Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		5.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		4.0

Equus Blu-ray Movie Review

"At least I galloped. When did you?"

Reviewed by Kenneth Brown January 13, 2025

There's never quite been a film like Equus, before or since. Originally made available on Blu-ray by Twilight Time in 2014 via a Screen Archives Entertainment Limited Edition release, director Sidney Lumet's fascinating, disturbing 1977 psychological mystery is based on Peter Shaffer's play of the same name and stars Richard Burton, Peter Firth, Jenny Agutter, Joan Plowright and Colin Blakely. Sandpiper Pictures has released this newer Blu-ray, sans any significant extras, but with a terrific video presentation and solid DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mix.

"Moments snap together like magnets forged in a chain of shackles. Why? I can trace them, I can even with time pull them apart again. But why at the start were they ever magnetized at all? Why those particular moments of experience and no others, I do not know! And nor does any... body... else! And if I don't know, if I can never know, what am I doing here? I don't mean clinically doing, or socially doing, but fundamentally. These whys, these questions, are fundamental. Yet they have no place in a consulting room! So then do I? Do any of us?"

Magistrate Hesther Salomon asks her friend, psychologist Martin Dysart, to help her with the strange case of teenage stable boy Alan Strang after the young man impulsively blinds six horses with a sickle. Alan has difficulty communicating, though, making his treatment a challenge. While the boy's parents, Frank and Dora, are baffled by their son's behavior, Martin is able to learn that Alan believes in a deity he calls Equus, which inhabits all horses. Alan has become enchanted with the beasts of burden, believing they are the One True God, and once Martin begins to understand as much, Alan begins to come out of his shell. Working backwards to discern the meaning of Alan's actions -- why would he mutilate horses if he believes them to be his god? -- Martin uncovers his own dark secrets and wonders if Alan is mad or enlightened.

Click here to read Jeffrey Kauffman's excellent deep dive into Equus, which he calls "startlingly vivid and moving." Adding that it's "a somewhat problematic but always incredibly visceral experience that offers a slate of unbelievably compelling performances."

Equus Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

"Afterward he says, they always embrace. The animal digs his sweaty brow into his cheek, and they stand in the dark for an hour, like a naked couple. And of all nonsensical things, I keep thinking about the horse, not the boy. The horse and what he might be trying to do. I keep seeing the huge head, kissing him with its chained mouth, nudging from the metal some desire absolutely irrelevant to fulfilling its bearing or propagating its own kind. What desire could this be? Not to stay a horse any longer, not to remain reigned up forever in those particular genetic strengths. Is it possible that at certain moments, we can not imagine, the horse can add its sufferings together, the nonstop jibs and jabs that are its daily life, and turn them into grief? What use is grief... to a horse? You see, I'm lost."

Equus looks magnificent on Blu-ray. Backed by a stunningly filmic 1080p/AVC-encoded video transfer, it's from-the-elements remaster is every bit the accurate, precision crafted catalog presentation we hope to find with all cult and classic film releases. Colors are wintry and subdued but no less powerful, matching the tone and tenor of the picture perfectly. Primaries still have edge, skin tones are lovely, saturation and contrast is flawless, and black levels are deep and satisfying. Detail is exacting too, far more than I expected. Definition is crisp and clean, fine textures are oh so revealing, and a velvety veneer of grain is unobtrusive and largely consistent. Moreover, I didn't note any instances of print wear and tear or encoding issues; no banding, blocking, scratches, nicks or significant specks. I was blown away, especially seeing as Sandpiper doesn't have the best track record when it comes to catalog transfers.

Equus Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

"All right! The normal is the good smile in a child's eyes. There's also the dead stare in a million adults. It both sustains and kills, like a god. It is the ordinary made beautiful, it is also the average made lethal. Normal is the indispensable murderous god of health and I am his priest."

Equus features the same DTS-HD Master Audio track as its Twilight Time predecessor. Of the sonics, Jeffrey Kauffman writes, "Equus' lossless mix nicely recreates the film's original soundtrack, delivering what is ultimately a pretty dialogue heavy film with excellent fidelity. Richard Rodney Bennett's minimal score and some of the horse foley effects all sound just fine as well, with excellent reproduction of all frequency ranges. The track shows no damage of any kind."

Equus Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The 2014 Screen Archives Entertainment Limited Edition Blu-ray from Twilight Time included a film historians' audio commentary, an isolated score track, and a feature-length documentary titled "In From the Cold: The World of Richard Burton." Unfortunately, the Sandpiper Pictures Blu-ray does away with all that, offering a lone trailer as its complete supplemental package.

Equus Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

"But, now, for me, it never stops. The voice of Equus. Out of the cave. Why me? Why me? First, account for me. How can I? In an ultimate sense I cannot know what I do in this place, but I do ultimate things, irreversible things. And I, I stand in the dark with a blade in my hand, striking at heads. I need, more desperately than my children need me, a way of seeing in the dark. What way is this? What dark in this? I cannot fully ordain but God! I cannot go so far! I will however, pay so much hardship. There is now in my mouth this sharp chafe. It never comes out."

What a bizarre and extraordinary film. I've not seen the stage production (please read my colleague's 2014 review for insight into it) but I can only imagine the insanity and delirium it entails. This one hasn't left my mind for a week, since I first put it into my Blu-ray player. I suspect I'll be revisiting it in the weeks to come and my appreciation for it and curiosity with it will only grow. Sandpiper's Blu-ray release is a strong one, thanks to a top tier catalog video presentation and a solid lossless audio mix. I do wish Sandpiper would put more effort into obtaining previously released extras, as this one had some great special features. Instead, we only get a trailer. Even so, this one comes highly recommended.