By looking at the early work of a great artist, one hopes to gain some insight into how talent matures and progresses. Whether it’s seeing a future movie star deliver a single line on some forgotten sitcom or a director making mistake after mistake in an early short, it’s fascinating to be at the ground floor of an extraordinary career. For effects artists David Allen, Jim Danforth, and especially Dennis Muren, the film Equinox (1970) would be a major first step which led to three long and prolific careers.
Of course, Jim Danforth was practically a pro already, having been a stop-motion animator on such films as The Time Machine (1961) and 7 Faces of Dr. Lao (1964). He’d join the slightly younger whippersnappers Allen and Muren beginning in the summer of 1965 and continuing until 1967, and create a loosely-plotted horror movie that was essentially a show reel for future work. Although IMDB lists the initial budget for the short as 6500 dollars, Dennis Muren stated in an interview on Gilbert Gottfried’s podcast that it was actually 3500. Jack H. Harris, whose production of The Blob (1958) made his career and who would go on to produce Dark Star (1974), a film with a similar trajectory, liked the short film, originally titled The Equinox…A Journey into the Supernatural (1967). He invested around 40,000 dollars for additional footage as well as cleaning up the sound and it was released as Equinox in 1970. Cleaning up the sound is a bit of an understatement. It’s clear from the first scene that every stitch of dialogue has been looped and all of the sound effects have been added later. I admit, the film didn’t blow me away, but credit where credit is due. The poster featuring a monster and a giant is very accurate. They look the way they look in the final product, which is pretty rare.
The ominous music and close-ups on the inner-workings of a clock against a black background give an eerie indication of what’s to come in the opening credits. Ed Begley Jr.’s presence as an assistant cameraman is one thing, but the simple credit: ‘Jack Woods as Asmodeus’ certainly makes one sit up and pay attention. Make no mistake, I have no idea who Jack Woods is, but anyone named Asmodeus gets an automatic free pass from me. Jack Woods is the credited writer/director of Equinox, but when you do a little digging, that’s just barely true. Dennis Muren, the youngest of the effects trio, directed most of the film, working from a story by Mark Thomas McGee (a novelist of many great Hollywood books, including an AIP biography). Woods was mainly known as a sound editor and later worked on a couple Star Trek films, sequels to Critters and Phantasm, and the amazing Miracle Mile.
We get a Samuel Adams opening with an explosion; always a good decision. The lone survivor of a horrible ordeal, David (Edward Connell), is calling for Susan (Barbara Hewitt), whose lifeless and bloody body lies nearby. He sees something in the sky that freaks him out and he runs. Very dramatically. This is just a little taste of the low-quality acting we’ll be getting in this picture. He dashes through the woods, his tongue wagging and his arms flailing. He ends up in the middle of the road and a driverless car puts the pedal to the metal and slams into him. Stunt work has come a long way and it’s always awkward to see weird close-up inserts of people clearly rolling over something or just falling down from off-camera. He should be pulverized by a direct hit from a 1960’s car, but somehow he’s just a bit banged up and gets taken to the hospital.
What to do when you purchase a weird little short that’s not long enough to be a feature? Why, use the oldest and lamest trick in the book! The wraparound/flashback technique. A year after David’s miraculous and death-defying car accident, a reporter is following up on the story. It’s blatantly obvious the sound has been dubbed, especially in a terrible two-shot of the reporter and the doctor from the neck down that lingers interminably as they speak, refusing to show their faces. It’s like watching a Coleman Francis film where everyone turns their faces away from the camera.
David was brought in raving about “forces of evil” and clutching a cross. There are tons of hokey, outdated medical terms and procedures mentioned: Complete depressive, complete melancholy, electric shock, stimulants, etc.. The doctor plays a recording that was made the day David was brought in, which you’d think the reporter would already be familiar with considering it’s the entire story, but let's listen to this thing again anyway or else there’s no movie.
Pleased they’re not in Vietnam dying for a lie, David and his friend Jim (Frank Bonner) take Susan and Vicki (Robin Christopher, vocal coach for Stevie Nicks) on a picnic to the mountains. They’ll also be dropping by to see Dr. Waterman (Fritz Leiber, author of the great Burn, Witch, Burn), their college geology professor, who has something he wants to show them. Films from 1970 can’t shake the remnants of that 60’s look, but since most of the film was actually shot in the mid-60's, it’s especially true here. The acting and camerawork aren’t uniformly terrible, just extremely rudimentary.
They arrive at the doctor’s cabin and find it in ruins. An oddball ranger who calls himself Asmodeus (Woods) comes by to check things out. He seems nice enough and the kids go off to have their picnic. Vicki stops for literally 10 seconds to get a pebble out of her shoe, but that’s enough to lose her way and stumble upon an actual castle. I began thinking, “All right. I’m intrigued.” Unfortunately, they’ll never enter that castle. Instead, they hear insane laughter coming out of the most famous cave in movie history: Bronson Canyon. Also odd are large footprints that no human could have made. Instead of just going back and eating, they decide to check out the cave with makeshift torches.
The main issue with the characters in Equinox is just how vanilla they are. Very little defines them and they barely register as human beings. The only bit of personality we get is the tempestuous and downright abusive relationship between Jim and Vicki.
They somehow get separated, she finds a skeleton and then a cackling old man (whose laugh is the creepiest part of the film) who gives them an ancient book. Most of the scene plays out in total darkness and we just hear their voices, a very cheap option. Jim, ever the asshole, refuses to believe Vicki when she claims she saw a skeleton. There’s some weird crap going on, Jim! Just listen to her! Instead, they finally dig in to some ‘Colonel,’ which sounds nice until you realize that bucket of KFC had to have been in their trunk for at least 3 or 4 hours. It probably tastes like mush.
