John Carpenter's Cigarette Burns

A television movie filmed as part of the Masters of Horror series, CIGARETTE BURNS is just under an hour in length and nevertheless achieves the same effect as a full-blown, feature-length movie. The short running time means that the pacing is nice and fast, and what plays out is a story that may be a little predictable (the idea of an 'evil' film has been done in the likes of the Ramsey Campbell novel, ANCIENT IMAGES) but is nonetheless handled very well indeed. This is horror at its most chilling: a nice combination of subtle chills with in-your-face shocking gore. And of course, most of the impact has to do with director John Carpenter, the man who brought us classics like HALLOWEEN and THE THING, and more recently trash like the bomb that was GHOSTS OF MARS.

On the strength of CIGARETTE BURNS, Carpenter's back. His direction is focused and assured, and there's only one time when his work feels false: there's a scene that rips off HOSTEL quite obviously, but Carpenter's in-your-face direction means that it's still powerful and shocking. For a television movie, the cast is fantastic. Norman Reedus plays a character who is a far cry from the nerdy geek he was in BLADE II; he's intense, multi-layered and fine. Udo Kier has a great little cameo and makes a memorable departure. The supporting players are great, and everyone seems to give a powerful, vivid turn. Special mention has to go to Douglas Arthurs and Colin Foo; they've both got small parts, but they're equally terrifying in their own way.

The focus is on a film-within-a-film here and there are plenty of nods for fans, including references to Dario Argento and the like. The glimpses of the 'evil' film that we see are intensely disturbing and not for the faint-hearted. Neither is the bloodshed, which includes a very realistic decapitation and a bit with a projector which is very nasty. The climax is well-achieved and the film as a whole is an effective piece of work. I especially liked Carpenter's traditional, simplistic synthesiser work; the score here is one of the best things in the film, adding a subtle layer of dread and foreboding to the proceedings. Good work!

Cigarette Burns is one of the more entertainingly shocking little horror films I've seen in a while. It's only an hour long, but it still kind of sits well in that area between a short film and a 'real' feature-length film. If anything a story like this could be made into a slightly longer film (whether it would be better or give more chances for fright I don't know). But for TV it's pretty amazing stuff, mostly as it builds and builds in the climax. What was interesting too was watching the DVD extras and seeing Carpenter's own view on some of the film's clichéd sayings about how 'film can change you', which even he admits is BS. To him, the whole Le Fin Absolue du Monde part of the story could be anything supernatural (and its practically a retread of similar material from In the Mouth of Madness) or anything that keeps the plot moving along. It's a MacGuffin that does have a need to actually be seen by the audience- if not the audience's in the film then us watching at home- but when it is it's genuinely creative in an ironic way.

Norman Reedus proves he can act with a good script and defined character as a theater owner and rare-film buff who meets up with a spooky collector (Udo Kier as usual quite creepy and darkly funny in equal measure) who wants him to track down the obscure French film titled The Absolute End of the World, which only screened once to a violent crowd. But right off the bat things don't seem right as Kier's character keeps a living 'Angel' from the film's production with its wings clipped off. As Reedus goes deeper into the search, he then starts to realize its effect as it stirs up old rotten memories into his consciousness. Carpenter deals with the dialog scenes really quite well, and it's refreshing to see him direct more realistic scenes here and there as opposed to his recent films where style and flash trumps the words. And there really can't be enough said about Gregory Nicotero's make-up, which is there at best to totally supply Carpenter with what he needs to work off his visual scares.

And towards the end, as Kier finally gets a print of the film in his possession, it really is some of the more freaky, bloody, and unexpected scenes in a Carpenter work I've seen since the Thing just for sheer visceral impact. Without giving away too much, it does kind of border on the obvious of what might occur with some of the characters. But the way the actors pull it off corresponds well with how the 'MacGuffin' is finally shown, as a rip-off on pretentious violent art-film tripe that had me grinning as I cringed. Cigarette Burns is a successful little pot-boiler that probably might work better for Carpenter fans and those who find 'cult films' fascinating as the subject matter.

Several years ago I read a quote by Carpenter where he said that he did not understand how a film like " The Ring" can be considered to be a true horror film. I think that this short certainly backs up his vision of horror and I must agree. "Burns" is a cross between the aforementioned "The Ring" and 1 of Carpenter's best works in recent years..."In the Mouth of Madness". Carpenter's horror is not suggestive, it is in your face. A true non-conformist, he is amongst my favorite filmmakers and in a time when being PC has brought us to new levels of bland. Carpenter is the one filmmaker that will give his unabated opinion on the state of film without it having to go through a publicist first. Like his movies or not, he is an original American talent. And for the record, his 1982 remake of "The Thing" goes down as one of the underrated horror films of all time. As a remake, it is one of the best that has ever been done in the genre, that is something that these director's of 70's remakes i.e ..Hills, Massacre, Omen....can learn from. If you are going to do a remake...REMAKE IT..not copy it! Kudos to Mr. Carpenter.

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'

This is the first "Masters of Horror" episode that I've watched and I thought it was a fairly cool and creepy little story. It reminded me of The Ninth Gate, only this time, instead of books, the search was for a very rare movie called La Fin Absolue Du Monde, or The Absolute End of the World. The movie was said to be so powerful, so evil, that anyone who watched it turned violently insane. The man who wants this notorious film is played by Udo Kier, who is always fun to watch and has great expressions. The rest of the cast is adequate and Carpenter's direction is mostly solid, though it doesn't really feel like a Carpenter picture. His son, Cody, composed the music, which fit the short quite well; it was like the Halloween theme with a touch of Goblin.

Cigarette Burns was a TV production and unfortunately, it felt like one. I think it would've been better suited as a full length feature, where the characterization and plot could be fleshed out further and fine tuned, instead of trying to cram everything into under an hour. Still, it was an admirable effort and the material is definitely interesting (I especially liked the angel subplot). And with the gore, crazy scenes, and several nods to horror fans, collectors, and cinema itself, Cigarette Burns turned out to be a pretty entertaining little picture.

The DVD has many extras (and Easter Eggs), including a commentary with the director and one with the writers. Carpenter's has a few fun moments but going by it and his interviews on the disc, he just doesn't seem to care much anymore. The writers, Scott Swan and Drew McWeeny (McWeeny…hehe), were a lot more excited and hopefully we'll see good things from them in the future. I see they're currently writing the script for the remake of Race with the Devil.