EQUINOX hits DVD... thru Criterion!

Sure, it's a popular cult flick and is said to have inspired Sam Raimi to make Evil Dead, but it is worthy of the Criterion Collection treatment?

There's no arguing that a DVD release of this ambitious 1970 flick, that started as a student film but blew up into a full fledged feature thanks to producer Jack H. Harris being impressed enough to come onboard, is long overdue - but a full blown Criterion Collection release?

The longtime cult favorite tells the horrific tale of a group of young adults that venture into the woods for a picnic only to inadvertently get their hands on the infamous Necronomicon and find themselves being pursued by the forces of evil, including a demon in the form of a park ranger and giant unholy monster known as The Beast.

This $6,500-budget wonder was picked up for distribution by producer Jack H. Harris (The Blob), who shot new footage for the film with writer-director Jack Woods. Since its 1970 release, Equinox has gained a passionate cult following and inspired succeeding generations of horror/fantasy filmmakers.

In addition to having been cited as inspiring Evil Dead, Equinox also launched the careers of Oscar winning FX master Dennis Muren and stop motion wizard David Allen, as well as actor Frank Bonner, best known for his role of Herb Tarlek on "WKRP in Cincinnati," and Ed Begley Jr., who didn't actually appear in the film but worked as an assistant cameraman. Monster master Forrest J. Ackerman even cameos via voice on a tape recording.

Being that this is a Criterion Collection release you better believe the DVD is coming fully loaded. Just look at this list of extras:

· Audio commentaries by directors Jack Woods and Dennis Muren
· Video interviews with cast members
· Deleted scenes, outtakes, and FX test shots
· A gallery of rare Equinox stills and promotional material
· The original Equinox trailer and radio spots for the film
· A video introduction by Forrest J Ackerman
· Director Jack Allen's acclaimed King Kong Volkswagen commercial
· Two short films from the creator's of Equinox entitled "Zorgon, The H-Bomb Beast from Hell "and "The Magic Treasure"
· A booklet featuring thoughts on the film by George lucas and Ray Harryhausen, plus an essay by Brock DeShane

But more importantly, the two-disc set will include the version of Equinox we're all familiar with but the previously never released, never seen original cut of the film titled The Equinox: A Journey into the Supernatural.

Now being that this is a Criterion release you can expect to pay a steep price. Equinox is going to run you $39.95, MSRP.

No release date is set yet for Criterion’s Equinox set but you can keep on top of that and find out more about the DVD specs by heading over to Criterion’s website, where they also talk about the restoration:

Equinox and The Equinox . . . A Journey into the Supernatural are presented in their original aspect ratios of 1:33:1. On widescreen televisions, black bars will appear on the left and right of the images to maintain the proper screen format. This new high-definition digital transfer of Equinox was created on a Spirit Datacine from a 35mm color negative and a 35mm optical track negative from the Academy-restored original 16mm blow-up of the film. The Equinox . . . A Journey into the Supernatural was created on a Cintel C-Reality telecine with Oliver Electronic Wetgate Processing from the 16mm duplicate negative and 16mm composite print of the recuts. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, and scratches were removed using the MTI Digital Restoration System. To maintain optimal image quality through the compression process, the picture on this dual-layer DVD-9 was encoded at the highest-possible bit rate for the quantity of material included. The soundtracks were mastered at 24-bit from the optical pickups off the 16mm composite print, and audio restoration tools were used to reduce clicks, pops, hiss, and crackle. The Dolby Digital 1.0 signal will be directed to the center channel on 5.1-channel sound systems, but some viewers may prefer to switch to two-channel playback for a wider dispersal of the mono sound.

Meanwhile you can enjoy those lousy screencaps from my battered VHS copy.