Showtime's Masters of Horror series comes to DVD with this release featuring
John Carpenter's celebrated entry Cigarette Burns. Presented in its original anamorphic 1.77:1 widescreen image, the hour-long feature has been lovingly transferred to DVD by Anchor Bay and packed with loads of extras for the genre viewer to feast upon (no doubt making up for the price point for the inclusion of just one episode). In horror circles, it's no secret that Carpenter delivers some of the most widely debated commentaries of all his peers. While some find his ramblings the product of a cranky, elder filmmaker, they tend to lose sight of just how much information he usually injects into these tracks. 2006 finds him even more comically irritable in his older years, though his thoughts in both the commentary and interview segments are insightful to his love for the film and the man himself, who always seems like he'd just rather watch basketball in his sweats than get behind the camera again. Another commentary that sheds a bit more light on the director comes with the writers' track from
Drew McWeeny and
Scott Swan, who discuss their excitement at working on the project and how Carpenter helped them reshape their script into something much more terrifying than what it started out as. Other extras include a behind-the-scenes montage as well as an interview with lead actor
Norman Reedus. Also included are two 18-minute featurettes that focus on those that have worked with the director in the past as well as a one-on-one Carpenter interview that quizzically ends with his statement that most everything to do with Masters of Horror is unhealthy for those involved. Trailers for the rest of the series' first season are included as well, making this release truly one to look out for in this groundbreaking test of cable programming. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide