10 Folk Horror Movies To Consider For October/Halloween

day 26 of horror: more underrated/obscure essential horror films

lips of honey, eyes of fire.

Eyes of Fire (1983, Avery Crounse)

Also known as: Cry Blue Sky

12/9/23

Eyes of Fire, 1983, dir. Avery Crounse

eyes of fire dir. avery crounse

Guess who hit their first 10k on AO3!!!! o(≧∀≦)o

I'm so glad I was able to catch this moment! Eyes of Fire, my Vikings long fic with Ivar, was the one to hit this milestone! Who knows how I'll celebrate?

I missed every milestone on Wattpad so idk feel like celebratin this one at least....somehow 🤔

Eyes of Fire, Avery Crounse

Anyway, love spending my leisure day vibrating with anxiety because I feel like I should be working, and also too sad to pick something fun to do. I did start a thing for my group's inevitable holiday swap. If there ends up being a theme...oh well, I guess. I'll have a holiday item.

This was also a prompt that I changed, because it was too similar to a possible theme week that I want to do, so I picked another favorite niche sub-genre.

Day 15: Weird Western

Eyes of Fire (1983)

This reminds me of Ravenous (1999), which I'm delighted by.

Oh, they're just drifting then. Huh.

Eyes of Fire (1983) really hammers home the horror of the British flag, doesn't it

Favorite First Watches - February 2022

Eyes of Fire (1983)

Antlers (2021)

Tokyo Godfathers (2003)

Vicious Fun (2020)

Eyes of Fire (1983)

A core tenet of folk horror is the conflict between traditional, often Judeo-Christian, faith with more elemental, pagan beliefs.  The faithful espouse their “truths” while the counter-argument manifests as a more literal, physical rebuttal.  Eyes of Fire melds the traditional type horror with the psychotronic, rendering a supernatural threat in video negative.  The period mixes itself with more psychedelic aesthetics, setting the valley on edge.  While practical effects abound, there’s something to be said for the jarring nature of characters being Chroma-keyed into scenes as tree facades.  It’s Lynchian and surreal, utterly out of sorts with the pre-Revolution American frontier.  And all the better for it.

American imperialism is a key source of horror here.  The fleeing interlopers never should have come here: white feathers mark forbidden places for the indigenous Shawnee people, and early scenes in the valley are bathed in this plumage.  They ignore all the signs.  Mud spirits should be a real signal to GTFO.  Yet they remain, the would-be patriarch claiming he can change this heathen land.  If they’d not ignored the terrifying face trees, maybe this could have all gone better.  But instead, they have to face the gloriously grotesque and terrifying tree witch and her offspring, the embodiment of suffering.  

A rare entry in this type of film, a positive supernatural force exists to counteract the negative.  Leah is an Irish fae in the flesh, experiencing visions and manipulating matter on this mortal plane.  As she comes into her own, she begins to pose a serious threat to the monster haunting this satanic valley, drawing in her flock.  Sure, it’s an excuse to get a few extra tiddie shots.  But it’s also a fascinating way to interrogate good as well as evil.  She may seem imbalanced at first, but she does more to help her community than the shitty-wigged pastor who stole everything at the start.

THE RULES

SIP

Voiceover narration begins.

Mobs with at least one torch.

Hanging is mentioned.

Faces in trees.

BIG DRINK

White feathers in a scene.

Someone displays telekinetic powers.

Creepy yellow eyes.

After School Ghost Theory 101 with Professor Fenton

Switch to light mode or Classic Blue to get the full transparency effect!

[Image ID: A four page comic that starts with Danny Fenton standing in front of a whiteboard holding up a white cat. "Question: Do ghosts purr?” 

Tucker: “Danny when was the last time you slept?” Danny: “Irrelevant.” 

Danny info-dumps: “The answer is yes, but also no. Technically, all beings that possess a core are constantly "purring", a.k.a. Core Vibrations. Core Vibrations are a nonverbal, emotion-based communication system between Ghosts, similar to how some living species use pheromones to communicate. The exact tone of each ghost is different the same way people's voices are different. Humans can only hear these vibrations when the frequency passes through their audible range (20Hz - 20KHz), hence the 'purring' sound. When the range dips into infrasound (16 - 20Hz) it can cause feelings of fear and unease in humans that they often associate with ghosts and the supernatural. Also known as the ‘Heebie Jeebies.’”

Danny, wiping off the whiteboard: “Any questions before we move on?"

Danny’s audience consists of Wes Weston, Tucker Foley, Sam Manson, Danny’s clone Ellie, and Dash Baxter in a classroom. Wes is seated at a desk at the front taking notes. Tucker is sitting on Sam’s lap playing on a Switch, Ellie is sitting on a desk behind them. Dash is asleep at the back of the room.

Ellie, now holding the cat: “Is this Vlad’s first cat!?” Wes: "Could you tone down the floating eyes before the next part? They're kinda distracting." Danny: "What eyes?" Wes: “Please stop gaslighting me.”

A transparency trick on the last page reveals dark shadows and eyes all around Danny when viewed in dark mode. /.End ID]

An Extended Image ID is available under the read more because it’s over 1k. Side by side light and dark mode versions of the transparency trick is also available under the cut.

[Extended Image ID: The post contains a four page comic. The first page shows two comic panels with white borders. The top panel features a bedraggled looking Danny Fenton from the waist up holding a disgruntled fluffy white cat. There are bags under his eyes, his hair is messy, his arms are covered in bandaids and cat scratches, and his nails are painted black. He’s wearing a white shirt with red sleeves and a red oval on the front. In a large green text bubble he says “Question: Do ghosts purr?” A small orange text bubble under it asks “Danny when was the last time you slept?” “Irrelevant” Danny replies. 

In the bottom panel Danny is standing on the far left side of the panel in front of a whiteboard in a classroom with the cat under his arm. He’s wearing baggy jeans with holes in the knees and his classic white and red Converse shoes. The whiteboard behind him has partially erased doodles around the edges including some flowers, stars, and Phantom’s DP symbol. There are a few balls of paper on the floor. Partially out of frame on the wall behind Danny is a poster of  Einstein and above it a clock. Pointing at the whiteboard with a marker Danny says “The answer: Yes but also no” His words are written on the whiteboard. Under the words is a drawing of a stick figure and a green bedsheet ghost with a circle between them. The circle is surrounded by green squiggly lines radiating out from it. Under the circle, an arrow is drawn pointing to it with the words ‘core vibrations’ written on the board. A green text bubble in the space under the whiteboard says “Technically, all beings that possess a core are constantly "purring", a.k.a. Core Vibrations.”

On the second page there are two blocks of text, each followed by a drawing. The page background is a pale, greenish-grey with subtle scuff marks imitating the look of a whiteboard. The first block of text at the top of the page reads “Core Vibrations are a nonverbal, emotion-based communication system between Ghosts, similar to how some living species use pheromones to communicate. The exact tone of each ghost is different the same way people's voices are different.” Under the text, imitating the look of dry erase marker, is a drawing of two simple ghosts smiling and waving to each other. They both have a small green circle drawn on their chest area with green squiggly lines radiating out from each ghost. Between the two cores, two parallel arrows are drawn, facing opposite directions. Under the arrows is the text “core to core communication.” 

Under the ghosts is a second block of text reading “Humans can only hear these vibrations when the frequency passes through their audible range (20Hz - 20KHz), hence the 'purring' sound. When the range dips into infrasound (16 - 20Hz) it can cause feelings of fear and unease in humans that they often associate with ghosts and the supernatural. Also known as the ‘Heebie Jeebies.’” Under the text a red arrow points from the words ‘heebie jeebies’ to a simple drawing of Dash Baxter holding a flashlight and looking scared. There is a cobweb with a dangling spider drawn to his right and a bunch of green blob ghosts behind him to his left. In blue text the blobs say “you forgot to update your mailing address with the IRS” and “you filed your taxes incorrectly.”

The third page once again shows two comic panels. In the top panel Danny takes up the centre. He’s stretched across the whiteboard in a dynamic pose erasing the drawing of frightened Dash with a big swipe. One hand is braced on the board as he looks over his shoulder and asks “Anyone got questions before we move on?” If the image is viewed in dark mode, there are five, messily drawn eyes of varying sizes surrounding Danny. If viewed in light mode, the eyes are absent. 

The bottom comic panel reveals Danny’s audience to be Wes Weston, Tucker Foley, Sam Manson, Danny’s clone Ellie, and Dash Baxter. In the bottom left corner, Wes sits slouched at a desk at the front of the classroom with papers and an open notebook spread out over his desk. He’s wearing a red zip up hoodie with white sleeves. His hoodie is unzipped showing a green shirt underneath that matches the colour of his eyes. At the desk beside him Tucker and Sam share a chair with their focus on Tucker’s Switch and not Danny’s presentation. Tucker is sitting in Sam’s lap with her arms around his waist and her head resting on his shoulder. Tucker is wearing a red beanie with short dreads, goldenrod yellow turtleneck sweater, green cargo pants, and white shoes. Sam is wearing a black crop top with a fishnet layer over top, purple pleated plaid skirt, artistically ripped purple leggings, and black combat boots with bright green laces. Tucker has the tips of his dread dyed green and purple. Sam has streaks of purple, green, and orange in her hair. Ellie is sitting cross legged on top of a desk two rows behind Sam and Tucker. She’s wearing a cropped hoodie with the same colours as Danny’s shirt and black track pants with white and red shoes. Her hair is tied in a high ponytail and she is holding the squirming fluffy white cat up in the air. At the very back of the classroom behind Wes’ left shoulder Dash can be seen asleep slouched over his desk. Wes has one hand resting on his desk holding a mechanical pencil the other partially raised with his hand open. In a beige text bubble with red text he replies to Danny’s question with an unimpressed look on his face “Could you tone down the floating eyes before the next part? They're kinda distracting.” Under his text bubble a small blue text bubble from Ellie asks “Is this Vlad’s first cat!?” If the image is viewed in dark mode, there are three visible floating eyes off to the side of the panel. If viewed in light mode, the eyes are absent. 

The final comic page is a single, full body shot of Danny standing in front of the blank whiteboard. He’s looking over his shoulder, slightly turned with his back mostly towards the classroom and the eraser in his hand. He has an incredulous look on his face. If the page is viewed in dark mode, the background looks dark and Danny is surrounded by dozens eyes of in all different sizes. If viewed in light mode, the eyes are absent. In a green text bubble Danny asks “What eyes?” In the bottom left corner Wes replies “Please stop gaslighting me.” /.End ID]

The products of trying to recreate what was going on outside the frame during the kiss. (for ENTIRELY SCIENTIFIC purposes)

@actual-changeling altered my whole outlook on life with this post about Aziraphale's left hand (I'd only been looking at his right hand) and I couldn't stop thinking about it, so I painted the rest of the fucking owl (and his bf).

so normal about this

Eyes of Fire, 1983, dir. Avery Crounse