charliesonnyray Now don't get me wrong, just because I think this film is overrated doesn't mean I don't think it doesn't have some merit. I realize this little movie has quite a few fans surprisingly and is actually sort of important in film history. This little film was originally just a student film by Dennis Muren until it was picked up by a studio and extra footage was added. Muren would later go on to do the special effects on Star Wars, Terminator 2, and Jurassic Park. So in a way, this little pic jump started his career.Now the special effects are actually pretty good for it's time. The stop motion creatures are unique and very memorable and they are even more impressive when you know they were all done by one guy, Dennis himself! Also the giant that attacks the teenagers looks like it is right there with them! It's kind of amazing. Equinox's story is rather unique for it's time too and supposedly influenced other horror films like Evil Dead. Equinox is about four college students who go into the woods looking for a professor only to find a mystical book instead. It supposedly contains spells and knowledge of demons and how to fight against them. So of course, the king of demons named Asmodeus wants to get his hands on it. Before this, most horror films at the time were more sci-fi oriented like evil aliens or mutated mishaps. So I am sure this was refreshing. However, besides all of the positives I just listed everything else is pretty poor. The main problem is with the four main characters. The actors are wooden, their dialogue is very clunky and their personalities are practically non-existent. You could have replaced them with sock puppets and you would have been more intrigued(side note- Equinox: The Sock Puppet Opera needs to happen!). They are just not interesting characters and I skipped through most of theor parts so that I could watch the monsters. The cinematography is kind of bland too but the characters are what kills it. If they had just developed the cast or gotten better actors, the movie would be pretty fun. But as is, it's an intriguing part of film history but a less intriguing film. The movie is worth watching though...if you get a bunch of friends together to make fun of it MST3K style.

LeonLouisRicci Spoiled Generation Xers and the Young Millennials Who Haven't Stopped to Think Much About it, Make Stupid Remarks About This Labor of Love that Are, To Be Kind, Uninformed. They Just Do Not Have a Clue Just How Difficult it was to Make a Movie in the 1960's with Virtually No-Budget.In the Pre Digital Age there was Only 16mm and Super 8 and All Movie Cameras at the Time were Clunky and Very Limited, Analog Reel to Reel Tape Recorders (even the Cassette Tape was just being developed but not in wide use). Films had to be Hand Spiced with Glue and Tape and SFX of Any Kind were a Daunting Task.But that Didn't Inhibit these Film Fanatics from Their Goal, In Retrospect, to Include an Insane Amount of Movie Magic . These Cinema Crusaders were Weaned on Famous Monsters of Filmland (Forrest J. Ackerman's Influential "Fanzine"), The Late Late Show, Saturday Matinees, and The Drive-In. These First Generation Fanboys Took a Couple of Thousand Dollars and Went to Work.It was a Lot of Work. Their Efforts Resulted in This Underground Classic. The Film is Filled with Incredible Imaginative Stuff. The Stop-Motion Creatures were Varied and Charming. The Story is an Homage to Films that Include The Occult, Monsters, Parallel Dimensions, Satan, Dementia, and More. The Impressive Cinematography with Forced Perspectives and the Like Make This an Awesome Achievement.Combining Talent and Sheer Willpower They Made a Movie that is Still Talked About Today. Just Ask the Folks at Criterion, No Slouches When it Comes to Recognizing Film as Art. This is a Masterpiece of Primitive Art, So Rich and Realized that it Inspired Future Filmmakers and is an Example of the Sometimes Unbridled Drive and Ambition that is the Human Spirit. We are Creative Creatures, Yearning to Express and Examine, and These Kids Surely Did.Overall, a Must See for Youngsters Eager to Explore Movie Making, B-Movie Lovers, Stop-Motion Freaks, Drive-In and Grindhouse Fans, and Anyone Interested in Just What Can Be Done with Limited Resources and Unlimited Imagination.

zee This movie stinks.Bad script, bad acting, nothing scary, offensive to women (or any thinking human being), and stupid, stupid, stupid. The rating here is wrong. It's not a 5 star movie. It's not a 3 star movie. It's just awful.The story is a flashback narrated within a flashback narrated within a flashback, about an evil book and magical signs and the four stupidest young people on the planet who are forever splitting up when they know something is out to get them. I particularly like the way they wander off from each other in an unfamiliar cave. They're the sort of idiot characters who, by the first 20 minutes, make you root for something to kill them and thereby improve the human gene pool.Most awful, for me, was the blatant sexism of the thing. "We can't climb up there, the girls are with us." "You girls stay here." "Where's my food, woman?/You suck at cooking." On and on and on, ugly and relentless. True to 1970, I suppose, and thank goodness we are not living there any more. (Reminds me why as a child I used to hope to grow up to be a lesbian--I wasn't one, but it seemed a far better choice than dealing with men like this.)Let me say something positive about the movie: You could make a good drinking game out of it. Every time the obnoxious male leads say to their girlfriends, "you girls stay here," or "we're going alone" or something with that meaning to it, take a shot. You'll be falling down drunk halfway through.Claymation? Who cares? I've seen it before, and I've seen it better. If it were the best I'd ever seen (and it isn't) it doesn't make up for the fact that this movie is terrible, a half-star out of ten sort of terrible, a terrible that makes you long for a black and white Roger Corman film instead.Seriously, it's awful.

Coventry I was getting myself comfortable for a good old early 70's monster movie, with cheesy characters and clichéd story lines, but "Equinox" was a lot more ambitious and pseudo-intelligent than I bargained for. The film utilizes a fairly challenging narrative structure, with flashbacks and comical elements. This is actually the first movie I've ever seen that diverts your attention away from all the monsters on the back of the DVD by showing people having a cheerful picnic! Quite a lot of boring stuff happens before this movie turns into a crossover between "Dungeons & Dragons" and "The Golden Voyage of Sinbad". There's a whole lot of rubbish about a book, giving to two young couples by an odd- looking midget in a cave. Subsequently there's gibberish about footprints, monsters and a bad guy who owns a ring that summons King King type of creature with sideburns, but honestly I think this must have been a lot cooler for all the people who originally saw this movie during their childhood. The stop motion effects are charming and delightful to observe, but overall the film isn't memorable (and definitely not worth the $35.99 price tag on Amazon)