When I was a kid in the 1970s, I saw a movie on TV that scared
the living daylights out of me. It was called Equinox, and it began with a young
man named David Fielding running out of the woods, terrified for his life. He
calls his girlfriend’s name, only to see her lying prone and bloodied on the
ground. In a panic, David makes a run for it, reaching the road--but when he
waves down an approaching car, we see that it has no driver! The driver-less
vehicle runs into David, but before it can turn around and finish the job, David
is picked up by another car--this one filled with a regular driver and a
passenger--which takes him to safety. A year later, a reporter named Sloan, who
covered David’s strange story when he was first discovered, goes to visit Dave
at the mental institution, where he has remained since becoming stark raving mad.
All David keeps raving about is how the forces of evil are on the move, and the
only thing in the world that he cares for is his crucifix.
I recalled the sheer terror I felt at the end of the film, at the moment when
David realizes he has lost his cross--which turns out to be his only protection
from the malevolent forces that prey on him. And he kept shouting over and over
for his cross. I still had chills just thinking about that final scene, and
when I heard that Equinox had been released on DVD, I was very happy because I
was eager to see it again after all these years. But when I
heard who had released it, I was stunned. No less than the Criterion Collection,
the purveyors of all that is sacred in the cinema, has given Equinox--the little
film that could--the deluxe two-disc release on DVD. And why not? I mean, granted, watching Equinox again after all these years, I’ve
got to admit that it’s just not as scary as it used to be for me. In fact, I now
see that my childhood memory of it apparently was far more potent than the film
actually is.
Equinox is basically a collection of stilted scenes with actors
giving a desert-dry delivery of their lines. They do all the stupid things
you’re not supposed to do in horror movies, and then some, and the sequence
where Susan is assaulted by the park ranger from hell--a scene that horrified me
as a kid--now comes across as being very lame and somewhat funny (I am in no way
implying that a woman being assaulted is funny; it's just that this particular
scene, with the goofy looks on the park ranger, is just laughable). This is
definitely fodder for the gang at Mystery Science Theater 3000 to make fun of.
Yet the special effects that populate Equinox are still fun to watch: the
stop-motion work, which is the same style as that was done by Ray Harryhausen, is
incredible, and several effects scenes--such as the one used to depict a portal
into another dimension, and a castle--are still impressively done.
In fact, it was these special effects, and the men who created them, which
spurred the Criterion Collection into releasing a special edition of Equinox.
Dennis Muren, Jim Danforth, and many others behind the scenes would go onto
great careers in the film special effects industry--Muren himself would become a
major force at Industrial Light & Magic, the special effects company originally
created by George Lucas to handle the effects for the Star Wars films, but which
has become recognized on its own as a leader in cutting-edge special effects.
Starting off with a video introduction by Forrest J. Ackerman, the
editor of the legendary Monsters Of Filmland, the first disc of the DVD contains
two versions of Equinox: the original student film produced by Muren and friends,
and the longer version that was released by producer Jack H. Harris, who created
new scenes to pad out the film’s running time (including the infamous Park Ranger
molestation scene, with director Jack Woods playing the frisky ranger). Both
films have commentaries from their makers, and the second disc is filled with
more behind the scenes goodies such as interviews and outtakes. While the film
itself may not be considered very good, the DVD package is superbly done--the film
print used is marvelously clean and clear--and Equinox's fascinating behind the scenes
history makes this one worth owning for both film and horror buffs.
--SF
