Eyes of Fire (1983)

Director:

Avery Crounse

Writer:

Avery Crounse (writer)

Release Date:

21 October 1983 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Western

Tagline:

When America was young and Spirits of Evil reigned in a Forest of Darkness.

Plot:

A preacher is accused of adultery and he and his followers are chased out of town and become stranded in an isolated forest which is haunted by the spirits of long dead Native Americans.

Plot Keywords:

Forest | Native American | Haunted | Occult | Witchcraft

Cast

Dennis Lipscomb	...	Will Smythe
Guy Boyd	...	Marion Dalton
Rebecca Stanley	...	Eloise Dalton
Sally Klein	...	Fanny Dalton / Narrator
Karlene Crockett	...	Leah - Queen of the Forest
Fran Ryan	...	Sister - Calvin's Wife
Rob Paulsen	...	Jewell Buchanan
Kerry Sherman	...	Margaret Buchanan
Caitlin Baldwin	...	Cathleen Buchanan - a Child
Erin Buchanan	...	Meg
Will Hare	...	Calvin
Ivy Bethune	...	Rachel
Mike Genovese	...	Interrogator
Bret Pearson	...	Luther
Rose Preston	...	Indian girl

Also Known As:

Cry Blue Sky

Runtime:

USA:90 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:R

Filming Locations:

Missouri, USA

Company:

Elysian Pictures

Quotes:

Will Smythe: Please let's us take the generous town's providings, but the Lord giveth that he take it away. This is a good town, I only hope that all you good people could come with me... to the promised land.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Blair Witch Project (1999)

Unique work of Americana horror

This unjustly overlooked movie, the first directed by Avery Crounse, ranks along with Pumpkinhead as one of the best examples of dark fantasy rooted in pure Americana. A period piece, it's set in the mid-18th century in the American colonies, before there was a United States, and is the tale of settlers encountering the supernatural in the form of a previously unexplored forest's resident evil spirit.

Narrated by one of the two young survivors of the weird encounter, it starts with the two being interrogated by the equivalent of district militia regarding the disappearance of their fellow settlers. The story begins with adultery committed by a minister, somewhat hammily played by Dennis Lipscomb, and a settler's wife, resulting in the cuckolded husband taking his children off into the forest where they meet up with a strange girl who shows them much they never knew before about the ways of the land.

Crounse gets his setting just right and also does a great job fusing the real with the fantastic--not always an easy thing to do. One of the absolutely critical ingredients in any fantasy film--whether high fantasy, sword and sorcery, dark fantasy or horror--is atmosphere, and in that this movie excels. The brooding forest scenes are superb, making the viewer feel that at any moment the trees could come alive and snatch you up right from where you're standing.

Aside from Lipscomb, the other actors are excellent. The momentum of the story is escape from a known evil to an unknown evil and that drives the movie to its strong finish.

Highly recommended.