Think you have seen everything there is to see about terrifying, bloody deaths? Think again. You have yet to see a huge production. Welcome back to Marvelous Videos, everyone. Today, we are bringing you a collection of horror treasures straight from hell’s gates. You are about to embark on a gory narrative, but hey, is not that precisely what every horror enthusiast has been yearning for?
The anthology series “Masters of Horror” on the Showtime network has assembled some of the best horror film writers and directors. For the first time, the largest and most well-known figures in horror have paired up for a series that will comprise thirteen one-hour films per season. It is unlike anything you have ever seen before. The series features the work of several famous horror directors, from John Landis to Dario Argento.
In today’s film, we will look at an episode from Masters of Horror that exemplifies John Carpenter’s genius. This anthology series was developed by director Mick Garris, who called a group of his director buddies around for dinner, and the horror masters produced something you will never forget.
The series has two seasons, each with 13 episodes, and we will start with the eighth episode of season one, Cigarette Burns. There is no need to wonder what is lacking from this episode because it includes everything. As if it were usual, you are surrounded by menacing men, fear in the air, and truly terrifying amounts of blood and gore.
But if you are a fan of John Carpenter’s works, then you are in for a surprise and a huge treat because it looks like he has given his all when he directed Cigarette Burns. It is like a detective movie at first but also a movie within a movie. There is blood spilling in the most horrible way possible throughout the movie and it is almost as if the characters are stuck in a loop. The story of this movie will have you pouring your guts out, literally at one point. Well, let us check out why this movie is so damn scary, are you ready?
Film in the right hands is like a weapon: Cigarette Burns
From the beginning of the movie, Carpenter has made sure that the audience should expect a lot of gore from this film. We meet Kirby Sweetman, who is played by Norman Reedus. He is known for finding really rare films for his clients. Now, Mr. Bellinger, played by Udo Kier, has an exactly similar demand.
What looks like the hardest film to find for Kirby, will soon become something he is obsessed with. The film he is tasked with finding has only a single copy in the whole world because the rest were destroyed due to how dangerous this film is. It is a 30-year-old French film titled La Fin Absolue Du Monde, The Absolute End of the World.
Do not assume this to be a highly rated classic film. It is classic, but in the sense that when it was shown to an audience for the first time during the original premiere of the movie, something out of the ordinary happened in that theatre. You can call it a homicidal riot. In Masters of Horror’s Cigarette Burns, La Fin Absolue Du Monde works similar to so many Lovecraftian tales in which an object that suddenly gains entry to a realm of hell that is mysterious or simply cannot be understood or even imagined by our basic minds.
In the very next moment, we meet a man who lives like Bellinger’s captive, only because of his sick obsession with collecting not just rare films, but anything related to those films. This man was a part of this exact film in the sense of a living prop for it. The man’s wounded shoulders look almost as if he had angelic wings which Bellinger cut off. The imprisoned guy confesses that his existence is linked with the film and that is how Kirby has proof that the last copy of the film has not been destroyed yet. Well, now begins the detective hunt for La Fin Absolue Du Monde.
Kirby first meets up with a film critic who wrote a review for this. Even though the guy has gone half insane as a result of his obsession with this film, he warns Kirby and gives him an audiotape of an interview with the film’s director. All the rumors surrounding the film and its director clearly take a mental toll on Kirby and he starts visualizing his wife’s suicide. He also has added stress because he owes money to his wife’s father.
Well after this, Kirby Sweetman meets his acquaintance, a film critic Henri Cotillard. Apparently, this guy was the projectionist at a secret screening of the film. The only reason why he did not go insane or worse, dead, is because he looked away when the film was being played.
He heard a lot of terrifying noises coming from the theatre and death surrounded the whole place. This film was clearly no joke or funny business. So, he also tried to stop the screening at one point but ended up being blacked out. When he woke up, his left hand was brutally burned. A scar that can never recover.
Once again Sweetman is reminded of the horrors of this film but he still goes ahead with this task. It is less about the money now and more about his curiosity about the film. Henri sends him to a filmmaker named Dalibor, who is played by Douglas Arthurs. Thinking that this man might know where the film is, Sweetman is easily led into a trap.
Well, there never really is a way to escape death after all. It looks like Sweetman has been having visions where he sees a kind of a ring of light and someone screaming through it. It looks like cigarette burns. So, could it be because he is getting closer and closer to finding La Fin Absolue Du Monde?
Dalibor, the filmmaker reveals to Sweetman that in the picture, an actual angel is sacrificed, and the evil of that tragedy infects everyone who watches it. And that is why evil leads to evil when anyone watches it. Sweetman then has another vision, and when he wakes up, he appears to be holding a machete. Dalibor’s neck has been cut. And then Sweetman finds out about the widow of the director of La Fin Absolue Du Monde, Katja.
Now, there is going to happen a very serious turn of events in the film. Katja then hands over the only remaining copy of the film to Sweetman. It looks like the director in his last days, used to obsessively continue watching the film for days on end. That drove him insane and he tried to kill himself as well as his wife. Clearly, Katja got lucky, but he died. Soon, when the copy reaches the hands of Bellinger, he appears to act possessed by the mere smell of the film.
Things are slowly taking a toll at Bellinger’s mansion. After watching the cruel murder of an angel in the film, Bellinger’s butler literally gouges his own eyes out in front of Sweetman. And if you are wondering what happened to Bellinger, well he does something even more insane.
He suddenly feels rather inspired by the film and has apparently made one myself. So, Bellinger literally cuts himself so deep that he takes out his intestine and loads it into the reels of another projector. Now, on the other hand, Sweetman’s father-in-law also appears at the scene looking for his money.
After blacking out, both of them are suddenly watching the movie but are covered completely in blood. Sweetman then realizes that both he and his father-in-law need to die as neither of them can really let go of his wife and set her free as long as they are still alive. Sweetman then without mercy, murders his father-in-law and then kills himself.
The film ends with a look at the free angel who takes the two film reels, the one Bellinger made and of course La Fin Absolue Du Monde. After weirdly thanking the bloodied corpse of Sweetman for the film reels, he walks out of the theatre.
Well, there you have it, a kind of film that is no longer made. The writers of this story, Drew McWeeny, and Scott Swan definitely deserve a lot of credit for creating something that easily could have taken the wrong turn and ended up being a basic movie.
It is almost as if the trauma and terror are also roaming around in the film even before Sweetman finds La Fin Absolue Du Monde. Carpenter sure did a number on the audience with this scary attack and kudos to the amazing star cast for keeping up the pace of suspense going all through the end.
Well guys, with that, we have come to the end of another horror classic video with its thrilling Lovecraftian tale. We hope you enjoyed watching it, as much as we enjoyed making it for you. Make sure to drop a like and hit that subscribe button on your way out. Also tells us in the comments down below, what part in the movie did you absolutely not expect to see. Until then everyone, stay safe, take care, and see you in the next video. Have a great day ahead!