Equinox Review
Every so often just to make sure people are paying attention and establish that they're not only concerned with European art films The Criterion Collection will throw out a curve ball. A Michael Bay picture, Beastie Boys videos, the latest Wes Anderson (yet, strangely, still not the first) have all filled this role. The latest to pop up? Dennis Muren's Equinox.
Now, to be fair, Muren is not the only force behind this film. The original 1967 version had a trio of young talents driving it while the 1970 theatrical version featured fifteen minutes of new footage courtesy of producer Jack H. Harris (The Blob) and writer / director Jack Woods. But, honestly, none of those other names matter. This film has survived and been graced with the Criterion treatment for one reason and one reason only, and that is Muren. You may not recognize his name but, believe me, you know his work. A nine time Oscar winner Muren has been one of the driving forces at ILM since he worked on Star Wars and has literally been at the vanguard of the effects industry ever since.
Shot for a miniscule budget of $6500 and featuring a wildly diverse cast of players ranging from friends, to referrals from cult movie icon Forrest J Ackerman, to a young Frank Bonner (WKRP In Cincinatti) working free to build his resume, Equinox stands as a loving ode to the classic B-film made with the raw skills and enthusiasm of a trio of California teens blowing their college savings. The story is as basic as it comes with four California teens heading into the remote hills to meet a college professor. Upon their arrival they find his remote mountain cabin destroyed, the professor missing, and strange supernatural creatures loosed upon the land thanks to a mysterious book of spells.
Though the film features some truly remarkable stop motion and low budget effects work -- Muren's talents are glaringly obvious even at this early stage -- Equinox is far more interesting for what it represents than as an actual film, a fact that the film makers themselves implicitly acknowledge as they gleefully skewer their own work in the audio commentary. Equinox captures the raw magic of the movies, not so much in that it is a magical film itself but in the simple fact that it was made literally by kids in their back yard for no money purely for love of the medium. That these same kids were launched into professional careers as a result is icing on the cake. It also captures an industry in flux, the film world on the verge of a dramatic paradigm shift. Made by teens looking longingly back at the fantasy oriented b-films that populated their youth while also being propelled inevitably into the future -- a future that would soon see the b-film become legitimately a-list -- Equinox is the ultimate nostalgia film, a film made with love but also tinted with the knowledge that change was coming. It's a testament to the power of fandom that also happens to include a cabin torn to pieces by stop motion tentacles and that, my friends, is a potent combination.
The Criterion release does -- as you would expect -- a stellar job of presenting both the film itself and the milieu that birthed it. Disc one includes a seven minute video introduction by the legendary Forrest J Ackerman. Yes, he rambles and name drops a little, but if anyone has ever earned the right to do so it is Ackerman. Then we get two versions of the film. There is the 1970 Jack H Harris produced theatrical release presented in a high definition transfer as well as -- for the first time ever available -- the original 1967 version of the film. Both versions are in the original 1.33:1 ratio and both include excellent commentary tracks, the 1970 featuring Harris and Woods while the 1967 features Muren and his compatriots (apparently recorded separately and then edited together) Mark McGee and Jim Danforth. The Harris commentary is certainly informative, but the Muren / McGee / Danforth commentary is where the real gold is. Listening to these men reminisce share memories of the production while also offering up advice and laughingly point out all of the glaring flaws in their work is a real treat. Disc two features extensive features that shed additional light on the picture, from interviews with the stars -- including Bonner -- to deleted scenes and outtakes, to effects test footage, to other stop motion work from animator David Allen, to a later short -- Zorgon, The H-Bomb Beast From Hell -- made in 1972 by most of the Equinox crew.
As its own creators happily acknowledge Equinox is not a particularly good film despite the strong stop motion and inventive effects work and it is also not nearly bad enough to fall into the campy b-classic vein. This release does, however, capture a mood and moment in time better than any other in recent days. The film itself ends up being almost a secondary element in a very strong package, one that comes highly recommended.
