Masters of Horror - John Carpenter - Cigarette Burns | 
 enlarge | Director: John Carpenter
Actors: Norman Reedus, Udo Kier, Gary Hetherington, Christopher Britton, Zara Taylor
Studio: Starz / Anchor Bay
Category: DVD
List Price: $14.98
Buy Used: $1.88
You Save: $13.10 (87%)
New (46) Used (38) Collectible (1) from $1.88
Rating:  44 reviews
Sales Rank: 38416
Format: Color, Dolby, Dvd-video, Widescreen, Ntsc
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 59
Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: DV13723
UPC: 013131372397
EAN: 0013131372397
ASIN: B000E5KUME
Theatrical Release Date: December 16, 2005
Release Date: March 28, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
In this episode Jimmy Sweetman ventures out to locate a rare film print called Le Fin Du Monde . The film once shown has been known to drive its audience into a crazed frenzy before the theatre goes up in flames. He finally discovers that the film does live up to it s reputation on the results are quite shocking.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: HORROR UPC: 013131372397 Manufacturer No: DV13723
Amazon.com
John Carpenter's installment in the Masters of Horror cable-TV anthology series looks at the ominous, underground mystique surrounding a notorious 1970s horror classic (now there's something Carpenter should know about). Cigarette Burns tracks the search for said opus, Le Fin Absolue du Monde, by the owner of a repertory theater (Norman Reedus) on behalf of a highly decadent millionaire collector (a role made for Udo Kier). The film, supposedly destroyed after it caused a riot at its only screening, causes viewers to turn into homicidal, cannibalistic maniacs. Even as Reedus gets on the trail of the lone existing print--listening to an interview with the director, looking at production stills--he begins to fall under its supernatural sway. Alas, the same can't be said for Cigarette Burns itself; the stuff about horror aficionados is good, but the production is slapdash, the dialogue stiff, and Reedus's performance incompetent. The basic idea, while a little film-schoolish, has some intrigue, and the notion of a film critic (supposedly a follower of Pauline Kael, no less) driven to write millions of words about this one barely-seen movie is amusingly sinister. --Robert Horton
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| Customer Reviews: Read 39 more reviews...
 Carpenter's A Pale Shadow Of What He Used To Be, But..... October 11, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
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.
 JOHN CARPENTER PROVES HE STILL HAS IT.. October 4, 2008
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
'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!
Creepy, imaginative September 10, 2008
I am a HUGE Carpenter fan. I bought Takashi Miike's episode for "Master's of Horror, "Imprint" for my boyfriend for his birthday (he is a big Miike fan). That is when I first stumbled upon "Master's of Horror". As I began to check out who else had done episodes...I came across "Cigarette Burns" and I knew I had to watch it.
This episode is really something. I did find it a little slow, but very intriguing all the same. It is very creepy, the atmosphere of it, is almost surreal, like a nightmare. We become immersed in this story, we really feel bad for the main character(Kirby), who lost his girlfriend, and is constantly harassed by her father (who obviously blames him for his daughter's death) for the payback of a loan. He is hired by a movie collecter to find a rare print, considered to be lost. The film is "Le Fin Absolue Du Monde". The story goes, at the only showing of the film, the audience was whipped into a homicidal rage. Kirby becomes obsessed with finding it...running into many horrors along the way. The finale is, quite something to behold.
All in all, I'd recommend this for any horror fan.
Yikes! No! Run! Yuck! Stop! August 14, 2008
[review was written for the double feature]
"Cigarette Burns" and
"Dreams In The Witch House"
is a truly great double feature
of mind-numbing horror.
Warning: extremely nasty and creepy.
Do not watch if you are pregnant
or have a weak heart.
These are not sadism or mysteries
masquerading as horror,
but authentic horror, that is,
not only scary, but regarding
things that are out of this world
coming into this world in a most
unfriendly way.
No happy endings here,
other than total gratification
for the horror movie fan.
As of this review,
I have only seen three of the
Masters Of Horror film series,
these two and "the Fair-Haired Child"
(also excellent).
If these films are representative,
then I am greatly looking forward
to seeing the rest of them. I think.
[I'll try "Jenifer" (Dario Argento!) next]
They are not only original and well-plotted,
they are brilliantly implemented as well.
Masters of horror indeed.
This series was a great idea.
The element of competition may have
brought out the best in the participants.
Note Bene: The musical score for both films
are excellent, particularly John Carpenter's
"Cigarette Burns".
"Dreams In The Witch House" is an excellent
adaptation of H.P Lovecraft's universe(s)
by Stuart Gordon (see "Dagon" for another;
you will not be disappointed).
John Carpenter is back! May 30, 2008
Masters of Horror: Cigarette Burns (John Carpenter, 2005)
While it's been twenty years (or more, depending on your perspective) since John Carpenter has made a truly great feature-length film, Showtime's Masters of Horror series gives hard evidence that he hasn't lost an ounce of greatness in the intervening years. "Cigarette Burns", Carpenter's first-season entry in the series, is one of the best episodes I've seen so far.
Kirby Sweetman (The Boondock Saints' Norman Reedus) is the owner of a small revival-house movie theater, and a man who consults with others on finding hard-to-track-down movies. He is approached by a collector, Bellinger (Suspiria's Udo Kier), who wants him to track down a film called Le Fin Absolue du Monde, the only print of which was supposedly destroyed. It's an underground legend; supposedly it had only one screening, and it drove the audience to homicidal violence. To make matters worse, Sweetman has ghosts in his own past, and they're coming back to haunt him in the form of his late girlfriend's father, who loaned him a good amount of money to get his theater off the ground, and wants it back. When Bellinger agrees to pay Sweetman exactly the amount he needs to pay off the father, he's hooked. Unfortunately, the closer he gets to actually finding the film, the more it seems that some things were meant to stay buried...
Reedus and Kier do great work here, and Carpenter is back to the directorial form that produced such films as The Fog and Prince of Darkness, winding things to a supreme intensity and then cutting them open to see how far the blood will fly. And here, it does-- certainly farther than it ever did in any of Carpenter's theatrical releases. But then, the script here is a filmmaker's dream; the whole thing is awash in in-jokes and references, and it deals with finding a lost horror film. From a filmmaker's perspective, how cool can you get? It's obvious everyone involved here had a great deal of fun making this one. Definitely one to track down if you're a Carpenter fan. ****
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