Masters of Horror is a series of almost full length movies created by some of the true masters of horror. It really is a great series. This review is on the John Carpenter episode from season one entitled Cigarette Burns.

This story is about a movie fanatic who owns a theater. He gets called on by a private collector to find a rare print of a notoriously evil film, “Le Fin Absolue du Monde“. This movie supposedly involved the performing of some unholy acts and to merely watch the movie will drive you insane. Our movie detective goes on a quest for this movie, as the monetary reward is great and he is desperate for cash. As he gets closer and closer to finding this movie, he finds himself in more and more peril. Dangerous people share his interest in the movie, not to mention the movie has a mind of its own.

This episode is top fucking notch, though in reality it is the perfect breeding of The Ninth Gate with The Ring. This is forgivable for a series made for Showtime.

Like The Ring, you were very curious to see previews from the particular movie in question, but you knew it was going to be brutal and creepy as hell when you did. This episode flowed great (try turning it off). Greg Nicotero’s make-up effects were stellar. I was repulsed (yet impressed) several times. Disturbing imagery. Throw in some nudity to boot.

I was quite intrigued by the main character and his melancholy carefree way. The character had a tragic feel about him. You could tell that he didn’t give a damn and that something heavy was on his mind. In addition, all the actors in this episode acted their asses off.

To summarize, Cigarette Burns is awesome. Everything was great. This is the best of season one, in my opinion. I give this flick 10 out of 10 literally gorey movies. This review was fueled by Iced Earth and my true friend, Sam Adams. How’s that for an all- American duo?

Without a doubt, this is the best episode of the Masters of Horror I’ve seen so far. Now granted, I’ve only seen three episodes. But this one’s still the best and a great example of exceptional film-making in non feature-length format.

Unlike the other episodes of the MoH that I’ve seen, where the acting can be a mixed bag, everyone in this one turns in a good, if not great, performance. Heck, even Colin Foo, as the butler, did a great job.

The film score had a distinctive Carpenteristic feel to it, even if it wasn’t John himself who was responsible for it (I believe it was his son). Definitely a nice touch.

Paynecraft was right about the seemingly derivative nature of Cigarette Burns. You can definitely see similarities to both The Ring and The Ninth Gate. But on first viewing, this film actually made me think of one of John Carpenter’s films more so than these two; that film being In The Mouth Of Madness. So while this is indeed a great little movie, unfortunately it doesn’t get high marks for originality.

Besides originality, I only had one other minor complaint about the film, but I get the feeling I’ll be in the drastic minority on this one. As Paynecraft mentioned, the plot revolves around a movie, Le Fin Absolue du Monde, that can cause madness and extremely violent behavior in those who view it. That being said, I actually would have preferred to see less of the mentioned film being shown during the movie. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that the clips looked bad or anything, it’s just that they couldn’t measure up to what I was already envisioning in my mind (me and my creepy imagination).

All in all, I highly recommend renting, if not buying, Cigarette Burns.

I give it 9 out of 10 scrawny-looking angels