In 2005 when the horror series, Masters of Horror was announced by the premium channel, Showtime, most horror fans were excited and a little apprehensive of just how well any episode could be in just a 55 minute format, in spite of some of the genre's biggest talents taking part in this series. We'll take a look at John Carpenter's effort; Cigarette Burns (Review) and for anyone a fan of horror and John Carpenter, this episode is good reason to be excited about the series, if you haven't seen any of the episodes already produced.

Kirby Sweetman (Norman Reedus) doesn't have the best of life, he's an ex-junkie who lost his girlfriend, also a junkie, to a suicide. Before his girlfriend died, she convinced her Dad (Gary Hetherington) to finance the purchase and fixing-up of an old theatre for Kirby to run. A very angry and despondent Dad now wants his investment money back and unfortunately for Kirby, his theatre isn't exactly a bustling business. So, Kirby offers his services to collectors of film and film memorabilia for which he is often paid quite well for his services. Kirby's newest client is, Mr. Ballinger (Udo Kier), a wealthy film fan who is in search of the film; Le Fin Absolue Du Monde, a film who's legend has it that upon it's first showing, the audience went into a homicidal frenzy and thus the film was yanked and is presumed to have been destroyed. Mr. Ballinger, however, believes the film to still exist and his reason for this.....he has an angel held captive in a private room. This angel took part in the film, in a scene that contains the ultimate act of blasphemy and so the angel is in fact part of the film, so if the film had been destroyed as proclaimed, the angel would have been destroyed as well. Now, Ballinger offers Kirby a fee of two hundred thousand dollar plus expenses to track down this film and with cash like that, Kirby could get his girlfriend's Dad off his back and the theatre would be his, free and clear. Through some serious effort and a determination to not fail, Kirby gains some leads in and around France and finally tracks down the director's wife and she allows Kirby access to her apartment and discusses the strange effect this film has on anyone who views it. She shows Kirby first-hand evidence that she herself was nearly a victim of this film and Kirby convinces her to allow him to take the film and promises her he won't view the contents, himself. Kirby arrives back in the U.S. and offers the prized film to Ballinger who quickly pays Kirby the cash that was promised. Kirby ruses back to his theatre, only to find that her girlfriend's Dad has held good on his promise of locking down the theatre. Kirby then receives a frantic call on his cell from the Ballinger estate and makes his way back to the estate and comes face to face with the power of the film.....

Cigarette Burns is offered in anamorphic widescreen (1.78:1) and looks very nice. I'd expect nothing less from such a recently made episode. Once again, Anchor Bay offers two audio options in English only (Dolby Digital 5.1 and Dolby Digital 2.0). Sadly, no subtitles are offered, but the audio comes through clear and solid. Bonus features are plenty and quite impressive for a 55-minute episode and they include:

Cigarette Burns is a wonderful piece of work by Carpenter and it's tough to believe all that action and gore could be crammed into a 55-minute time slot. I was amazed at how well this worked for me....yes, I had doubts that any episode that was whittled down to 55-minutes could not have that strong of a film-like feel, but I was wrong. Cigarette Burns has that film feel to it and in spite of a lack of character development, I still found myself pulled into the episode and not feeling shafted in any way with what I saw. Carpenter really pulled this episode off and the end result looked like some of Carpenter's best efforts on the big screen. I believe I saw the music was done by Cody Carpenter and I must say, Cody has his Dad's talent for music and the music was a perfect fit for this episode. The effects were outstanding as was the gore and much more than I expected. An all-around solid effort and this is one fan looking forward to future releases from the Masters of Horror series.

Buy Cigarette Burns on DVD at Amazon.com