| Equinox begins with a terrified young man named David fleeing through the woods from an evil unseen force. He makes it to a highway overpass, and attempts to flag down an approaching car. But his frantic waving isn�t going to do him any good. The car has no driver� apart from the said evil unseen force of course. We see the steering wheel moving by itself, and the accelerator pedal sinking to the floor as the driverless vehicle speeds across the overpass. It bowls David up onto the bonnet, and straight over the roof. It�s a hit and run from hell. Fortunately for our hapless hero, he�s still alive. Another car crosses the overpass moments later. This one actually has a driver, who takes the hit and run victim straight to the nearest hospital. A year and a day later, David is still in hospital. But it�s a very different hospital. The kind with padded walls and liberal shock treatments. A reporter named Sloane covered the initial story a year ago, and visits the hospital for a follow up piece. �He�s been a complete depressive since I first interviewed him a year ago� head psychiatrist Dr. Johansson explains to the nosy reporter. So much for doctor/patient confidentiality... One curious member of the media shows up, and the head shrink spills his guts. Johansson also explains that the only thing in the world that David seems to care about is his gold crucifix. �What�s the cross for?� Sloane asks the wild eyed David in his padded cell later on. Then he shows the troubled youth a photograph of Dr. Waterman, the geology professor who met a grisly end along with three of David�s friends a year ago. Upon seeing the picture, the interviewee becomes hysterical. He becomes so out of control that the men in white coats have to break out the straightjacket. Sloane has probably just undone a year of therapy in search of a story. What could have possibly driven David to such insanity? What happened to Dr. Waterman and his friends Jim, Vicky, and Susan? And why is David�s crucifix his most treasured possession? We�re about to find out as Equinox leaps back in time to a year earlier. It all begins with a picnic. David, Jim, Vicky, and Susan are driving into the mountains to visit Dr. Waterman in his secluded cabin. Waterman has just brought an ancient book back from the middle east, and is in the process of translating it in isolation. As the four crazy kids hike up the trail to the cabin, they�re shocked by what they find. The whole place is caved in. It looks like it�s been crushed from the outside. A sinister looking ranger arrives on the scene and tells the worried teens that Waterman isn�t there. The four aren�t going to let a missing teacher and a party pooping ranger stop them from having fun. They decide to find a picnic spot. As they hike through the woods, the carefree teens see a castle in the distance. As they pass a cave, they hear some maniacal laughter emanating from it. Casting better judgement to the wind, they decide to investigate. The laughter is coming from a crazy old man inside. He gladly gives them the ancient book that Waterman was translating. It isn�t exactly generous of him though. It seems that Dr. Waterman has been reciting some of the incantations in the book. One of them is the Lord�s prayer backwards, so he�s unwittingly released a supernatural force. The four confused teens take the book, and leave the crazy old man to cackle maniacally in his dank musty cave. The curse has now been lifted from him onto the unsuspecting teens. As they try to find Dr. Waterman (along with a few answers), our heroes confront a number of larger than life manifestations of evil. There�s the thirty foot high ape-like demon that kills the crazy old man like an insect (the jokes on him� and he thought the curse was lifted), the thirty foot caveman, a winged demon, and an alternate dimension. Even to the most casual horror fan, the plot of Equinox has to sound very familiar. Director Sam Raimi�s Evil Dead trilogy was heavily inspired by this film. The most overt example of this inspiration is the exposition surrounding the discovery of the book in the middle east. The whole sequence has a very Evil Dead look and feel. The visual effects in Equinox are very impressive, especially considering the film�s modest budget. Most of the stop-motion and rear projection effects are more convincing than a lot of what you�ll see in effects oriented films these days. The caveman sequence is seamless, as are the scenes of fire and brimstone. Although crudely executed, the winged demon is still years ahead of its time. Despite any other shortcomings, Equinox is still one of the more visually impressive low-budget films around. It also has a surprisingly downbeat ending for a teen oriented fantasy. This film remains one of the genuine undiscovered classics, and is a must see for anyone interested in the number one inspiration for The Evil Dead. |
| EQUINOX (1971) |