Equinox!!!

Cafe Society
1

I would hope that I’m not the only fan of this movie on this board. It just recently came out on dvd, so I’m wondering who I can share my enthusiasm with (there are no exclaimation points in the title, btw. I just put them there to make it look scary…'cause it’s EQUINOX!!!).

This movie has recently come out on dvd, and I feverishly grabbed it. It proved to be the high point of one of the best roadtrips (by my standards, not yours) that I’d ever had the sheer luck to survive:

About 20-ish years ago, a companion and I got stuck on a cross-country trip during an ice storm, and had to grab a room for the night because the road surfaces were like glass, and we probably shouldn’t have been driving anyway (which I wasn’t, btw), as there may or may not have been beverages and inhalable combustables involved. It was 20 years ago, and I know better now, and the road was empty, and I don’t anymore, 'cause I know better.

Oh, and I wasn’t driving…

At any rate, we holed up in a hotel, and were flipping channels on the tv, trying to find something to watch, and came across something which sported an actor that looked like Herb Tarlek from “WKRP in Cincinnati.” In our rather…alternative state…we thought this was particularly funny, so decided to watch a while. When we realized that the actor in question WAS actually Frank Bonnner, who played HT from WKRP, we thought it was even funnier (and started wishing we had something to munch on).

Then there was this guy who ran around with a big book and laughed a lot. Then these really badly animated monsters showed up and started killing everybody. Then people started throwing little rocks at them. Then it all went to hell in a handbasket, rationality-wise (or maybe that was us). At any rate, it has become sort of an urban legend between the two of us: Did we REALLY see this thing? It was, after all, that kind of night.

Still, here I am, over 20 years later, and have found that not only is it a real movie (and not a fever dream), but a very significant movie. It has proven to be the very first film made by Dennis Muren, who is considered one of the best special effects people in Hollywood. You can see his IMDB profile here.

It still, seen sans context, looks to be a really cheap, badly-acted, bad special-effects movie. With context, however, you realize that it was made by teenagers nearly 40 years ago with only $6,500, which explains a lot.

My questions: anyone else familiar with this film or a fan? Got “first time I saw it” stories you want to share? Also:

MST3K would have a field day with this. Anybody know if they did this one, and if it’s available?

Let the EQUINOX thread begin!

“Eee-hee-hee-hee-hee!!”

::throws little rocks::

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I saw it many years ago on Channel 5 in Phoenix.V ery weird movie. It’s no Incubus, but it’s entertaining.
Author Fritz Leiber has a bit part, and Ed Begley Jr is a crewmember.
Now I want to buy the DVD.

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I bought the DVD when it came out; lots of interesting background stuff on how it was filmed, the model work, how Fitz Leiber got involved, and where the kids who worked on it are now.

It’s an uneven and goofy little horror movie, but I always loved running into on late-night TV.

“A year and a day…”

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My companion and I had two memories of this film:

Herb Tarlek

and

The Kraken.

Now, neither the original film nor the theatrical release mentioned the kraken, even though they both showed it (a green squid-like creature that destroyed a model that was supposed to be a cabin in the woods). My best guess is that the hosts of the tv station that showed the movie referred to it as a kraken (which it looks like), because we’ve called it that ever since.

Yep, fantasy author Fritz Leiber is in it (as the resident of the cabin that gets destroyed by the “kraken”), and Ed Begley Jr. is an assistant cameraman.

What amazes me (after having bought the 2 disk dvd set) is how many really important people worked on this film…none of whom were important at the time. Several of the contributers went on to lengthy film careers, whether behind or in front of the camera. At the time, they were nobody (aside from a few), but they mostly went on to become very famous.

If you like old monster movies, if you like pre-CGI special effects, if you like films done remarkably well under the circumstances (considering their small budget), and even if you like MST3K, this is certainly something worth seeing if you haven’t. If you have seen it, here is the chance to see it again: released for the first time in 28 years with all kinds of extras.

The book that comes with the dvd set has two introductions: one by George Lucas, and one by Ray Harryhausen.

When I first saw it, I thought it was one of the worst, awfullest movies I’d ever seen. Two decades later, with a new appreciation of its history and context, it has become one of my favorite films.

The dvd set isn’t necessarily all that cheap (Amazon has it for $34.95 at the link I gave earlier), but I did manage to find it at my local Blue/Yellow purveyor of mass-market electronic stuff whose name pretty much rhymes with “Just Cry” for five bucks cheaper…in case you want to check.

If you have the deep, abiding, nostalgic affection that I have for this film, it’s worth getting. Otherwise, it’s still a pretty cheap, badly-acted, low-brow special effects, MST3K-worthy piece of work.

Which might STILL make it worthwhile.

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I remember it well. It was on a double bill with “The Dunwich Horror”! :eek:

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I’m sure I saw it on TV many years ago. It had to have been on Creature Features (hosted by Bob Wilkins, of course!) For some reason, the beast reminded me of the Cyclops from The 7th Voyage of Sinbad.