MovieChat Forums > Begotten (1991) Discussion > Was Cigarette Burns from Masters of Horr...

Was Cigarette Burns from Masters of Horror inspired by this film?

posted 15 years ago by violet_yoshi
3 replies | jump to latest

I was thinking that the Master's of Horror film Cigarette Burns (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0643109/) may have been inspired by Begotten.

The film deals with a film collector searching for a rare film called Le Fin Absolue du Monde, which is supposed to be so disturbing it caused the last audience who viewed it to become homicidally insane.

There is mention of a character in the film, who was a real angel that had it's wings torn off. I thought from the descriptions of Le Fin Absolue De Monde that it sounded similar to the storyline of Begotten.

I also am surprised that according to the review from bannoy that "Babybuster" had Begotten. I call them "Babybuster", because Blockbuster seems to act as if all their customers are babies who need them to decide what is appropriate for them to watch. I wouldn't be surprised to find out, that they saw a cut or edited version of Begotten.

I'm glad to hear that Blockbuster is losing business and are on their way out. That's what you get for assuming all your customers have the minds of children, and promoting pornography while not allowing horror films that show strong women. When I asked my local Blockbuster to get horror films, what they got instead were crappy rape porn flicks from their local pornography provider. Absolutely sickening how misogynistic their business practices have been. They can censor gore, but they'll promote films where women are objects or even raped. They can go to hell.

[–] BloodBarn 15 years ago

I think Cigarette Burns was actually inspired by Theodore Roszak novel Flicker, wich Aronofsky was supposed to adapt at some point, look into it, the premise is identical.

Your poetry will now be written with blood

[–] MrsPyramidHead 13 years ago

I was thinking the same thing! The mutilation of a divine creature, the seemingly random depictions of torture and violence (from the little part of Le Fin Absolue du Monde we as an audience were shown, there seemed to be no plot, just scenes from a cellar where people were treated very, very bad)... The writers of Cigarette Burns, or maybe even John Carpenter himself, were clearly inspired by Begotten. But it doesn't necessarily have to be that way, they may have come up with it themselves without any influence.

...and there we encountered Mr. Egyptian-tomb-for-a-cranial-configuration, who kindly threw us off.

[–] Fishelakh-In-Vaser 13 years ago

An interesting interpretation. It's fair to see why you would draw the comparison because Begotten's subject matter and themes are very dark and macabre, but that's where the similarities end in my opinion. Begotten also contrasts this darkness with the inherent light in the creation of existence, but to such a subversive degree that it's difficult to tell whether it's meant to be marginalized. There are nuances here that don't lend to any solid interpretation.

As it happens though I have made the case that Marian Dora's 2009 film Melancholie der Engel evokes the sinister and extreme content in the elusive film "La Fin Absolue du Monde" much more accurately and flamboyantly than John Carpenter could have ever dreamed of. If you ever get the chance try to track down Melancholie der Engel to see what I mean.

The thread on the Melancholie der Engel board where I make this connection:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1420558/board/nest/194200286

Abyssus Abyssum Invocat