Oh…my…God. Woah, what a seriously messed up piece of work this is. This episode of MASTERS OF HORROR is directed by John Carpenter, who doesn’t hold much back. After a few episodes of relatively light fun, CIGARETTE BURNS represents a return to nasty horror established by the very first episode of the series. While it doesn’t hold together quite as well, it more than satisfies the desires of anyone looking for some real gore. In fact, it goes beyond, leaving a disturbing and dank taste in the viewer’s mouth. This isn’t perfect, but it’s real horror.
The episode
represents ground visited by Carpenter in his overlooked IN THE MOUTH OF
MADNESS, in the sense that it involves the impact a piece of art has on its
audience. Here, the art in question is
a film entitled LA FIN ABSOLUTE DU MONDE (The Absolute End of the World). We discover the strange history of this film
when a guy named Kirby (Norman Reedus) is summoned by an eccentric millionare
named Bellinger (the wonderful Udo Kier). Bellinger is a disturbed guy who will pay any price to track down a copy
of the infamous film. Why is it
infamous? Well, when it was first
screened, it led to serious violence among its viewers. It was then lost for good. Or was it?
Kirby has his own
issues – a junkie girlfriend dead by suicide, in debt over his head to the late
girlfriend’s dad, and a failing movie theater. So clearly, he takes Bellinger up on his offer. Before long, he’s in upstate New York,
France, then Canada, on his worldwide journey to track down the LA FIN ABSOLUTE
DU MONDE. Almost as soon as his travels
begin, Kirby starts seeing strange visions – visions sparked by a “cigarette
burn” (those little spots in the upper-right corner of the film screen). It’s clear early on that even looking for
this movie can mess a guy up.
Speaking of messed
up, the episode hits its gory stride when Kirby has an encounter with a sick
French filmmaker inspired by the film in question. The nasty French-man takes his reality movie-making to extremes,
with a quick chop of a machete to a woman’s neck. Kudos to the make-up artists, because this scene is just flat-out
nasty and horribly realistic. I was
genuinely stunned by the explicitness of the gore, but I had more in store.
Kirby ultimately
(of course) tracks down the film and brings it back to Bellinger. The last ten minutes of the episode are
alternately unbelievably nasty, while a tad disappointing. What we want to see most is the film
they’ve been talking about the whole time. We get some glimpses of it, but those are mostly random RING-style
shots. Nothing particularly terrifying,
and I realized at that point Carpenter would have been better off not showing
us the movie at all. But what ISN’T
disappointing is the all out frenzy of nastiness that wrap up the film. Carpenter lets fly with a series of
unforgettable images, most of which I won’t reveal in order to “treat” you to
the surprises in store.
The episode doesn’t
always hold together as tightly as I’d like and there are slower gaps between
the sudden violent moments. But I was
intrigued by the premise and there’s no way I can say that it lacked
horror. In fact, even as seasoned a
horror-viewer as myself could not help but feel a little sick to my stomach at
some of the effects employed by Carpenter. CIGARETTE BURNS takes MASTERS OF HORROR up a notch. It’s genuinely freaky, and utterly horrific. It’s a must-see.
RATING: *** (out of four)
Iwatched " la fin absolute du monde " last night and today found this web site. my wife and i have been horror movie fans forever, so i will be a frequent visitor. Bob Martin
Posted by: Bob Martin | December 26, 2005 at 03:16 PM
Nice little review here! I'm a big fan of Carpenter and I recently picked up "In the Mouth of Madness" and even though it seems both that and "Cigarette Burns" films are cut from the same cloth, I still really want to see the master get back to work! I'l be visiting this site more regularly. If you want to check out my blog site also, it's http://mrparker.blog-city.com, not that it's necessarily horror related but I think it's pretty funny and horrific in some spots.
Posted by: Terrence | December 27, 2005 at 02:47 PM
Interesting review. I've done an analysis of Masters of Horror, with a focus on Jenifer and Cigarette Burns, here, and why I was disappointed with both.
Posted by: Martin Wagner | January 02, 2006 at 08:55 PM
This episode was stunningly awesome. This is the best horror ive seen since..4th grade! So, its been 3-4 years since ive seen a good horror film. (Well...its not really a film but yeah..)
Posted by: Z.S | February 11, 2006 at 04:06 PM
Hey my name is Tom and I am from England. I just watched Cigarette Burns and found it to be very intense. I particularily admired the eerie angel with his wings removed. I thought it was very atmospheric.
Posted by: Tom | March 03, 2006 at 08:18 PM
Hey Tom, thanks for stopping by. It was indeed very intense - much more so than a lot of horror we see today. It didn't rely on "boo" scares, but on creating a dark and intense atmosphere and then taking the violence to the next level. Unusual, really, because Carpenter is normally not the goriest guy in the biz.
Posted by: Dan | March 04, 2006 at 02:27 PM
desde Argentina, hemos visto la pelíkula en el festival de Cine Independiente de Buenos Aires, me pareció de las mejores ke vi.
Exelente historia, perfektamente kontada i mui bien desarrollada.
Un film imposible de perderse!!!
saludos y gracias por el espacio!
L. R. A.
Posted by: Lucas Ramiro | May 09, 2006 at 12:30 AM
Hi.
I was just wondering :)
does this film exist in real world??
:La Fin Absolute Du Monde:
If it does... hmm where can i find any info about it :)
mail me plz if You know anything
Posted by: noizo | May 18, 2006 at 09:23 AM
tengo una pregunta la palicula si existe o es pura ficcion me interesaria saber para obtener una copia
Posted by: heather | May 20, 2006 at 11:26 AM
Noizo, sadly it is purely a fictional film and does not exist in reality.
Posted by: Dan | May 22, 2006 at 12:26 PM
John Carpenter's Cigarette Burns inspired me to make an experimental short film. I studied different techniques of influencing the human mind and attempted to implement them into a story. Art can be presented in the form of a product, or it can be used as a tool to promote different products, people, and ideas. Art can be seen as a tool for manipulation of the mind, the same way a scalpel is a tool for manipulation of the flesh.
You can watch my short film on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDZBzXa6BUM
or in case you prefer Vimeo:
http://vimeo.com/5145980
Posted by: Sparx | October 14, 2009 at 12:49 AM
It was indeed very intense - much more so than a lot of horror we see today. It didn't rely on "boo" scares, but on creating a dark and intense atmosphere and then taking the violence to the next level.
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