Leave it to the Director of HALLOWEEN to Create the Most Entertaining Episode in this Uneven Series
Added 10/30/2009
**Contains Spoilers **
The very first installment I saw from the graphic series "Masters of Horror" was John Carpenter's "Cigarette Burns". The story bears a close resemblence to his earlier work "In the Mouth of Madness". A young troubled theatre owner, Kirby Sweetman (Norman Reedus) is summoned by a shady and very rich collector (Udo Kier) to find a mythical film titled "Le Fin Absolue du Monde". According to legend, upon this films very first screening, it caused massive chaos and bloodshed as the theatre patrons went mad and ended up killing each other. The film was supposedly destroyed and everyone involved with the film have since died. Interesting idea. However, there is more. The shady art collector leads our protagonist into a room where a rather peculiar being is chained up. "It" is tall, pasty and appears to have had wings as is evidenced by the scar tissues on it's back. An angel perhaps? This mysterious being informs them that it is connected to this film like "soul to flesh" and if it had been destroyed, it would have known about it. So with this confirmation of the films existance and a very fat paycheck if the film is found, our troubled protagonist sets off to find "Le Fin Absolue du Monde" and the closer he comes to locating it, trouble and murder ensue.
"Cigarette Burns" is, in my opinion, one of the best entries in the entire series. The film offers a lot of suspense and mixes this in with some gruesome gore sequences, especially during the film's climax. I also liked the film's premise and the questions it compels us to ask. Why is this film cursed? What causes the viewer to go mad? Why is everyone terrified of this film? The reasons are slightly addressed and that pale, withdrawn and nonetheless compelling entity chained up within the walls of the collectors opulant mansion holds the answer. Also when some very brief glimpses of the film are displayed, they are so non-sensical and disturbing that you are left wanting to see more of it but Carpenter was smart in giving us only a slight glimpse of the mayhem that is "Le Fin absolue du Monde".
Although Carpenter has tackled this subject matter before, he toned the fantasy element down quite a bit for this entry unlike his even more surrealistic "In the Mouth of Madness" however the fantasy is still there as is the gore. My only complaint lies with one of the performances. The film would have benefitted had a better leading man been cast. Norman Reedus' performance is bland and non convincing. The only time we see some real emotions are during the last few scenes when hell had clearly broken loose but by that time, it is too little too late. Despite this, "Cigarette Burns" remains the most consistantly chilling film of the MOH series. The episodes which followed may be gorier, more outlandish, but only a few were able to achieve what this one did in one short hour and that is deliver a solid story with intriguing elements, interesting characters, well done gore effects, a good pace and offer a satisfying conclusion. Recommended.
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Better Dying Through Cinema...
Added 10/3/2009
CIGARETTE BURNS allows director John Carpenter to re-establish his horror-icon status. This movie is actually frightening and unnerving, a combination that Carpenter has not achieved in quite some time. BURNS has been compared to Polanski's THE NINTH GATE, and while there are certain surface similarities (the quest for a legendary supernatural object of great power), BURNS is far more terrifying. Simply put, this is John Carpenter at his best! Full of mystery, suspense, and gruesome violence, CB takes us into dark, awful places we hope are only fantasy. Yep, Carpenter can still bring the heat and throw a desolating no-hitter...
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Neither Scary Nor Interesting
Added 7/11/2009
Having just finished the movie moments ago, I thought I would write my review. I bought it based on the high recommendations and reviews I saw here on Amazon, but the movie did not live up to my expectations.
Here's the thing- it could have been an awesome, scary movie. It didn't quite make it. Instead we have fake blood, poor acting, cheesy dialog, and we never actually get to see Le Fin de la Monde, the movie that the film is about. I wanted to like it. I thought it was a great premise- the idea that good or evil could actually be captured on film in a life changing way. But the execution was poor and I wasn't convinced. I would actually love to see a remake, longer with more thought put into the story line.
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Carpenter's A Pale Shadow Of What He Used To Be, But.....
Added 10/11/2008
Not bad.
CIGARETTE BURNS tells the story of Kirby Sweetman (Played by Norman Reedus, who is a terrible actor...), a down-on-his-luck movie theater owner who freelances as a procurer of rare film prints. He's hired by a creepy rich guy (The always awesome Udo Kier) to find a copy of "LA FIN ABSOLUE DU MONDE", a lost film that had one official showing in the early 1970's, which ended in the audience erupting into murderous violence. Sweetman tracks the film around the world, encountering various unsavory characters, getting closer and closer to finding the film and unraveling it's mysteries, but if he DOES find the film, will he be getting more than he bargained for?
Is this a return to form for Carpenter, who hasn't done anything worthwhile for almost 20 years? No. Not even close. It's got a GREAT premise, but the execution could have been better. Most of the acting is pure grade-z, the effects are decent, and the direction is competent at best.
The DVD comes packed with extras, which have fairly substantial running times, including a making-of, an interview with Carpenter, one with Reedus, a few commentary tracks, and a great little Carpenter career retrospective that has some cool behind-the-scenes tidbits from HALLOWEEN, THEY LIVE, & THE THING, among others.
The package is nice, too....Cover art by Ashley Wood, and a portrait of Carpenter (That also comes as a trading card inside the box) painted by Caniglia. They even reveal Caniglia's first name! Who knew?
Not a great film, but it's pretty good for TV, and for ten bucks? Not too shabby.
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JOHN CARPENTER PROVES HE STILL HAS IT..
Added 10/4/2008
'Cigarette Burns' is the 8th episode of the first season of the 'Masters of Horror' anthology that ran 2 seasons on Showtime. It was directed by John Carpenter and stars Norman Reedus, Udo Kier, and Christopher Redman.
The story starts off with our protagonist, a rare films dealer Kirby Stweetman(Reedus), arriving at an escentric film collector's home for a job. The film buff, Mr. Ballinger(Kier)wants Kirby to track down the only existing print of a film said to drive its viewers crazy, 'La Fin Absolue De Monde'(the Absolute End of the World). The film's only viewing resulted in extreme violence of viewers and the theater burning down, subsequently only one print is said to be in existance.
Needing money to pay off his ex-father-in-law for fronting the money to open his movie theater, he takes the job. Investingating the film, he starts experiencing increasingly bizarre and frightening hallucinations. As he gets closer to the film, He decends into madness as he learns that a true evil was committed while making the film.
This is a shorter, gorier, faster paced 'In The Mouth of Madness'. Much like that film, this movie explores the relationship between reality and fantacy, and the line between sane and insane. In addition, this movie also explores the limit on what can be considered 'art'.
Being a 1 hour story, the plot moves fast but Carpenter fills in things well. One thing I noticed is that a major plot point, the 'evil' committed on the film, is only veguely touched upon. It doesn't create any plot holes per say, but that 'angle' is very 'deep' and left to us to think about.
The acting and dialoge is realistic and passionate. The actors are fairly obscure and the unfamiliar faces brings a false sence of realism. There's an escalating tension that is conveyed by the acting. This film has a fairly minimalist cast, with the bulk of actors making short apperances.
The editing is great, and an important part of the story. This is a 1 hour film, so it's a sharp balance of realistically setting up the story and characters while keeping it moving. Carpenter does this while keeping the suspence and tension moving at an escalating pace. There are small jump cuts that bring a slightly dis-jointed feel to the film. In the latter part of the movie we see clips of 'Absolue'; it seems like a gorier, more violent version of what was seen on the video-tape in 'The Ring'(Ringu).
The cinematography is sharp and very dark. The dark 'feel' of the film represents the mood of the characters, and the movie('Absolue..'); 'Absolue' is pure evil in print and the the cinematography helps sell that mood. The blood and gore really, really pops and is quite vivid.
The score is barely there and only used at ceratian times to compliment a scene to a creepy effect.
The gore will have you cringing!! As Kirby gets closer to the film, bad things start happening and things get quite bloody. The gore and violence(and it gets crazy)is more than an effect, it also serves to question why some like violence as entertainment, and why it's a part of most cultures.
As with 'ITMOM' one can see the similarity to Lovecraft(a protagonist searching for 'forbidden' knowlege is driven insane as he approaches the truth), and questions concepts of reality. Overall, this is a great flick, but it did leave me thinking, about the story, and weather that was supposed to be the desired result, This has only added to the re-watch factor.
This is also my personal favorite of the first season, I would only recommend getting the entire series if you like the many different styles of horror. If you're picky, research on the individual movies is needed.
If you like trippy, psychological stuff with shocking gore, don't hesitate to check this out!
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