Tobacco Force is a superhero team who fights monsters and aliens by combining their forces to give the beasts cancer. Although they just scored a decisive victory against a turtle monster, their boss (a drooling rat) sends them off to a retreat for a mandatory team building exercise. There, they tell each other scary campfire stories to pass the time and ultimately have to confront what possibly could be the end of the world.
Smoking Causes Coughing is another slice of certified cinematic craziness from Quentin (Rubber) Dupieux. It’s a weird amalgam of inspirations, and yet somehow, it always feels refreshingly original. It’s simultaneously a foul-mouthed, blood-soaked send-up of Japanese Tokusatsu and a gory tribute to Tales from the Crypt. This kind of out-there mash-up is bound to be uneven, but the film’s refusal to be classifiable (even though it proudly wears its influences on its sleeve) is rather amusing.
The first of the bizarre campfire stories is a tale about a woman who puts on a “thinking helmet” and realizes her husband and friends are no longer of any use to her and decides to kill them. This one has a Cronenbergian type feel to it and features some good gore. The next involves a man who becomes subject of a horrific workplace accident, but still manages to keep his spirits up despite his ghoulish predicament. This one is admirable for the way Dupieux continues to up the ante (way) past its obvious conclusion.
Overall, Smoking Causes Coughing is slight, but undeniable goofy fun. Sure, the ending is kind of weak but at least Dupieux knew when to wrap things up. Even at 77 minutes, it still feels a little on the long side. However, there are more than a handful of hilariously over the top moments that easily make it a must-see for people who think they’ve seen it all.
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