"Masters of Horror - Cigarette Burns" - A Review

A revival house movie owner is in debt up to his eyeballs. He tries to earn money by acquiring a variety of movie memorabilia for collectors. His latest client wants him to find La Fin Absolute du Monde/The Absolute End of the World. A movie that, when screened, caused it's audience to rise up in a murderous riot. One that has some connection to a person who seems to be an angel with his wings cut off.

"Masters of Horror" is a Showtime's series. Each episode is a short movie filmed by an acknowledged Master of Horror. I have seen exactly one episode so far, though I have taped several. Don't ask me why that is; it just is.

"Cigarette Burns" is John Carpenter's entry in the series, although you really couldn't tell by watching it. The score is Carpenteresque, but everything else seems workman-like, as if his heart wasn't into it. Most strange, but that's not too much of a problem. Carpenter at his worst is still worth watching.

The real problem is with the story itself. Now I adore the premise to death and I will honestly say I grooved through the show. Two good jumps and a few serious squeamish moments with some of the gore. Thought about recommending it to my dad. It was only later, after I thought about it for a while, that I started to have problems with the show.

We'll do this by point. I'll try not to go into too much spoilers, but some can't be helped.

• One of the biggest flaws of the episode is that we see some of La Fin... Nice long sequences. And for a film that is supposed to inspire riots and madness... It just doesn't. Now granted there is a real and definite reason why the film does what it does, I think never seeing the movie would have been ever so much better.
• There is a mention, early in the episode, of the client allowing the protagonist to show the film at his theater. I had expected that would be where the episode was headed. Instead, it ends with a confrontation between the protagonist and a character seen only twice before and, as far as I could see, no reason for anyone to care about his fate one way or another.
• It never really answers the question: why was La Fin... made. Oh, it tells why the director wanted to make it, but it hints at a greater evil backing the project. Why do they (he?) do this? Not to show the film, by all appearances. It all seems so... lackadaisical. Especially for such a destructive film.
  
• There is a certain sense that this is was a larger script paired down to fit the format. Which might explain the end.
• Much is made about how La Fin... changes the seeker. And yet the protagonist doesn't seem that different from beginning to end.

That's about enough of that. Bottom line is that I really can't say I liked the end result. Others might see things a bit differently.