In concept Showtime’s Masters of Horror is a terrific idea; take 13 of today’s best horror movie directors and give them free reign to direct their own stories for this anthology series. In the first season we get fresh work from people like Tobe Hooper, Don Coscarelli, George Romero, Dario Argento, etc. Masters of Horror is great in concept yet wildly uneven. John Carpenter’s Cigarette Burns is my favorite of the 4 I checked out.
In Cigarette Burns the always-creepy Udo Kier (does this guy ever age?), collector of rare film memorabilia, hires Kirby Sweetman to track down a French film called Le Fin Absolue Du Monde (The Absolute End of the World). This is not just any ordinary film, mind you; Kirby is informed that Le Fin Absolue Du Monde was only shown to an audience one time and with disastrous results. The audience devolved into a mob of violent rage. Apparently the film exerts a strange effect on all those who view it.
As Kirby employs some good old-fashioned private dick work he is initially convinced that the film does not exist. His search for the seemingly mythological film takes him on a dark journey, which includes a cast of increasingly creepy characters. As he gets closer to finding the film he begins to experience visions of the titular cigarette burns (for those who are not nerds, cigarette burns are actual burns in the film which signal the projectionist that a reel change is about to occur. I know this because I was a film projectionist in college. Yep, that’s right, while others spent their Friday nights in a stew of sex and drunkenness, yours truly delighted audiences with such fare as The Rocky Horror Picture Show. I digress). Eventually his strange journey leads to the wife of a deceased collector who possessed the only copy of Le Fin Absolue Du Monde. Apparently, he too succumbed to the film’s deadly power. After handing the film over to Udo, Le Fin Absolue Du Monde is screened once again.
As I was watching this film I kept remarking to myself, “Knowing that the film will kill you if you watch it, it’s unrealistic to believe that anyone would.” Then I thought, “Would I watch it?” to which I responded, “Hell yes!" Then I began to think that I needed a script for Seroquel since I was apparently talking to myself a little too much. Anyway, it’s like that videotape from The Ring, you would all totally watch it. Of course you would. Cigarette Burns is a satisfying little story with a few moments of gore (see above photo). And yes we do get to see some glimpses of the creepy movie. Worth your time.
9 comments:
Those pictures of the skinny man look creepy enough! What's the deal with the Masters of Horror series as far as packaging? Do you purchase 1 box set or are they sold individually?
Ugh, don't even get me started! Rather than packaging the 13 episodes of the series together, they ream the consumer by selling each one separately with "added" features (translation = crap). It would be like selling individual episodes of LOST.
Season 2 of Masters of Horror is now airing. Thank goodness for Netflix and the ability to copy DVDs.
You know, I might watch the movie or videotape that'll kill the viewer, or I might let one of my spectacle-hungry friends do it first and see what happens.
I'll just yell in from the kitchen "I'm still buttering the popcorn, you guys start without me."
Hey, I remember you saying that when I watched The Ring tape. I never did see any popcorn.
What's even weirder, when I took pictures of the popcorn later, it was all distorted.
it's kind of like how people say they'd smoke crack, but only when it was assured that they'd die within the next day or so. after all, you want every singe second.
also, am i the only one that chuckled at the phrase "private dick work" ?
You're the only one who's admitting it.
I giggled like a school girl when I wrote it.
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