected, the film has an overall approval rating of 50% based on various reviews collected since its 1977 release.[2]
David Pirie in Time Out was quite negative in his review, claiming The Sentinel was "just a mass of frequently incomprensible footage, acted so badly that even the most blatant shocks count for little". [3] Pirie criticised the movie for being derivative of Rosemary's Baby, The Exorcist, and The Omen: "The Sentinel seems little more than a pile of outtakes from recent supernatural successes". [3] Pirie also took issue with Winner's use of deformed people in the film, claiming it was distasteful. [3] Robin Wood described The Sentinel as "the worst-most offensive and repressive-horror film of the 70s"