Equinox is far from an amazing piece of celluloid like its cult fans would have you believe, but it's not altogether terrible either. It was cheerleaded by Forrest J. Ackerman since its release and was made in part by some very talented special effects men who would go on to make major blockbuster films like Star Wars.
I like the movie a lot because it has stop motion in it... that gets me every time. There's always something magical about it and you know the amount of work that went into creating it that I'm always awed by it, even in movies that aren't that great. Equinox has a terrible cast of characters, a plot full of holes, mostly (if not all) overdubbed dialogue and a head-scratching ending... but it works somehow. Not in an amazingly incredible way, but in an enjoyable one. It's certainly not MST3K material, at least to me, and it contains enough good material to keep me interested. I'm just happy that Criterion put together a DVD release of it so that I could have a chance to see it properly. If you like stop motion and 50s B movies, then check it out.
January 12, 2012
