Too bad it looks like a dull student film.  Carpenter, who is so wise in hiding the secrets of “Le Fin” for the first fifty minutes, relents and gives us a glimpse in the final few.  It’s a bit embarrassing.  He would’ve been better off never showing it.  But show it he does, and so the episode is very nearly great, when it could’ve been amazing.  Then again, that means I’m saying this episode is damn good, and damn good it is.  It’s the creepiest, most unnerving episode we’ve seen yet.

“Le Fin Absolue du Monde” (The Absolute End of the World) is quite possibly the hardest-to-find film print in the world.  Udo Kier’s Bellinger desperately wants it.  Why he does is left vague, but it’s just as well.  He doesn’t have long to live, and the film promises a form of transcendence.  That form may be gruesome and unholy, sure, but why split hairs?  Transcendence of any sort these days is hard to come by.

Bellinger enlists the services of Kirby Sweetman (Norman Reedus), a stylish and handsome rare film collector.  I doubt any rare film collector is this stylish or handsome, which suggests that Kirby is wish fulfillment on the part of writers Drew McWeeny and Scott Swan (both of Aint It Cool News).  While his buff body and smooth talking are a bit hard to swallow, the rest of the film manages to stay somewhat logical.  I say somewhat because the nature of Sweetman’s reality becomes more and more unclear the closer he gets to “Le Fin.”

The success of “Cigarette Burns” lies in the strength of Carpenter’s tension.  Although his camera doesn’t glide around with the fluidity it did in Halloween and The Fog, his sense of pacing is as strong as ever.  Every step Sweetman takes is a step closer to insanity, and those steps are simultaneously deliberate and subtle.  Carpenter continually suggests instead of showing, resulting in a story of almost complete anticipation (a strong score by his son, Cody Carpenter, helps immensely).  As that suspense grows, some great smaller characters stand out.

One of those characters is A. K. Meyers, the one man who ever managed to write a review of “Le Fin.”  He is so dissatisfied with his original that he has been working on a new review.  For thirty years.  Now there’s a professional.  Another interesting character is Kaspar, who provides Sweetman with a vital clue, but not before paying homage to “Le Fin” in his own nasty way.  And then there’s Udo Kier, who is such a wonderful character actor in the genre – here, he’s allowed only a few minutes, but he works wonders within that small time frame.  His last scene kills.

With Kirby Sweetman, we have yet another good-looking guy with a dark past.  What he brings to his role isn’t much – he deliberately underplays, keeping the same level to his voice and letting the situation unfold around him.  His scenes with a former lover strike the right notes, but perhaps he’s holding too much back.  Those scenes never really hit on the level they should, rendering his story arc flat.

Neither does the final sequence, when we get a nice, long look at “Le Fin.”  How could any film shock us in the way “Le Fin” supposedly shocked its audience?  They couldn’t, and Carpenter shouldn’t have bothered.  The reaction shots from people, the history of the film, and the lasting effects on those its touches are plenty frightening.  Showing the monster in horror is always risky, and this was a time to leave things to the audience’s imagination.  It doesn’t kill the episode, but it makes those levels of mystery and malevolence seem less worthwhile.  Regardless, the episode is the most frightening and gruesome yet.  For a series which has showcased precious little real terror, “Cigarette Burns” is the first one to successfully scare the shit out of me.

Checkout our review of Episode One: Don Coscarelli's  Incident On and Off a Mountain Road

Checkout our review of Episode Two: Stuart Gordon's H.P. Lovecraft's Dreams in the Witch-House

Checkout our review of Episode Three: Tobe Hooper's Dance of the Dead

Checkout our review of Episode Four: Dario Argento's Jenifer

Checkout our review of Episode Five: Mick Garris's Chocolate

Checkout our review of Episode Six: Joe Dante's Homecoming

Checkout our review of Episode Seven: John Landis' Deer Woman