Synopsis: An eccentric rich dude (well played by always creepy Udo Kier) hires a movie expert to hunt down the only existing copy of a mysterious film, “Le Fin Absolue du Monde” that supposedly makes anyone who views it go insane or die.
My take: This is the best I’ve seen in the Masters of Horror series thus far, because it is the only one that breaks away from bland, overused horror conventions and does something different. The story is not totally original (a mix of Polanski’s The Ninth Gate, just with the quest for a film instead of a book, and The Ring, with the idea of a film that kills all who view it) but it is engaging for an hour. Despite leaning more towards suspense than ‘make-you-jump’ horror, there is plenty of blood and gore. While the other MoH episodes really stretch it to fill 60 minutes, I think Cigarette Burns could have done well as a full length movie, allowing for more character expansion. The main drawback to this one is that it sometimes goes a little over-the-top regarding the contents of “Le Fin Absolue du Monde”– it apparently contains footage of the de-winging of a actual angel (reminds me of the arthouse ‘classic’ Begotten) and was in fact produced by the devil himself. I almost stopped watching early on when Udo reveals he has the aforementioned angel in captivity, its life trapped in the film footage itself or some BS like that, Cigarette Burns could’ve done without that bit. But it is fairly worth it to keep watching.
Best use of innards: ***SPOILER*** When Udo finally gets his hands on the film, he goes insane and feeds his intestines into a movie projector and it gets projected up onto the movie screen.
Body Count: 5
2 1/2 out of 4 Zombie Faces
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