capone666
EquinoxIf you ever get lost in the woods simply start a fire so the water bombers can find you.However, the hikers in this horror movie will need more than controlled burn to defeat these demons.While looking for a missing scientist in the woods a group of friends meet a hermit in a cave who gives them a book containing ancient secrets on the occult. Asmodeus (Jack Woods), the king of demons, wants to get his talons on the tome so he sends an array of colossal monsters to obtain it. With cameos from sci-fi's biggest names - Forrest J Ackerman, Fritz Leiber – this Indy from 1970 does amazing things on a shoestring budget - specifically the stop-motion simian creature - and has gone on to inspire countless filmmakers.Furthermore, it's nice to finally find a discarded book in the wild that wasn't written by a reality TV personality.Yellow Lightvidiotreviews.blogspot.ca
Woodyanders
Four teenagers go hiking into the woods. The quartet discover an ancient book that contains secret information that enables creatures from another dimension to enter into our world. Writer/director Jack Woods does a nice job of crafting a spooky gloom-doom atmosphere. The stop-motion animation monsters and forced perspective giant are both genuinely cool. Woods acquits himself well as sinister park ranger Asmodeus while fantasy writer Fritz Leiber Jr. has a ball as a deranged professor. Jaime Mendoza-Nava's spirited shuddery score hits the stirring spot. Moreover, this funky little Do-It-Yourself independent picture that could not only served as a definite influence on both "Phantasm" and "The Evil Dead," but also was the training ground for notable special effects masters David Allen, Jim Danforth, and Dennis Muren. Granted, this movie is certainly rough around the edges (the acting by most of the cast in particular leaves a good deal to be desired), but it's nonetheless done with a winning surplus of pure heart, sincerity, and enthusiasm that's both endearing and entertaining in equal measure.
Pozdnyshev
There's a lot about this movie that is "bad." It's not shot very creatively, sort of a point-the-camera-at-the-action thing. The lighting is very flat and the look is grainy, like an old family s8mm film. The special effects are extremely dated, with choppy stop motion monsters and obvious double exposures. But this movie is a GEM. I mean come on, What movie before this had a bunch of teenagers going into a forest and finding giant monsters, a portal to the spirit world, a slick evil sorcerer, disturbing visions, and a death curse? All fully and skilfully depicted with creative (though cheap) special effects? None, not all in the same movie. It's an original story that seemed to influence later movies like Evil Dead II, which also had a lost castle, giant monsters, and the need to use certain rituals to fight the supernatural presence. It's different, non-cliché, and dreamlike. Highly recommended.
Michael_Elliott
Equinox (1970) ** (out of 4) This film was originally made in 1967 but it got a distribution deal in 1970 by producer Jack H. Harris but he demanded that there be some re-shoots, scenes re-edited and a few more touches to make it look more professional. Both versions have been released by Criterion (!?!?) but I only viewed the 1970 version. Basically four friends head out for some fun but they stumble across a strange book and soon a large demon and ape creature are stalking them. Look, there's no question that EQUINOX has its heart in the right place but I'm a little confused as to why Criterion would give it such a lavish treatment. I'm not certain if the film was included in a group package with other movies but there's certainly nothing special here to warrant such a release. In fact, a movie-only edition would have been good enough for this thing. Again, I understand this was an extra low-budget movie shot for fun and on that level it's actually not too bad. However, once you start talking about "classic" then things are getting blown out of control. The acting and visual look of the film is quite tame but it actually adds a little charm as our characters run from one thing after another. The stop-motion effects look fairly poor here but you have to remember that they were simply done for fun. With that said, on that level they add a little charm including the ape creature, which was clearly influenced by King Kong. At 82-minutes the film drags in most spots and the biggest problem is that there's just so many dialogue scenes and not enough action or stuff dealing with the monsters.
AD
