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28 out of 35 people found the following comment useful :-
A rarity of originality, has to be seen to be believed, 8 July 2006
10/10
Author: Stephen Kyle from United States

Wow. I was not ready for what this compact hour contained. So much more imaginatively written and better directed and acted than any crap that has passed for horror in the past 30 years.

I have seen most of J. Carpenter's films, some I like, some I don't. But with this piece he has surpassed not only himself but most horror films made either for theaters or TV.

It is hard to write about and describe because it is best to not give away too much, other than the premise involves a rare film that was shown only once, and it caused a riot to erupt in the theater, with deaths involved. The protagonist is hired to find the only known remaining print of the film, and finds himself drawn into something that was much more than he bargained for. Is there something supernatural involved? Does the film drive people insane? How can this be?

In some respects, there are more questions at the the end that remain unanswered. But, as with the best films, that's the way it should be; it stays with you, haunts you, and nags at your brain -- just like the legendary film within the film, "Le Fin Absolue du Monde."

Totally stunning, horrifying and awe-inspiring. A day later, I still can't shake it from my mind.

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16 out of 18 people found the following comment useful :-
The Cursed Movie, 8 June 2007
8/10
Author: Claudio Carvalho from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

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")

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18 out of 22 people found the following comment useful :-
Classic Carpenter - dark and suspense-filled, 6 November 2006
Author: DVD_Connoisseur from England

"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.

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17 out of 21 people found the following comment useful :-
it works because of Carpenter's faith- and tricks- with the material, 21 July 2006
9/10
Author: MisterWhiplash from United States

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.

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14 out of 17 people found the following comment useful :-
Carpenter sets the bar for Masters of Horror., 9 July 2006
10/10
Author: Hands_of_Fate from United States

I have no idea why I waited so long to purchase this DVD. Its an extremely worthy buy, with a lot of cool extras. As for the film, I couldn't be happier with it. Carpenter has truly returned to form here, and hes more cynical than ever.

They picked a great lead in Norman Reedus, an actor of whom I would never have thought to cast. He impressed me with how he approached the character. The violence is particularly brutal for a Carpenter film, but its by no means over the top. The final twenty minutes of this film are exciting, disturbing, and invigorating. I haven't seen horror done this well since.....well since In the Mouth of Madness(1995), which I would consider this to be sort of a follow-up to.

Anyway, Thats my two cents. I'm looking forward to viewing the Landis and Argento episodes as well. If you like horror be sure to buy some of these DVD's so we can give Mick Garris an even greater venue for honoring these under appreciated Masters of Horror. 10/10 BRAVO

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21 out of 31 people found the following comment useful :-
Say this, the man backs up his comments, 30 May 2006
Author: trentj101 from United States

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.

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11 out of 15 people found the following comment useful :-
La Fin Absolue Du Monde...The Absolute End of the World., 30 March 2006
Author: Golgo-13 from The IMDb Horror Board!

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.

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17 out of 28 people found the following comment useful :-
Carpenter's best flick since The Thing, 2 April 2006
Author: Tim Hayes from Perth, Ontario, Canada

First off, I've been a fan of John Carpenter's for a long time. Even when I was a little kid and not really into horror yet, Big Trouble In Little China was one of my favourite movies. While some of his more recent films haven't lived up to the potential of his earliest works, Carpenter seems to have reversed this trend with Cigarette Burns. Hands down this is my favourite episode of Masters Of Horror so far and one of my favourite Carpenter flicks ever. Nearly everything done in this film is spot on. It is disturbing, bleak and nihilistic. Just how we like our horror. No candy coating here thanks. Norman Reedus, who was just great in Boondock Saints, here plays a bankrupt, financially and morally, film collector set to finding a rare film that apparently drove its sole audience crazy with rage. While the film itself would have best been never seen to help give it more of an air of mystery and suspense, everything else about this film is perfectly timed. A must for fans of the series or Carpenter or even horror in general.

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5 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
Still a master, 1 December 2006
8/10
Author: Bjorn (jbjorns) from Iceland

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.

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7 out of 10 people found the following comment useful :-
Cigarette Burns proves that John Carpenter is indeed a Master of Horror, 2 January 2007
10/10
Author: LoneWolfAndCub from Australia

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Cigarette Burns is a truly disturbing entry from John Carpenter (The Thing, Halloween, Christine, The Fog, Assault on Precinct 13). Although it's only one hour in length, it still manages to feel like a normal, feature-length movie. Packed with great performances, an eerie score, vicious gore, perfect direction and an original premise, Cigarette Burns beats almost all modern day horror movies.

After meeting with a collector (Udo Kier), Kirby Sweetman (Norman Reedus) goes on the hunt for "Le Fin Absolue du Monde," the Holy Grail of horror cinema. Although he has heard of the many things that befall anyone that tries to hunt down, Kirby goes after it and ventures into a world of the macabre.

Norman Reedus is truly a good actor. He takes the role of a man with a haunted past and really lets us into him. I came to care for the man, although I knew he was doomed. Udo Kier was extraordinary as the obsessive collector. His character was twisted and Kier really plays it for all he can. Cody Carpenter creates a very moody score that suits the movie perfectly.

But the one thing I need to mention here is the gruesome, disturbing special effects. The last 20 minutes feature some of the most bloody things I've ever seen (eyes gouged out, intestines being reeled through a projector) and "Le Fin Absolue du Monde" is easily the most disturbing "movie in a movie" I've ever seen, it was truly unsettling.

This is easily the best Masters of Horror episode from Season 1 and a brilliant, dark little horror movie.

5/5.

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