John Carpenter's Cigarette Burns

This is what John Carpenter needed after Escape from L. A. He didn't need to keep trying to make big films after his largest production bombed critically and commercially. He didn't need to try and keep making action films into his 60s. He needed to pull back and find the kind of filmmaking language that he started with, crafting a more focused and less ambitiously scoped story on a smaller scale, and the Masters of Horror television show on Showtime seems like it was a good place for him to land. The script by Drew McWeeny and Rebecca Swan, squeezing what could easily have been a short feature film into fifty minutes, provides that kind of canvas Carpenter needed to possibly reinvigorate himself creatively.

Kirby Sweetman (Norman Reedus) is the owner of a small independent theater who has a side gig of tracking down hard to find film prints for independent collectors. He arrives one night at the home of Mr. Bellinger (Udo Kier) who invites him to find La Fin Absolue du Monde, a film of almost mythic proportions that there are questions about whether it exists at all. It was shown publicly only once, and the screening ending in violence within the crowd. With a promise of $200,000, Sweetman accepts the job. The only real issue with this opening is that it is just a mountain of exposition all delivered really quickly and purely through dialogue.

Another small issue with the movie's opening minutes is that the character introduction of Kirby actually comes after the plot introduction. All we learn about him in the opening scene is part of his profession (tracking down prints), but his past is completely unexplained. However, immediately after this scene with Mr. Bellinger we do get that introduction, and it's kind of weirdly delivered. Kirby was married to the daughter of a rich man, and they were both druggies. In an effort to straighten both Kirby and his daughter out, the father gave Kirby $200,000 to buy the theater, but the daughter ended up committing suicide anyway. Told in fractured moments as brief flashbacks, the information does get laid out, but it's just kind of weirdly delivered.

The movie picks up when Kirby flies to Paris to begin his search. The horror elements up to this moment had been an overall sense of mood that things weren't really right, highlighted by the moment Mr. Bellinger shows his angelic prisoner with obvious stumps where the wings he has on display in his office were once attached. The sense of unease heightens with the first appearance of the titular cigarette burns. On film prints, there are small circles in the upper right corner at two points near the end of every reel to help the projectionist time the switch from one reel to the next (usually done with dual projectors side by side, turning one on and the other off at the same time). The movie's rumored power begins manifesting in the form of cigarette burns that Kirby sees in his day to day life, combined with images of his past centered on his dead wife, and it's where the movie's horror elements really begin to ramp up.

Kirby's search takes him to an archivist in Paris who seems to have some knowledge of La Fin Absolue du Monde, but he's unwilling to speak much beyond vagaries. When Kirby wrings the next steps out of him, Kirby heads to the French countryside to meet some shady guys with connections to the estate of the film's director, Hans Backovic. Thing get weirder with a kidnapping and a mysterious escape that leads Kirby to British Columbia where Hans' widow, Katja, lives.

As the film moved from Canada back to Los Angeles, Kirby having accomplished his mission, I was really grooving with this film. The awkward opening was well behind me, and everything seemed to be coming together into a great, small, and cohesive horror experience. And then the ending, while gruesome and somewhat effective, ended up feeling a bit too pat, and I think that's mostly because of the limited runtime. The part that felt the least natural dealt with Kirby's father-in-law, showing up where he probably shouldn't show up, and the horror of La Fin Absolue du Monde feeling rather generic in nature rather than penetrating to the core of Kirby's character. It's an effective enough ending from a thrills point of view, but the movie seemed to be using the journey as an excuse to dig into this character and his fears. The ending, while using the ephemera of his past, ends up feeling more generic than actually about it, like the movie within the movie is just using the iconography of Kirby's past to attack him instead of finding the things that matter most to him and really tearing him apart from the inside, which seemed to be the implication of the idea of La Fin Absolue du Monde based on all that had been spoken about it.

The episode of television lacks Carpenter's voice, but it is proof positive that he could take a solid script and turn it into a solid piece of cinema. He didn't elevate it, but he did make the most of what was there.

Kirby (Norman Reedus) is an esoteric film fan who runs a revival house and occasional makes an extra buck by tracking down prints for rare films for clients. He is licking the wounds left by the suicide of his junkie girlfriend and trying to pay off her father who gave him cash to open the revival theatre. If things couldn't get any worse his life takes a detour into the surreal when a rich, eccentric buff (the devilish Udo Kier) who wants a particular film. The rare film has the dubious honor of playing once at a festival and seemingly disappearing forever. The one showing however drove the audience to murder. The film's devilish grip changes anyone who even thinks about it let alone sees it.

John Carpenter comes back in full force in this excellent episode of Showtime's 'Masters of Horror' series. Carpenter revisits the territory of the weird that he explored with 'In the Mouth of Madness' and throws in a little Dario Argento to sweeten the deal (the music score done by Carpenter's son Cody screams 'Suspiria') and comes away with one of the best projects he's ever done, certainly the best in years. The acting is top notch with genre fave Kier doing what he does best. I highly recommend 'Cigarette Burns'

The bankrupted owner of the movie theater Vogue, Kirby Sweetman (Norman Reedus), is hired by the eccentric private collector Mr. Bellinger (Udo Kier) to search and find the cursed horror movie "Le Fin Absolue du Monde". This film is considered lost and magic, and has been presented only once in the Sitges Festival, driving the audience insane and violent, causing bloodshed in the theater. The director, crew and everybody involved in its production has also died. Kirby owes US$ 200,000.00 to his father-in-law, who blames Kirby for the death of his daughter Annie (Zara Taylor), and accepts the assignment to pay his debt and for his own satisfaction. Bellinger shows him a souvenir from the film in his basement, a chained angel that had his wings torn off in the movie. Kirby travels to France to meet his contact and has glimpses of his beloved Annie, initiating his journey to hell.

"Cigarette Burns" is the best episode of "Masters of Horror" so far among the ones that I have watched. The dark story slightly recalls in some moments "In the Mouth of Madness", also directed by the awesome John Carpenter, the best director of horror movies that should win an Oscar for his magnificent filmography and contribution to this genre. The uncomfortable and surrealistic story has the atmosphere of a nightmare, with excellent performances, and a great potential of cult-movie. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Pesadelo Mortal" ("Mortal Nightmare")

"Cigarette Burns" is a wonderful tale from John Carpenter that was a delight to watch.

This "Masters of Horror" episode is dark and grim. It's both surreal and frighteningly real, like a bad nightmare. There are images contained in this hour of television that are original and shocking.

Carpenter's touches are filled with a wicked sense of humour. For those cynics who state that this master has lost his earlier powers of film-making, watch this episode! Udo Kier is creepy as hell in this tale and Norman Reedus is gripping as the lead character.

Surprisingly violent and challenging, "Cigarette Burns" is a very strong entry in the "Masters of Horror" series.

A film collector/sleuth accepts an assignment from an eccentric millionaire to locate a notorious film that caused mass hysteria and madness upon it's one and only showing. As he gets nearer to finding it he experiences the film's profound effects and the horror it possesses.

A good and original horror story gets supreme treatment from a master horror director. Striking images (one in particular) fuel this intriguing story which builds good momentum and climaxes in a very satisfying and bloody way. People have noted the similarities between this film and Carpenter's earlier In the Mouth of Madness but when all is said and done this is pretty effective stuff and handled beautifully by Carpenter. One scene is as gruesome as they come and I'm amazed it wasn't edited out since this is a TV movie. It could easily be stretched out for feature length and that's maybe it's only problem; it unveils too fast.

Although not written by Carpenter this still feels and looks like a film made by him. Highly recommended.