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
Mitch Rogers	...	Shawnee
Lenard Petit	...	Frenchman
Bruce Solow	...	Townsman
Russell James Young Jr.	...	The Witch
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jacqueline Van Hook	...	Wood Nymph (uncredited)

Directed by
Avery Crounse

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Avery Crounse		writer

Produced by
Chris Baldwin	....	assistant producer
Andrew Reichsman	....	associate producer
Philip J. Spinelli	....	producer

Original Music by
Brad Fiedel

Cinematography by
Wade Hanks

Film Editing by
Michael Barnard

Casting by
Carol L. Dudley

Art Direction by
Gregg Fonseca

Set Decoration by
John Stadelman

Costume Design by
Bernadette O'Brien

Makeup Department
Jenny Evens	....	makeup artist
Cheryl Greenwood	....	makeup artist
Annie Maniscalco	....	makeup designer
Diane Staley	....	assistant makeup artist
Lisa Whorton	....	assistant makeup artist

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Robert Birnberg	....	second assistant director
Corinne Pierce	....	second assistant director
Bruce Solow	....	assistant director

Art Department
Michael Paul Clausen	....	construction crew (as Michael Clausen)
Dorree Cooper	....	assistant set decorator
Artie Johnson	....	assistant art director
Kenneth Lassabe	....	construction crew
Sara Lindquist	....	assistant property master
Brian Munsell	....	construction crew
Charlie Simmons	....	construction crew
John Stadelman	....	property master
Frank Viviano	....	construction coordinator

Sound Department
Clint Hutchison	....	sound effects editor
Dessie Markovsky	....	sound supervisor
Bob Minkler	....	sound re-recording mixer
Michael Minkler	....	sound re-recording mixer
Dennis Patterson	....	supervising sound editor
Thomas Cross Rolapp	....	additional sound
Laurie Seligman	....	boom operator (as Laurie 'Boom-Boom' Seligman)
Tracey Smith	....	sound effects editor
Susumu Tokunow	....	production sound mixer

Special Effects by
Tassilo Baur	....	special effects

Camera and Electrical Department
Joey Alvarado	....	electrician
David Dart	....	grip
Don Devine	....	first assistant camera
Jack English	....	lighting director
Chris Gegen	....	video operator
Richard A. Kelley	....	second assistant camera (as Richard Kelly)
Ryan McKinny	....	best boy grip
Jim Reese	....	grip
Randolph Sellars	....	key grip
Newton TerMeer	....	best boy
Parish Todd	....	still photographer

Editorial Department
Marie Consiglio	....	post-production coordinator
Ellen Murphy	....	negative cutter
Nancy Nickerson	....	post-production coordinator

Music Department
Jim Harrison	....	music editor

Transportation Department
Kate Gallagher	....	transportation captain
Dennis Hoerter	....	transportation coordinator

Other crew
Susan Franklin-Tanner	....	children's coach
Abbee Goldstein	....	production coordinator
Linda Schexnaydre	....	nurse
Joanne Small	....	script supervisor
Benjamin Stables	....	animal trainer
Jacqueline Van Hook	....	production secretary
Jeanette Ward	....	children's supervisor
Sherman Webster	....	animal handler

Production Companies

• Elysian Pictures

Distributors

• Seymour Borde & Associates (1985) (USA) (theatrical)
• Vestron Video (1987) (USA) (VHS)
• Astral Video (1987) (Canada) (VHS)
• Jaguar Vídeo (19??) (Brazil) (VHS)
• LaserVision (19??) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Lions Gate Films (Canada)
• Vestron Video (USA) (laserdisc)
• Works Editora (2005) (Brazil) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Reuben Cannon & Associates  casting

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)

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.