Great Film overall

A Masterpiece!

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

As both a filmmaker and an avid film fanatic, I'm fascinated with films that are both unique and manage to fulfill their potential on a limited budget. Avery Crounse's little known and unfairly hidden gem "Eyes of Fire" is such a picture. Combining Western and Supernatural Horror genres, then setting it in an eerie, and sinister forest is something that I was immediately drawn to. Working with the film's cinematographer, director Crounse manages something that, unfortunately, very few horror films manage to accomplish... Generating an eerie, and foreboding atmosphere on a relatively small budget through use of lighting, fog (of course!), disturbingly surreal imagery, and overlaid shots. We are shown shots of naked, mud-covered phantoms that appear out of nowhere silently staring at or chasing those who wander too close. We are also shown shots of faces that sprout from the trunks of trees, a figure being formed from the very ground, and other nightmarish imagery. The effect is quite unsettling, and manages to get under your skin and stay there for an uncomfortable amount of time. The story, set in the Mid-1700s, is fairly simple. A man who claims that he is a preacher is chased from town after being (rightfully) accused of adultery, and later become stranded in a part of the woods that the Shawnee Indians claim is where evil lurks. However familiar the story may be, the film manages to surprise the viewer with good performances (Crockett's being especially potent), strong direction and camerawork, and an undeniably creepy soundtrack. True, the film may have its faults (NO film is perfect), but the strengths outshine its imperfections to make the experience all the more enjoyable. The fact that the film has yet to be released in a remastered DVD/Blue-ray form borders on the criminally negligent, which hopefully doesn't last that much longer. Although some might dispute this reviewer's opinion of the film, one must go into it with an open mind in order to fully enjoy the experience as this reviewer did. Highly Recommended!

If you remotely interested in any of the above, check this flick. If you like to dig up weird movies from the 80's that no one heard of, then find this movie. The witch easily ranks as one of the scariest looking creatures of recent memory, kinda like a backwoods cousin to the homeless demon behind the restaurant in David Lynch's MUHOLLAND DRIVE. Do not expect a traditional plot line to build suspense a la BLAIR WITCH. These are second- rate actors sloughing through difficult dialog penned in an antiquated tongue. Once the characters settle in the cabin, the action becomes convoluted, fragmentary-- hard to follow what's happening or even who's who-- but still manages to be unsettling despite its confusing logic. This indie project was written and directed by one man, one vision, so I would give him the benefit of the doubt that this affect was intentional. Admittedly, the little girl's voice-over feels forced and tacked on, like trying to tie loose ends together, but in the process it brings up more information that leaves the viewer pondering. It's actually rare that voice-overs HELP the story (FIGHT CLUB jumps to mind as a positive example).Though the beginning was slow and the backstory negligible, once the conflict started, I was engrossed. I kept wondering where this movie was from, and if I didn't know it was early 80's, it could have passed for a '70's unknown Nicolas Roeg or Ken Russell picture, with those quick edits and trippy effects. So it had a kinda timeless quality that has helped it to endure among the dung heap of horror movies that have been cranked out in the last half- century. Check it.

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!

"Eyes of Fire" has a pretty impressive script to start out with. It lets the surreal events unfold in the most offbeat, unpredictable way, that you can easily view it several times and still discover things. The forest with its many "trees" is so vividly filmed; I never realized simple things like trees, bushes, and pure earth could be made so threatening! The film is just drenched in atmosphere: The haunting sounds of the woods; the often off-kilter camera angles; and the excellent narration by a young lady with an accent so thick you could cut it with a knife! I loved listening to her. The film has a logic and a language all its own. You have to pay attention to the film to appreciate all the developments of the highly "elemental" plot. This isn't a "brain candy" horror flick; you'll have to make an effort to understand certain things, but it's highly worth it. My favorite performance in the film is Karlene Crockett as the fairy Leah. Many of the most beautiful moments in the film involve her, like where Leah crawls into a barrel with the children to keep out of the rain, and a rainbow appears beside it; and Leah playing joyfully in the field of feathers. Then, of course, there's the dark scenes, like the ones where the grotesque figure in black roams the forest, sinking in and out of the ground; and Leah's numerous encounters with the elusive ghosts. I've heard people rag on the special effects, which are a mixed bag; but it's important to remember that this was 1983, and the filmmakers didn't have the budget of E.T. -- or anywhere near it. The effects serve their purpose, and are often quite creepy. They compliment the film, rather than overrun it like many films today.This is a really great film to watch late at night; it has the atmosphere of one of those low-budget chillers network stations would show in the early morning hours before the age of the infomercial, only with more originality. I would rush out and buy this if it were released on DVD; for now I'll just have to settle for my Vestron Video copy. I think this little gem is a masterpiece in its own right; definitely thought-provoking horror, a genre that is too rarely explored. My rating: 8.5/10