‘Occult barrier between good and evil’
Equinox is a 1970 American supernatural horror film written and directed by Dennis Muren.
The film was originally conceived as a short, then titled The Equinox: Journey into the Supernatural, developed and shot with friends Dave Allen and Jim Danforth in 1967 as feature.
Producer Jack H. Harris (The Blob) was impressed enough to agree to finance new footage for the film with writer-director Jack Woods and release it in 1970.
The movie stars Edward Connell, Barbara Hewitt, Frank Bonner and writer Fritz Leiber. Forrest J. Ackerman has a cameo voice role as the doctor on a tape recorder.
Special effects were provided by Dave Allen and Jim Danforth.
Plot:
Four young adults – Dave, Susan, Jim and Jim’s girlfriend – head into the woods to look for a lost scientist, Doctor Arthur Watermann. The friends have a picnic and glimpse a mysterious castle in the woods. They find that Doctor Watermann’s cabin seems to have been destroyed.
A forest ranger, who is Asmodeus in human form, watches over the teenagers. When the group stumbles into a cave, a strange old man presents them with an ancient book filled with magical lore and symbols.
Asmodeus sends monsters–a giant ape-like creature with cloven hooves, and a giant green-skinned fur-clad creature–to retrieve the book from them at all costs. The ape-like creature kills the old man. The castle seems to have disappeared, however, the friends discover that it has been rendered invisible by magic…
Trailer:
Filming locations:
Arroyo Seco, Pasadena, California (Green Giant sequence)
Big Tujunga Canyon Road, Angeles National Forest, California (several bridge scenes)
Bronson Canyon, Griffith Park – 4730 Crystal Springs Drive, Los Angeles, California
La Cañada-Flintridge, California (Muren’s home-special effects/Woods’ reshoots – 1970 version)
Malibu, California (alternate dimension)
St. Luke Medical Center, 2632 E. Washington Blvd., Pasadena, California (the hospital where David Fielding was being treated)
