Equinox is a 1970 American supernatural horror film directed by Jack Woods, and starring Edward Connell, Barbara Hewitt, Frank Bonner and Robin Christopher. Though uncredited, producer Dennis Muren also served as a second director. The film focuses on four young people picnicking in a California canyon, where they stumble upon an ancient book used to conjure demons; soon they unleash a plethora of evil creatures. The film was originally conceived as a short by producer-director Muren—then titled The Equinox: Journey into the Supernatural—who developed and shot it with friends Dave Allen and Jim Danforth in 1967. After independent distributor Tonylyn Productions expressed interest in distributing the film, director Jack Woods was hired to shoot additional footage and expand Muren's short into a full-length feature film. Equinox initially gained a reputation as a midnight movie during its theatrical run, but has in later years been noted for its economical yet sophisticated use of stop-motion special effects and cel animation, which were provided by Dave Allen and Jim Danforth; the latter later worked on Flesh Gordon, in which he animated a giant monster similar to the ones in Equinox. The cult film has been influential to the horror and sci-fi monster genres, receiving praise from filmmaker George Lucas and special effects artist Ray Harryhausen. It was released on DVD by the Criterion Collection in 2006. Plot A reporter visits David Fielding in a psychiatric hospital for a follow-up story on the deaths of his three friends exactly one year and one day ago. David is catatonic but attacks the reporter when shown a photo of Dr. Watermann, his former professor. In the scuffle, David loses his cross and grows frantic over its disappearance. The reporter listens to tape recordings of the police interviewing David soon after he was brought to the hospital and reconstructs the events — told in flashback — that drove him insane. David, Susan Turner, Jim Hudson and his girlfriend, Vicki, search for Dr. Watermann in a forest canyon and find that his cabin has been destroyed. While exploring a cave, they encounter a cackling old man who gives them an ancient book filled with magical lore and symbols. The book, which Watermann's notes describe as a "veritable bible of evil", reeks of sulfur and contains the Lord's Prayer written backwards. The group learns Watermann's experiments with the book's demon-summoning rituals went awry. When he lost control of the