Review of Masters of Horror 8: John Carpenter's "Cigarette Burns"

Left: Wingless Angel. Right: John Carpenter showing how it goes down.
















A Film Geeks Nightmare! Carpenter's uncovers of Twisted Film Loving.

John Carpenter is true master but has been hitting a slump after "Ghost of Mars", and while the remake of "The Fog" is out there and is sucking you might as well check this out. I was not a fan of "Ghosts of Mars" and think his last good film was "Vampires". Not his best but an exercise in his love of films outside horror that range from avant-garde, Dario Argento and the French New Wave. It stars Norman(Boondock Saints) Reedus a theatre owner and film geek that has a dark past tha catches up to him and his theatre. After taking an assignment from a rich guy played by cult and Lars Von Trier regular Udo Kier(Great Actor), who assigns him to capture a notorious film. The film is print is an avant-garde film that was screened once and cause an uproar its first screening. Not a typical "walk out of the theatre" uproar, but a relentless aura to make the audience go insane and kill. When I first heard that I was like Norman Reedus' character and everyone else... I GOTTA SEE THAT FILM! Just that alone makes me want to find that film on eBay or something. The film is "La Fonde Absolut Du Monde" and UdoKier believes that the print is still out there because the movie displays an angel getting slaughtered. Somehow Udo Kier's character has the angel chained up in his mansion and since he's alive the print exist. If the print was torn and burn the angel would not be standing...pretty freaky.
What can get more crazier than that, well during a screening of "Profondo Rosso"(Dario Argento's Deep Red), a pure homage to Dario Argento. Carpenter talks a lot about Dario Argento on and off the camera and his influence in this piece are eminent. Anyway during a screening of 'Deep Red", Norman Reedus' character Kirby is being followed by his dead-girlfriend's father, who loaned him money to open the theater heavily on drugs. With his girlfriend dead from an overdose and a the father he hasn't paid yet gives a lot of pressure on one's conscience. Kirby seems to have a lot of redeeming qualities and takes the job to find "La Fonde ABsolut Du MOnde" for the money and the film. Why the hell not!
Kirby meets with the only man who is still alive that witness the film, a critic that in movie states that he was not just a Pauline Kael follower. Once he meets him he finds out that he has a recorded interview with the director of "La Fonde Absolut Du Monde". Then the trip goes from America to Paris, France and if you look in the background of the film library there is a post printed with names of French New Wave directors. Ominous homage from John Carpenter thats kind of funny. The movie leads into Kirby having hallucinations with dreams that have cigarette burns like in a film. In the the cigarette burns are reflections in Kirby's past that regrets that are deep in his subconscious. Besides all that, through visceral violence and gore he finds the film and retrieves back to America for the Udo Kier's character. Then as it builds up a reputation for this film you realize why its dangerous. All hell breaks loose, literally. An endless but tiresome violent montage that can get freaky but really goes nowhere. Then again who cares, it won't prove a point but will display surreal horror.
Not bad, actually a lot better than "Ghosts of Mars" and different than Carpenter. It still shows that he hasn't completely lost his style, and probably due for a major silver screen comback. Until then the movie not also eschews "get under your skin" violence, but extenuating one man's love for films. It felt like cinephile's nightmare, but who cares I still watch "La FOnde Absolut Du Monde" and retrieve it. I got really into, so into it that I actually searched for the film on 'Imdb". Of course it's just a fake movie and doesn't exist and proves that I'm a big dork.

This Aliye Nyoka saying PEACE OUT!