Review - Equinox (1970)

I watched the film Equinox (1970) over the weekend. It is a movie I have been meaning to look up for some time as I remember seeing on TV on a Saturday afternoon when I was a kid (a long time ago in a galaxy far, far, away). The film stuck in my memory for several reasons: Th name and the story being two of them, including how the film ended as well as Science Fiction writer Fritz Leiber appearing in a supporting role in this film. I remember that part because when I spotted him I was like “Hey! That’s Fritz Leiber!” Who’d have thought that he would be in a movie. Okay, his father, Fritz Leiber, Sr., appeared in numerous horror films, but I didn’t know that when I was a kid.

Equinox poster - IMDB

Equinox is a darn good film, the story revolving around a group of college students going up to a remote mountain cabin to visit the professor of one of the group. It was also kind of a picnic date, so it was two guys and two gals. David (Edward Connell) had been asked by Prof. Waterman (Fritz Leiber) to come visit him as he had something important to share with him. The group head up to the mountains only to find that the cabin has been destroyed, and no sign of the professor. The do, however, encounter a ranger nearby, and a crazy old man hiding in a cave who foists a very old and very strange book on the group. Needless to say, that book leads them into substantial trouble, spotting a weird castle, and pursued by a variety of demons Hell-bent on killing this intrepid group of college students.

Frank Bonner (listed as Frank Boers) as Jim with The Book in Equinox - IMDB

I found the script to be well written and the plot was very well planned out, the film moved at a good pace, especially once the mystery in the mountains took hold, and kept moving, with a variety of twists and turns, some of which were completely unexpected. The production team used stop-motion animation that looked pretty darn realistic for the era It was made and was reminiscent of the works of Ray Harryhausen. The special visual effects gave a level of creepiness, and the opening theme song when the credits rolled was darn good, setting a tone of what was to come.

Stop-motion animation of the demon from Equinox - IMDB

When it comes to horror films, I am not into the kind of films that are essentially hack and slash to scare you, but films that build suspense and creepiness, the kind of stuff that, when I was a kid would made my hair stand on end, and that is the kind of horror film that Equinox is. It builds up on the suspense, adding layers of creepiness, until the heroes find themselves in deep doo-doo.

Equinox is an excellent horror film and well worth watching. It can be a bit hard to find on DVD (I just bought a copy via EBay) as it has been out of print since 2006, however it is available if you look hard enough and you may be able to dig it up on youtube as well. IMDB claims that it is available for streaming on HBO Max, but I don’t have that service.