John Carpenter's Cigarette Burns, Creepy Avant Garde films at The Cinema Cell

[Fausto]

http://thecinemacell.wordpress.com/2012/05/28/le-fin-absolue-du-monde/

Please read and comment.

[Mofo Rising]

Posted. I hope you don't mind me copying-and-pasting my comments here.

"“Cigarette Burns” is probably the best of the “Masters of Horror” series, at least of the few I’ve seen. Not that that is high praise; some of those are pretty bad. (I did enjoy “Deer Woman.”)

The thing you learn while watching these transgressive, disturbing movie is that most of them are awful. I think it’s because most of them posture like they have something to say, but end just being catalogs of atrocity, which isn’t too interesting in and of itself.

The infamous “Salo” fits that bill quite nicely, and the less I have to talk about “Funny Games” the better. I know a lot of people don’t like the term torture porn, but it is apt in many ways. Not really the idea that people get off on torture. Some do, but they’re the wingnuts. It’s more that the disturbing elements are presented as stand alone elements with a “movie” surrounding them.

I like disturbing movies, and I’ll probably end up watching all of these. But I rarely find them rewarding. Trekking through a sewer might be interesting, but very few movies ever provide a good reason for being there."