Equinox (1970)

Seen today as more of a quirky oddity than anything else, this one-of-a-kind film is a student movie that got re-edited, had new footage shot, and eventually turned into a theatrically-released movie. It's a pretty hopeless film, stifled by extremely low production values and poor technical qualities, but you can't help but to admire the imagination and effort put into it. The basic storyline is the same as the one in THE EVIL DEAD; namely a bunch of college students travel to a remote cabin in the woods belonging to a professor. It turns out that said professor has been experimenting with a book of the dead and has accidentally raised some demons, who are now unstoppable and causing hell on Earth. Fans may want to note that respected sci-fi author Fritz Leiber has a cameo appearance as the unlucky professor, who drops dead in a stream moments after his first appearance.The first half of the film is a real chore to sit through. The amateur acting is hopeless, as expected, with only lead Edward Connell putting in something resembling a half decent performance. The female cast members are appalling. The action-based scenario jumps from scene to scene, as our hapless students find mysterious footprints, see an old crazy guy in a cave, hear over-the-top laughter, and attempt to decipher the mysterious demon incantation experiments written in the book. Then there's a weird park ranger named Asmodeus (played by one of the directors, Jack Woods), who straddles a girl in an attempted rape and drools over her in a pretty disgusting scene. It later turns out that this guy is the devil, to nobody's general surprise.Things pick up for the second half of the film, which enlivens the action with some sub-Harryhausen stop-motion antics of our young heroes battling various devised creatures and monsters. Taking centre stage is a huge monster, supposedly a giant ape but looking more like a hairy space alien, who is actually pretty damn good considering the film's budget. There's also a briefly-seen giant octopus living in the woods, a blue-skinned giant caveman (who intermingles flawlessly with the human cast members), and a creepy red flying demon which pops up at the end of the film to massacre the cast only to then explode into flames when it accidentally flies into a stone cross.The story is told in flashback by the only surviving student, now in a mental asylum, which helps take up some running time but on the other hand ruins any surprise at the outcome as we know it from the start. The final scene is a chilling coda which is neatly done. Generally this film would be worthless, but with the participation of the likes of Jim Danforth, David Allen, Dennis Muren, and Fritz Leiber, it becomes kind of watchable for the effort alone. Bad, yes, but with a few genuine moments of brilliance.

Four friends, David, Vicki, Jim and Susan, head out into the woods to visit David's professor, Dr. Waterman. They find Waterman'home destroyed, the professor missing, and a mysterious book. It soon becomes apparent that in meddling with the book, Waterman accidentally opened a portal to another, hellish dimension, and now the demon Asmodeus (posing as a park ranger) wants to acquire the powerful book. The four friends must fight against a variety of ghoulish monsters sent after them by Asmodeus, and eventually Asmodeus himself, in order to make it back to civilization alive.Often considered one of the best-worst movies of all time, Equinox was a student film made by a young Dennis Muren which producer Jack Woods picked up for cinematic distribution, casting himself as Asmodeus and shooting some new scenes. On the one hand, this seems like a strange movie for Criterion to release, especially in a two-disc set, however despite its ineptitude it features some charming stop-motion animation for the various monsters (and some impressive forced-perspective shots to turn an ordinary stuntman into a blue-skinned giant) and it's also certainly worthy of being preserved if only because Dennis Muren and his friends had such a piddly budget to work with that it' a miracle they even had a completed (albeit rough) film, even before Jack Woods came along.

It's a fun spooky movie with a different look and without the usual nighttime menace. It's also an independent production that managed some notoriety, mainly for surprisingly impressive special effects. Actually, Equinox was sort of the Blair Witch Project of its day—a bunch of unknowns hitting it lucky with a shoestring effort. If memory serves, the film even had a run at one of the prestige theatres along Hollywood Blvd. The effects are not so impressive by today's digital standards; however, by 1970's norms, they were the unexpected equal of any A-production.The story itself is pretty well structured in flashback with an effective "hook" to get viewers interested. The plot doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but then it doesn't have to, since we've got King Kong's albino brother, a castle that comes and goes, a lost book of the occult, and a shape-shifting forest ranger who's definitely not Smoky the Bear. Most of the scenes are well staged, except when the ranger gets in the girl's face, contorts his lips, and slobbers, in what I suppose was a wacky metaphor for supernatural sex. Sharp-eyed viewers may recognize Frank Bonner (Boers) from TV's WKRP in Cincinnati as Jim. He's easily the most accomplished of an uneven cast. In fact there's an appearance of a time warp between the clothing fashions worn in the movie and the 1970 release date. In short, the hair styles and skinny pants of the movie are a long pre-Vietnam way from the bell-bottoms and long hair of counter-cultural 1970. I don't know what accounts for this apparent disparity unless release was held up for several years. Anyway, except for the rather hollow sound of the dialogue dubbing, this accomplished little indie remains an underground original.

The best thing on this DVD is the introduction by the late great Forrie Ackerman. The movie itself is rather creative considering that it was made by a bunch of teenagers in their backyard. Still, that doesn't make it a good film. It's a bit like kindergarten macaroni art made by Leonardo Da Vinci; historically interesting, perhaps, but nothing one would consider equal to the Mona Lisa. Its still a movie made by kids, and it shows. This is cinematic refrigerator art. Its wonderful that some of the kids who made this got Ackerman's encouragement and went on to great things, but those kids are in their 50's and 60's now and no longer need our encouragement, and I can't recommend this. The script is trite, the stop-motion animation is dated and amateur, and the whole thing is hard to watch.