Cigarette Burns
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"Cigarette Burns" | |
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Masters of Horror episode | |
Episode no. | Season 1 Episode 8 |
Directed by | John Carpenter |
Written by | Drew McWeeny Rebecca Swan |
Featured music | Cody Carpenter (composer) |
Production code | 108 |
Original air date | December 16, 2005 |
Guest appearances | |
Udo Kier Christopher Redman Norman Reedus Gwynyth Walsh | |
"Cigarette Burns" is the eighth episode of the first season of Masters of Horror. It originally aired in North America on December 16, 2005.
Synopsis
Deeply in debt to his dead wife's father, rare-films dealer Kirby Sweetman (Norman Reedus) has less than a month to produce $200,000 to save his small theater. An old cinephile, Mr. Bellinger (Udo Kier), hires him to find the sole print of a rare 30-year-old film titled La Fin Absolue du Monde (French: The Absolute End of the World). The film supposedly sparked a homicidal riot during its premiere, after which it was destroyed.
Bellinger leads Sweetman to a hidden room in his mansion, which contains an
Sweetman listens to the tape and
Sweetman tracks down and speaks with Katja (Gwynyth Walsh). She gives Sweetman the only remaining copy of the film. When he asks how the director died, Katja reveals that he died in an attempted murder-suicide that she survived. Sweetman brings the film to Bellinger and collects his payment. Bellinger sees the angel's mutilation in the film. Sweetman learns that his father-in-law has locked the theater despite saying he has two weeks to pay off his debt. He receives a phone call from a distraught Bellinger and returns to the mansion. There, Sweetman sees Bellinger's butler gouges his own eyes out after watching the film. Inside the projection room, Bellinger loads his own intestines into the reels of another projector.
Sweetman's father-in-law, who tracked him to the mansion, pulls a gun and threatens to kill Sweetman. As they struggle, they hallucinate a cue mark, which envelops the screen. Sweetman awakens to find both he and his father-in-law watching the movie, both bloody. The butler frees the chained angel. Sweetman's wife appears and bites her father's neck which turns out to be a hallucination. Sweetman decides that he and his father-in-law both have to die because neither can truly let her go as long as they are alive. Sweetman brutally kills his father-in-law and commits suicide.
The angel takes the two film reels, walks into the theater, looks at Sweetman's bloody corpse, and says, "Thank you for this," indicating the film reels, before leaving.
Home media
The DVD was released by
Reception
Nich Schager of Slant Magazine wrote that the film lacks Carpenters "trademark cinemascope cinematography" and is too overt, but it is "something of an atmospheric semi-return to form".[2] Steve Barton of Dread Central rated it 5/5 stars and called it "vintage Carpenter": "gory, disturbing, and at times beautiful to look at".[3] Michael Drucker of IGN rated it 8/10 stars and described it as "fun, exciting, and horrifying", though he criticized the scenes of La Fin Absolue du Monde as poorly done.[4] Ian Jane of DVD Talk rated it 3/5 stars and concluded that it is a "nice return to form from Carpenter that, despite some flaws, makes for an unsettling and atmospheric viewing".[5]
See also
References
- ^ "Masters of Horror: Cigarette Burns (Television) - Dread Central". Dread Central. 2005-12-08. Retrieved 2016-06-02.
- ^ Schager, Nick (2006-01-28). "Review: Masters of Horror: Season One". Slant Magazine. Retrieved 2019-04-11.
- ^ Barton, Steve (2006-03-10). "Masters of Horror: Cigarette Burns (DVD)". Dread Central. Retrieved 2019-04-11.
- ^ Drucker, Michael (2006-04-03). "The Masters of Horror: Cigarette Burns". IGN. Retrieved 2019-04-11.
- ^ Jane, Ian (2006-03-28). "Masters of Horror - John Carpenter - Cigarette Burns". DVD Talk. Retrieved 2019-04-11.
External links
- "Cigarette Burns" at IMDb