A lot has been made about the similarities between Sam Raimi’s 1981 The Evil Dead, mainly due to the presence of an evil book. While Raimi’s career-making horror film is a ball of energy, Equinox drags along, but at least the book is cool. A thousand years old, it’s a bible of evil, originally found in the Persian Gulf, and Waterman seems to have been acting as an amateur demonologist. There’re some neat cutaways to figures falling into some sort of volcano and we learn that Waterman was trying to summon creatures from the book. It didn’t work out so well and a tentacled behemoth destroyed his cabin.
I adore Ray Harryhausen, so you know I loved the effects here. Jim Danforth would even go on to be Harryhausen’s assistant on Clash of the Titans (1981). Nearly all of the creatures are rendered using stop motion and they’re reasonably well-done. Imperfect yes, but very satisfying to the eye.
Jim, ever the sarcastic prick, underreacts. “That’s pretty heavy stuff.” Filled with dark imagery, they’re able to decipher a little bit, including the lord’s prayer being written in reverse. Out of nowhere, Dr. Waterman shows up and steals the book. The men chase after him, leaving the ladies to fend for themselves. It won’t be the last time. David knocks Waterman down and seems to have killed him. Later, the body disappears.
The film is a grab-bag of horror-themed ideas, the most intriguing of which involves Susan, who wanders off on her own and is attacked by Asmodeus. He puts on a strange gold ring and climbs on top of her. The bizarre nature of the scene is compounded by spittle dripping out of Woods’ mouth and his face contorts like Ernest P. Worrell. He seems to be kissing her, which feels like Woods the director taking the opportunity to French some blondie, but he sees her cross and, much like a vampire, is scared off. Susan appears to be hypnotized and doesn’t remember the encounter.
Things continue to happen. Jim is an asshole to Vicki some more: “Boy, you could grow up to be a real fuss budget.” The castle disappears. They make protection charms using twigs and even find an unstable area where objects vanish into thin air. This is achieved by the very basic in-camera trick of shooting a scene twice with the same role of film. It’s a fine idea but the split on the screen isn’t smoothed-out and looks rough. Luckily, we get the best monster of the film. A 30-foot ape-creature, very well-rendered, who snags the giggling old man from the cave and smashes him to a pulp. It traps the group, but Jim makes a quick spear and they stab it. The scene would be exciting if it weren’t for the ladies’ lack of urgency.
Susan drops her cross and attacks Vicki, twisting her mouth like Asmodeus. Vicki can’t stop her, even when she slams a rock against Susan’s head. David finds the cross and when she sees it, Susan faints. Away from the group, Asmodeus confronts Jim and reveals his true self. He happens to be the devil. “If you knew what was in that book, you’d turn to jelly. It’s not meant for worms like you.” There’s some fun dialogue and he’s just about to take Jim out when he sees the protection charm. Again, he goes full vampire and backs off. Way off. He tries to tempt Jim, who stupidly puts away the charm.
Another impressive effect is a forced-perspective green giant that chases the teens around. Since the giant is literally a man, it’s a humble but strong bit of trickery that feels real thanks to the giant’s movements. Jim gets pulled into the other world and Dave follows, leaving the women behind since women are incapable of doing anything, apparently.
The “other” world is pretty much the mountain with a yellow filter. A decent twist comes when Asmodeus assumes the form of Jim, who's nearby and struggling to move. Asmodeus wants the book and perhaps David should’ve realized something was up since Jim has gone goth all of a sudden with a lot of black eye shadow. They...fight. Like, a regular fist fight. This doesn’t last too long and we get our final beastie when Asmodeus takes on his final form: a flying devil creature. He kills Vicki and even grabs Susan, but the cross slows him down. Susan seems to still be under the influence and hilariously cries, “Dave! These feelings!” They run into a random cemetery and Asmodeus slams into a headstone shaped like a cross, exploding into the blast we saw at the beginning. A cloaked figure appears and tells Dave he will be dead in one year and a day. Off he runs and down he goes by that empty car.
The doctor asks the bored reporter, “Did you find anything useful?” I expected him to say: “Nah, I tuned out,” but he simply says no. The reporter ends up leaving with the cross while an evil-looking Susan passes by on her way to “visit” David. ‘The End’ pops up, followed by an eye-rolling question mark.
I was once in a well-written film that was not intended to be seen by anyone. It was merely an experiment for different camera filters and film stocks. It felt like a waste of time since I was actually trying to give a performance but the filmmakers were only interested in the technical side. Nothing wrong with that, but having a compelling story and stronger actors might have elevated this material beyond a clichéd “kids go into the woods to die” narrative.
The only reason this movie is now part of the Criterion Collection and gets discussed at all is due to the work of its three effects artists. Jim Danforth worked in different departments on various projects like The Stuff, Commando, Day of the Dead, Prince of Darkness, The Thing, Conan the Barbarian, Creepshow, and Megaforce. David Allen would work on many direct-to-video projects like The Pupper Master series (even directing the first sequel) while also working on big studio projects like Willow, Twilight Zone: The Movie. He’d even be nominated for an Oscar for Young Sherlock Holmes. This would be his first and only nomination, while his fellow counterpart Dennis Muren would achieve legend status as the winner of six Oscars and three more technical Academy Awards. His incredible work as an innovator spawned the mind-blowing effects for Terminator 2, the original Star Wars trilogy, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and the groundbreaking Jurassic Park, a film often credited with beginning the digital revolution that led George Lucas to begin work on the Star Wars prequel series.
Without the presence of Muren and his buddies, Equinox would be nothing more than your standard mid-60's horror flick. I can’t say it’s high entertainment and the performances are brutally amateur, but as an early work by future innovators, it’s worth a look.
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