From
the inside flap
“When
Allison Parker found the old brownstone apartment it was to be a new beginning─a
place where she cold forge the agony of her father’s illness and death, a place
where she could quietly recover from that long ordeal. But slowly a sense of
mounting terror began to take over. The neighbors─the old man and his cat, the
two strange women, the blind priest─seemed to be something other than what they
appeared.
“Then
the headaches began. They had plagued her as she watched her father die; now
they returned with an intensity that left her numb and shaken, threatening her
tenuous grip on reality. And then she realized that here on this quiet street an epic battle was being
waged, a battle ordained from the beginning of time; and she was the prize.”
Review
Sentinel is an
excellent, often-unnerving horror novel, with some terrifying images and
action, and a pervasive sense of dread throughout its run. Its characters range
from religious-iconic shallow and evil to fully realized (especially Christina
and her boyfriend, Michael)─most of them work in the story. I write “most”
because of the way two next-door lesbians are presented: the outsized horror
and derision that is shown toward them may raise the hackles of modern-day LGBT+
supporters (Christina, in general, is horrified by them; Michael dismisses them
as “vicious”).
I was
initially alarmed at the venom Christina verbally and physically displays
towards them (she does not just condemn them for being publicly lascivious, she
condemns them for being lesbians). Then I checked myself, remembered Christina─victimized
by her family and Catholic─is repressed, so any enthusiastic lustful displays
are bound to offend her, especially those expressed by a group that most
religions have demonized for thousands of years. Not only that, the 1970s,
while progressing women’s rights (up to a point), were a period─like now─when
aggressive, necessary feminism was getting a lot of scary, verbal and
physical pushback not only from men, but gender-traitorous hausfrau
women.
I
normally would not give this much “airtime” to an issue that should be
dismissed with an understanding of presentism (judge a work by the society and
time period that produced it) and its protagonist’s paranoid bias.
Unfortunately, a lot of knee-jerk social warriors may not take the time to
check their biases while reading this hard-to-set-down, no-words-wasted
suspense/horror novel, which may be a milestone for many, including myself, in
the 1970s.
This vivid-enough-to
be-called-cinematic book is worth owning, if you can get past its dated, egregious
attitudinal flaws regarding women and LGBT+ issues. Followed by The
Guardian.
#
The
resulting film was released stateside on January 7, 1977. Michael Winner directed
and co-wrote the film. His co-screenwriter was book-source author Jeffrey Konvitz.
Christina Raines played Allison Parker. Chris Sarandon play Michael Lerman. Jeff Goldblum played Jack. Deborah Raffin played Jennifer.
Ava Gardner played Miss Logan. Eli Wallach played Detective Gatz. Christopher Walken played Detective Rizzo.
Burgess Meredith played Charles Chazen. Sylvia Miles played Gerde. Beverly D’Angelo
played Sandra. Kate Harrington played Mrs. Clark.
Martin Balsam played Professor Ruzinsky. Hank Garrett played Brenner. William Hickey
played Perry.
Arthur Kennedy played Monsignor Franchino. John Carradine played Father Halliran. José Ferrer played “Robed Figure.” Jerry Orbach played “Film Director.” Tom Berrenger
played “Man at end.” Nana Visitor, billed as Nana Tucker, played "Girl at end."
