Criterion Corner: Equinox (or The Equinox...A Journey into the Supernatural) (1967 - 1970) - Reviewed

Images courtesy of Janus Films

The Criterion Collection and Janus Films are ordinarily known for higher brow artier cinematic fare from around the world from the past unto the present.  But somewhere in between all of that, they’ve an affinity for forgotten and/or celebrated regional B-horror films or otherwise monster movies usually made between the 1950s and 1960s.  Among their efforts towards curating distinctly B-oriented films have included the quartet box Monsters and Madmen, their Eclipse box When Horror Came to Shochiku, Fiend Without a Face, The Blob, Carnival of Souls and today’s Criterion Corner overview of eventual visual effects maestro Dennis Muren’s debut regional student film The Equinox…A Journey into the Supernatural or Equinox for short. 
 
Originally made for $6,500 in 1967 over the course of two and a half years as a student backyard film by Dennis Muren, this regional proto-The Evil Dead tale of demonic prehistoric monsters being summoned by a mysterious book was never commercially released in its native form.  Three years later, The Blob producer Jack H. Harris picked up The Equinox…A Journey into the Supernatural and recut the film with newly shot footage by Jack Woods and released it theatrically with the title now simply Equinox.  

While the wraparound narrative of the Jack H. Harris version adds in a goofy otherworldly cop named Asmodeus (Jack Woods himself) who makes weird faces at the camera, the central impetus stems from Dennis Muren’s effects heavy lean-mean indie that manages to make a throwback to the works of Ray Harryhausen with even less financial resources at the filmmakers’ disposal.  One characteristic of the Jack H. Harris re-edit is the ending on a question mark that all but took me right back into The Blob with its question mark hovering over the killer slime frozen in the arctic, though admittedly the new additions by Harris make even less sense than Muren’s far superior cut replete with its own proto-Oldboy title sequence of clocks.
 
While indeed silly and rough around the edges, being a 16mm film with grainy composite effects shots and rough frequently handheld camerawork by The River Wild effects artist Mike Hoover and a downright campy but charming theremin oriented score by The Town That Dreaded Sundown composer Jaime Mendoza-Nava, Equinox is in both versions mostly a testament to what kind of visual effects work you can do with nothing.  

Even amid the weak performances, often incoherent narrative with the conceptual structure predating The Evil Dead by over ten years, you can see in Equinox the eventual emergence of a major visual effects wizard who would go on to win the Academy Award for his still spellbinding imagery created for The Empire Strikes Back.  Going on to win several Academy Awards over the years including for his work on E.T., Return of the Jedi, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, The Abyss, Terminator 2: Judgment Day and above all Jurassic Park, Muren all but established himself as a master effects artist spoken of the same breath as Douglas Trumbull or Phil Tippett. 

Equinox is not a very good film but for those keen on witnessing the birth of one of the world’s greatest living special effects maestros, it demands devoted viewership.  Much like Saul Bass’ Phase IV, you’re aware of the budgetary limitations and yet you’re enthralled by the fantasy effects science-fiction and are in the hands of an artistic genius.  The Criterion Collection’s two-disc set of both films comes stacked with comprehensive extras including commercials and two short films The Magic Treasure and Zorgon: The H-Bomb Beast from Hell made by the Equinox team.  

There’s also a collectible booklet featuring tributes from both George Lucas and the legendary Ray Harryhausen.  While yes a laughable regional B-movie, the ingenuity behind the piece with zero resources at the filmmakers’ disposal is indeed remarkable and speaks volumes to what Dennis Muren would do later in reshaping the way audiences process visual effects in major Hollywood movies.

--Andrew Kotwicki