Cigarette Burns

Interesting episode from the first season of “Masters of Horror”, directed by a reinvigorated John Carpenter who immerses us in metacinematic reflections on the influence cinema wields over the viewer (particularly regarding the power inherent in the depiction of extreme forms of violence).

What immediately emerges is the juxtaposition with Carpenter’s prior “In the Mouth of Madness” (1994), in that the cursed feature film “La Fin Absolue du Monde” has properties akin to Sutter Cane’s final novel in that earlier film. Additionally, both imaginary works possess such expressive power that they irreparably shatter the unfortunate viewer or reader’s psyche (“The film was too effective. It, uhm… it got inside him. It made him crazy“).

Like David Cronenberg’s prophetic “Videodrome” (1983), “Cigarette Burns” also revisits Marshall McLuhan’s theory which asserts that mass media is capable of producing actual psychosomatic changes in its target audience (“What you see isn’t the important part. It’s the way you change. It’s what the film does to you that matters“).

The episode is of high technical quality and enhanced by the cast’s effective performances, but it unfortunately suffers from the intrinsic limitations of the TV series format. Notably, the short running time is a poor fit for the complex nature of the topics it tackles, a flaw that becomes even more obvious in the rushed, disappointing ending.

Highlight of the episode: the insane film collector (played by Udo Kier) loading his own intestines into a movie projector.