Eyes of Fire (1983)

User Rating:

5.9/10   

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 | Ghost | Occult | Demon

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:

Eloise Dalton: She's crazier than a rat in a brandy keg!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Blair Witch Project (1999)

Very good unheralded American-style Gothic "giallo" film .

This is a wonderful find for any horror film buff who can appreciate the slow-build of the typical "giallo" film, to which it compares stylistically, with a good dose of Gothic influence. Rather than load all of the budget toward the effects and skimp everywhere else, the film-makers opted to use the relatively unknown and overlooked talents of the best low-budget effects and pyrotechnics person in the business, Tassilo Baur. (I personally witnessed him put together special effects on a USC student film in 1981, on a budget of about $100 that looked like thousands. If you look carefully at the effects here, you'll see how well-realized they are for such little money.) Anyway, the effort in this gem was well-placed in the story, the direction and the acting. Overall good production values make this look as good as most studio stuff, and it's much more thoughtful. Great eerie locations and soundtrack add to the atmosphere. Fans of horror films that offer more than violence only for the sake of violence will appreciate this find. Recommended!