reiher@UCLA-LOCUS.ARPA (07/14/84)
From: Peter Reiher <reiher@UCLA-LOCUS.ARPA> Another film from Filmex, "Eyes of Fire" is an unusual fantasy/horror film. It's set in 1750 on the American frontier. A preacher with somewhat loose moral standards for his own behavior barely avoids hanging and escapes to the wilderness with several of his loyal followers. They float downriver on a stolen raft, pursued by the husband of the woman the preacher has been fooling around with. Hostile Indians and Frenchmen force them to land and flee to a valley which the Indians have marked as taboo. As always in such films, there's a damn good reason the Indians won't touch it with a ten foot pole. Good thing that the settlers have unknowingly brought along their very own witch, a girl the minister saved when her mother was burned as a witch (they had a real difficult time with her; the fire kept going out...). Ever since saving her, the minister has been unusually lucky. For instance, the rope breaks when the villagers try to hang him. "Eyes of Fire" is beautifully photographed, in a backwoods area of Missouri. The art direction is also quite good, as are the effects and makeup. The film cost only a little over a million to make, but looks much better than that. There are a lot of shocks and general grossness, but little blood and dismemberment. The first-time director, Avery Crounse, relies more on good, old-fashioned shock effects than "Friday the 13th" style butchery. His background as a still photographer shows up in some lovely shots. It is only fair to mention that opinion on this film is divided. Many critics thought that Crounse had taken an interesting situation and then just dumped it in favor of standard horror film nonsense. Some people leaving the theater were saying how great it was, others thought it was a piece of trash. I, myself, liked it a lot. It will probably be released in a few months. Peter Reiher reiher@ucla-cs.arpa