Eyes of FireSince the dawn of mankind, the wilderness has been a source for all manner of fear--of the unknown and of predators. And these legends have inspired tales of the supernatural. What if what lurks in the untamed wilds is true evil, the very Devil himself? Eyes of Fire is a folk horror movie about a group of colonials who set up shelter in the wilderness, in a valley avoided by the native Shawnee tribe. Believing themselves to be safe, an increasing number of bizarre and threatening events eventually proves that they are anything but safe. For in these woods, primal forces gather and view these settlers as prey.
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Written and directed by Avery Crounse, Eyes of Fire is a low-budget horror movie that is set predominantly in the woods. This shouldn't discourage audiences, since some of the most famous horror movies--like The Blair Witch Project--were made under similar circumstances. The movie is a framed narrative, delivered by a young woman named Fanny Dalton (Sally Klein) and a girl named Meg (Erin Buchanan) after they are discovered alone in French territory. They recall that they once lived in a small colonial town until a preacher named Will Smythe (Dennis Lipscomb) was accused of polygamy between Fanny's mother, Eloise (Rebecca Stanley), and a young--seemingly mad--Irish woman named Leah (Karlene Crockett). On the verge of being hanged, Leah mutters an incantation which causes the rope to snap. Will seizes the opportunity to flee along with a few other townsfolk--including Fanny and Meg--and set out for the wilderness to find his "promised land". But Will is in fact a charlatan, using his role as a preacher to seduce Eloise and influence the other townsfolk who accompany him. This also includes another couple--Jewell Buchanan (Rob Paulsen), and his wife, Margaret (Kerry Sherman)--and their daughter, Cathleen (Caitlin Baldwin), along with Meg's grandparents, Calvin (Will Hare) and Sister (Fran Ryan), who appear to have fallen under Will's charismatic sway. Will manages to convince the escaping colonists that it is right to imprison his would be lynch mob in the barn and steal their goods and their ferry to use to journey down river. This proves to be the first of many unfortunate choices by Will for his makeshift parish, as Calvin is shot by some patrolling Shawnee, forcing them to cart the purloined goods through the woods. And just as they are being ambushed for a second time, Fanny's father, Marion (Guy Boyd)--a hunter and trapper--tricks the Shawnee and saves them, despite the understandable bad blood between him and Will. Shortly thereafter, Leah discovers a vale in the woods laden with white feathers. Marion shares that he has heard that this land is avoided by the Shawnee because they fear some malign presence that dwells therein. So of course Will convinces the majority of the travelers that they will be save within because the natives will not follow them; he will be terribly wrong.
Eyes of Fire is a mysterious, dreamy kind of horror movie. This is especially evident in Fanny and Meg's narration, which isn't always clear with how it relates to the plot. They talk about how "Leah was their friend" in the past tense, establishing tension about Leah's fate, but this and much of the rest of the movie is consistently ambiguous. Leah is shown to be a benevolent witch or some other supernatural creature, like a fairy. The movie implies that she is a leprechaun by way of her origins, that she speaks Gaelic when casting a spell, and especially in one scene where she hides under a large basket with Meg and Cathleen, which is situated at the end of a rainbow. Will often reminds Leah that she is indebted to him for saving her from being burned as a witch, even though he could not save her mother. Their relationship is more like a guardian to a ward, but his trust in her wanes after she becomes suspicious of a young native girl who wanders through their makeshift stockade one day. Leah, who has premonitions like the one that preceded Calvin being shot with an arrow, sees the girl--credited as "Cry Blue Sky" (Rose Preston)--as a cat-eyed demon covered in black, viscous slime and sneering at her with pointed teeth. So even though Leah saved the unscrupulous Will, she is--as Fanny and Meg say--a "good person", and she tries to protect everyone from the child, acutely aware of the evil lurking in the forest. Marion is the other one who seems to pick up on that something is afoot, especially after Fanny goes missing and remains comatose when found until Leah awakens her. In Fanny's dreams, she recalls that a shambling figure--much like Cry Blue Sky, but larger--abducted her. The forest is also populated by "devil trees" which have what look like human faces growing in them. These trees transform into the bark-skinned minions of this forest demon, and repeatedly harangue the settlers. All of this sounds like pretty standard horror movie fare. But what helps to separate Eyes of Fire from it multitudinous counterparts are the creepier, almost soporific scenes, regardless as to whether they are logical or not. Many of the characters experience hallucinations in the forest, and in some cases it drives them mad. Marion recalls a Shawnee legend about how evil is defined in their culture, and claims that some places--like this forest--collect the blood of the innocent which give rise to "the devil". This myth haunts Eyes of Fire, and leaves a persistent dread over each scene. The settlers' senses cannot be trusted, and the abstract way of portraying each encounter with the supernatural looks odd and is often incoherent, as though the film was trying to convey each character's sense of confusion. The title of the film comes from something Marlon uses to describe the presence of the "devil" in the woods. He says that he saw "cold eyes" like those of an animal glowing "in the fire" of a bonfire. This establishes that the supernatural in Eyes of Fire is really something primal, unknowable to our civilized minds. An ancient energy that is beyond our ken. A force that lies dormant until disturbed by the unwitting. What else could conjure forth such abject terror?
