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

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 | Mystery | Romance

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:

Heroin | Suicide | Snuff Film | Slit Wrists | Movie Theatre

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:

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

Company:

IDT Entertainment

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): When Kirby is confronted by Walter about the money he owes, Walter tells Kirby he's got one week to come up with it. Kirby towards the end of the movie gets the money and finds the theater chained up. When on the phone with one of the employees from the theater he says that he was given *two* weeks to get the money.

Movie Connections:

References The Ninth Gate (1999)

The Cursed Movie

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")