Halloween Movies: The Sentinel

I absolutely love Halloween, and in recent years have gotten sucked into the wonderful world of "horror" films.  I place "horror" in quotes because I don't think it is an appropriate term for some of the movies which I have watched, but I feel that they should be grouped together regardless of this fact.  I have settled on the phrase "Halloween Movie" as my most preferred descriptor, and will be referring to them as such from this point on.  I will say that Netflix has played a large role in making this possible.  It's like playing roulette, though; sometimes you get lucky and sometimes you most definitely do not.

I will begin with The Sentinel, a 1977 movie I picked based solely on its Netflix description and the fact that it stars Chris Sarandon of Fright Night fame, a movie which I will almost surely cover at a later date.  My gamble was immediately rewarded when I learned from the opening credits that the film boasts some insane star power.  John Carradine, Ava Gardner, Burgess Meredith, and Eli Wallach all play roles of various importance, and the film also features young versions of Jeff Goldblum, Jerry Orbach, and Christopher Walken.  Burgess Meredith in particular is great, playing his role perfectly from start to finish.  Plus, look at him!  He has a cat and a bird and he's awesome.

I'd go into more detail but I don't want to spoil things too much.  In fact, if at all possible, I'd avoid reading the Netflix description of the movie at all.  And the tagline on the poster above.  Whoops.

The Sentinel is slow at times and seems to forget, on occasion, that it is a horror film.  Thankfully, just when you think that the rest of the film is going to be boring dialogue about a skinny girl fainting a lot, it tosses you head over heels and gets downright weird.  The special effects are well-done and can be quite disturbing in places.  The ending of the movie is wonderfully creepy as well, and is reason enough to watch the whole movie.  I would definitely recommend taking the time to watch this one.

Next up: Ohmygod Leviathan.