"Masters of Horror" John Carpenter's Cigarette Burns (2005)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

Director:

John Carpenter

Writers:

Drew McWeeny (writer) &
Scott Swan (writer) ...

TV Series:

"Masters of Horror" (2005)

Original Air Date:

November 2005 (Season 1, Episode 8)

Genre:

Horror

Plot:

With a torrid past that haunts him, a movie-theater director is hired to hunt for the only known print of a film so notorious that its single screening caused the viewers to become homicidally insane.

Plot Keywords:

Collector | Regret | Snuff Film | Shot Through The Mouth | Beaten To Death

Cast

Norman Reedus	...	Kirby
Udo Kier	...	Bellinger
Gary Hetherington	...	Walter
Christopher Britton	...	Meyers (as Chris Britton)
Zara Taylor	...	Annie
Chris Gauthier	...	Timpson (as Christopher Gauthier)
Douglas Arthurs	...	Dalibor (as Douglas H. Arthurs)
Colin Foo	...	Fung
Gwynyth Walsh	...	Katja
Christopher Redman	...	Willowy Being
Julius Chapple	...	Henri Cotillard
Taras Kostyuk	...	Kaspar (as Taras)
Brad Kelly	...	Horst
Lynn Wahl	...	Cab Driver
Brahm Taylor	...	Protagonist

Runtime:

59 min | Germany:56 min (cut)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Certification:

Germany:18 (cut) | USA:TV-MA | Argentina:18

Company:

IDT Entertainment

Trivia:

The newspaper columnist lives in a secluded house in Carthage, New York. John Carpenter, who directed the movie, was born in Carthage, New York.

Goofs:

Continuity: Kirby visits Henri Cotillard's office in Paris, France. When Henri asks Kirby for the name of the film he's looking for, he puts his right hand by his computer monitor. In the next shot, Henri's arm is by his side.

Movie Connections:

References The Birds (1963)

Still a master

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.