Recommended for: Fans of an eerie and abstract folk horror movie that uses the colonial frontier as a backdrop. Eyes of Fire feels like a classic tale of monsters that lurk in the woods, and must have clearly inspired other movies that feature similar themes and settings, like Robert Eggers's The Witch.
Eyes of Fire is a mysterious, dreamy kind of horror movie. This is especially evident in Fanny and Meg's narration, which isn't always clear with how it relates to the plot. They talk about how "Leah was their friend" in the past tense, establishing tension about Leah's fate, but this and much of the rest of the movie is consistently ambiguous. Leah is shown to be a benevolent witch or some other supernatural creature, like a fairy. The movie implies that she is a leprechaun by way of her origins, that she speaks Gaelic when casting a spell, and especially in one scene where she hides under a large basket with Meg and Cathleen, which is situated at the end of a rainbow. Will often reminds Leah that she is indebted to him for saving her from being burned as a witch, even though he could not save her mother. Their relationship is more like a guardian to a ward, but his trust in her wanes after she becomes suspicious of a young native girl who wanders through their makeshift stockade one day. Leah, who has premonitions like the one that preceded Calvin being shot with an arrow, sees the girl--credited as "Cry Blue Sky" (Rose Preston)--as a cat-eyed demon covered in black, viscous slime and sneering at her with pointed teeth. So even though Leah saved the unscrupulous Will, she is--as Fanny and Meg say--a "good person", and she tries to protect everyone from the child, acutely aware of the evil lurking in the forest. Marion is the other one who seems to pick up on that something is afoot, especially after Fanny goes missing and remains comatose when found until Leah awakens her. In Fanny's dreams, she recalls that a shambling figure--much like Cry Blue Sky, but larger--abducted her. The forest is also populated by "devil trees" which have what look like human faces growing in them. These trees transform into the bark-skinned minions of this forest demon, and repeatedly harangue the settlers. All of this sounds like pretty standard horror movie fare. But what helps to separate Eyes of Fire from it multitudinous counterparts are the creepier, almost soporific scenes, regardless as to whether they are logical or not. Many of the characters experience hallucinations in the forest, and in some cases it drives them mad. Marion recalls a Shawnee legend about how evil is defined in their culture, and claims that some places--like this forest--collect the blood of the innocent which give rise to "the devil". This myth haunts Eyes of Fire, and leaves a persistent dread over each scene. The settlers' senses cannot be trusted, and the abstract way of portraying each encounter with the supernatural looks odd and is often incoherent, as though the film was trying to convey each character's sense of confusion. The title of the film comes from something Marlon uses to describe the presence of the "devil" in the woods. He says that he saw "cold eyes" like those of an animal glowing "in the fire" of a bonfire. This establishes that the supernatural in Eyes of Fire is really something primal, unknowable to our civilized minds. An ancient energy that is beyond our ken. A force that lies dormant until disturbed by the unwitting. What else could conjure forth such abject terror?
Recommended for: Fans of an eerie and abstract folk horror movie that uses the colonial frontier as a backdrop. Eyes of Fire feels like a classic tale of monsters that lurk in the woods, and must have clearly inspired other movies that feature similar themes and settings, like Robert Eggers's The Witch.