Eyes of Fire

Don't you just love coming across films that you've never heard of before and to your surprise it turns out better than it expected. The independent low-budget horror drama "Eyes of Fire" would be one of those films you'll either become attach to or simply can't fathom the fuss. It's easy to see why it's a sleeper though --- just look when it came out (just think of the horror of this period) and there's no-one in the cast that would really stand-out on paper. However the story alone had me intrigued. From beginning to end, it projects up as nothing more than a bizarre, hallucinating mood piece. While not completely satisfying (due to its experimental tailoring consisting of some convoluted writing in the latter acts with a weak ending and cheap tacked on final frame), its unconventional style holds you there despite its purposely slow-grinding pace. The mysteriously spooky nature of it had me thinking of the similar in vein western / horror variation "The Shadow of Chikara (1977)".

A creepy folklore / witchcraft horror with absorbing atmospherics (the rich Missouri locations are alienating and suitably eerie) and a mystical layer is formed by it inspired narrative (where its told through narrated flashback) and distinctively lyrical script as we follow some western pioneers led by a reverend on the American frontier in the search of the promised land, but they stumble upon a valley that's inhabited by a devil witch and her captured souls.

What really came out of left field was the dazzling direction of writer / director Avery Crounse. While methodical and low-scale, he managed some visually breath-taking imagery of edgy horror and haunting beauty caught by the elegantly earthy and unhinged cinematography. Even during the daylight sequences, it remains just as unsettling and also the authentic, fidgety sound effects of the forest simply unnerve. Brad Fiedel's music score is slight, but skin-crawling and the variable special effects feature plenty of tripped-out colour schemes, tree decorations (you'll see) and loud explosions. It's serviceable, and the make-up FX is decently projected with a spooky looking phantom witch. It's those eyes! There are modest performances by the likes of Dennis Lipscomb, Guy Boyd, Rebecca Stanley and Kathleen Crockett in a very contemplative turn.

Fascinatingly offbeat, if meandering and jaded mystical spook flick.

Some movies haunt me for long after I see them. In the case of Eyes of Fire, this isn't because the movie is all that hot, but because I haven't been able to get the darn thing out of my brain since I saw it.

Plot: It's been a while, but right off the top of my head, Eyes of Fire is set during days of early American life. A "wicked" polygamist dude is kicked out of his village for his ways, so he packs up his stuff, and leaves town, taking his flock of naive followers with him.

He promises to find them a new place to live where they can all start a new society of sorts where they can live their lives the way they want to. But he ignores his Native American tourguide, and chooses to set up shop in a spooky, foreboding area of the woods which is supposedly cursed by evil spirits.

After that, I can't really remember too much about the plot, other than that it dissolves into nothingness, and in its place we get quite a bit nightmarish images of ghosts, slime, and spectral zap rays, all backed with a lot of screaming.

I tend to remain fascinated with movies that seem to exist in their own world of reality, where our rules of logic don't always apply. If the world of movies were a giant city, these films would be brief snapshots of dangerous streets you don't want to drive down. These don't always have to be horror movies; Over the years I can think of several examples of these kind of films; Gummo, Elephant, The Toolbox Murders (the 70's one), and Impulse (the meg tilly one) all come to mind off hand. These movies all have a worldview that depressed me enough that I just cant shake the characters and their environment afterwards.

Eyes of Fire is like that, really. I don't recall one character, actor, or line of dialog. Nor am I really sure I've got the story down right. But the memory of being totally freaked out by it has stuck with me ever since.

This motion picture is perhaps the most bizarre film I have ever seen for such a low budget. The film itself brings out more horror than what you would think. The film is about a group of western pioneers set in the early American Frontier around 1750, who travel into an uncharted land and forest and are haunted by evil spirits living in the trees. Director Avery Crounse and his team of special effects rely on old fashion suspense, which is way better than some of the films we have today. Composer Brad Fiedel (who also created the score for James Cameron's The Terminator) conducts a fascinating Irish musical score. The all star cast including Dennis Lipscomb (WarGames), Guy Boyd (Jagged Edge), Will Hare (Back to the Future), Fran Ryan (The Sure Thing) and Emmy award winning actress Karlene Crockett all do a wonderful job at acting. It's a shame that this film isn't around anymore, it should be released to DVD and it's obvioius that films like The Blair Witch Project and Ravenous ripped off this film. Eyes of Fire is highly recommended for fans of early ghost stories.

To anyone interested in this movie, I say you have to see it. If you find it at your local video store and are the type to be intrigued by the title and video box, you will enjoy it.

The poor lighting and practically non-existent special effects actually make the mood more effective, although it may be slow going for some horror movie fans.

Some movies in a similar vein are The Company of Wolves, el Topo- if you can find it, and Ravenous (1999)

This singularly distinct horror film concerns a colonial minister, his married mistress, and a group of their friends and supporters who flee the wrath of the people in their village and travel via raft up the Hudson river to what will eventually be upstate New York, staying one step ahead of savage indians to settle in a strange valley. Strange, because it has already been settled by French settlers, all of whom have vanished, and because the bloodthirsty indians in the area won't set foot in it. Because of the lack of a scalping epidemic(not to mention a ready-made village all set to go), the party settles down to life in the valley, unaware that a decidedly evil entity is moving among them, embodied in a strange, dark-haired little girl found in the village alone . ..

The choice of setting(Colonial-era America)is unique in itself, but the strange concept, of a village that is home to an entity made up of the lifeforces of many beings who have died violently and that entity's seduction of most of the group, is unusual. There's a weird dis-ease in the atmosphere of this place, one that sets it apart from most films like this. Recommended for those who savor atmosphere.