“John Carpenter’s Cigarette Burns”
#22 of the 31 days of horror challenge. (These reviews will be more raw due to the nature of the challenge.)
For more information follow this link.
An eccentric, wealthy, film collector with a terminal illness hires a talented, but nearly bankrupt, theater owner with a torrid past, to find a print of an infamous movie, “Le Fin Absolue du Monde” which was long believed destroyed. The only screening of this film had driven its audience into madness and murder.
A short movie from the brilliant mind of John Carpenter for Starz’s Masters of Horror series. A statement of the trust between filmmaker and viewer(sometimes voyeur), and the power of indie film making (which is nicely ironic due to the fact that this was contracted as part of a series by Starz). The back story flashes as part of the ongoing changes to Kirby’s sanity were a nice cohesive touch.
Norman Reedus does a brilliant job as the film finder, Kirby, who is haunted by the memory of his late wife, hunted by her father, and driven by his obsession with rare film, specifically “Le Fin Absolue du Monde.” Udo Kier, always brilliant, plays the eccentric collector who hires Kirby to find the movie, offering Kirby enough money to clear Kirby’s debts plus an exclusive screening at Kirby’s theater of “Le Fin Absolue du Monde.”
I gave this 5 glasses of brandy. This film will stay with you after seeing it.
