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Curtains

Curtains (1983)

March. 04,1983
|
5.6
|
R
| Horror Thriller

Six young actresses auditioning for a movie role at a remote mansion are targeted by a mysterious masked murderer.

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Reviews

Unlimitedia
1983/03/04

Sick Product of a Sick System

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GazerRise
1983/03/05

Fantastic!

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Hayden Kane
1983/03/06

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

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Allison Davies
1983/03/07

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

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jellopuke
1983/03/08

It's an okay slasher movie in the vein of Black Christmas. Standard set up, someone's killing girls in a remote location with an attempt at a few more atmospheric moments. The girls are very thinly defined and the twist at the end is par for the course. You could do worse, but this isn't super memorable.

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Michael_Elliott
1983/03/09

Curtains (1983) ** 1/2 (out of 4)Director Jonathan Stryker (John Vernon) is about to start another movie and his lead actress Samantha Sherwood (Samantha Eggar) wants to make sure she knows what it's really like to be a crazy woman so she fakes an illness and has herself committed to an asylum. While in there she really does lose her mind and she's pushed over the edge when she learns that the director has invited six actresses to his mansion for a rehearsal to see who gets the lead role. Soon dead bodies start to pile up.CURTAINS is a Canadian slasher that has pretty much been forgotten over the years, although it does have a somewhat strong cult following. The film is actually a pretty well thought out movie that manages to have a couple interesting kills, an interesting killer and some pretty good performances from the cast. If you're looking for non-stop gore and violence then you'll probably be disappointed as it's clear that the filmmakers were trying to set themselves apart from what the typical slasher was at the time.I think the best thing going for the film is the cast. Vernon and Eggar aren't really the people you'd expect to see in a film like this but both of them bring a lot to the picture. Vernon was terrific as the rather jerk director who appears to have more up his sleeve than just an audition. Eggar is also extremely good as the actress who loses her mind and then sets out to let the director know the damage he has done to her. Both of them work extremely well together as does the rest of the supporting cast.The actual mystery of the picture plays out quite nicely and especially since the first thirty minutes has some very interesting twists and turns. These little scenes really keep you off guard for the rest of the picture, which was a plus. With that said, CURTAINS does have a few moments where things stall out. I think a little more action would have helped matters and a faster pace as well. Still, CURTAINS is certainly a lot different than your typical slasher and there's enough going for it to make it worth viewing.

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lonchaney20
1983/03/10

I feel like the slasher genre has yet to get its due. A lot of the backlash no doubt started with moral watchdogs and high-minded critics, who felt that the genre both glorified violence while preaching a highly conservative (and even misogynistic) agenda. It certainly didn't help when Scream came along and created a list of largely inaccurate slasher rules that are quoted to this day. Even a cursory glance at the most mainstream of slashers (Halloween and Friday the 13th) will reveal numerous cracks in the popular theories surrounding the genre (the most prominent being that the final girl is rewarded for her virginity/purity), but these sweeping generalizations are even more difficult to justify when looking at something like Curtains.When I first bought a used VHS copy of Curtains from my local video store, a certain meta-fictional detail on the box baffled me. I must first explain the plot to show you why. Curtains is all about six actresses auditioning for the coveted titular role in Audra, the newest project of director Jonathan Stryker (John Vernon). After having the original lead, Samantha Sherwood (Samantha Eggar), committed to an asylum - the method actress initially agrees to this for research, only to discover that Stryker has no intention of bailing her out - he invites the six actresses to his country home for what he tells him will be a unique and life-changing audition process. Meanwhile someone wearing an old hag mask (apparently a prop from Audra) is killing them all off one by one. The strangest detail in all this is that the film itself is credited to Jonathan Stryker, the director played by John Vernon. As I later learned, it was an extremely troubled production requiring massive rewrites and reshoots (most of them under the producer's direction), and the actual director chose to have his name taken off of the film.As troubled as the production apparently was, it mostly doesn't show on screen. Compromised or not (producer Peter Simpson says Ciupka wanted to make an art film, whereas Simpson actually wanted to make his money back), this is one of the most ambitious, mature, and surprisingly nuanced slasher films, with excellent performances across the board (barring a stilted psychiatrist in the opening scenes). What really gives this film a staying power that its contemporaries lack is the decision from Simpson and Ciupka to appeal to an adult audience. This means we have a completely adult cast of characters, and we deal with mature themes: megalomania (Stryker was inspired by Klaus Kinski), sexual manipulation, emotional abuse, and the exploitation of women in the film industry. Stryker claims that his audition process will give these actresses invaluable insight into themselves and acting, but what's really revealed is the ugly sexual politics and backstabbing so prevalent Hollywood. Unlike many films of this type, Curtains dwells on the impact that this emotional and physical violence has on its characters. Perhaps the saddest of these moments occurs after Stryker manipulates a naive young actress into sleeping with him. After he wordlessly puts on his clothes and leaves the room, she rolls over and starts to cry, the camera lingering on her wounded expression.Sadly the film doesn't end quite as strongly as it begins. The climax is where Simpson gains complete control of the narrative. He actually proves to be a skillful director, and the long cat and mouse sequence (set in an improbably labyrinthine prop shed, filled with all kinds of creepy knickknacks), is a definite highlight of the film. Its quasi-Surrealist imagery (an exit door leading to a bricked up wall, a room of hanging mannequins, a room of Twin Peaks-esque curtains) and baroque lighting would fit comfortably into an Italian horror film, and it gives the film a much needed shot of suspense. Unfortunately the ending, in which our killer and their motivation is revealed, isn't entirely convincing, and somehow this whole section seems to lose sight of the themes and conflicts built up so beautifully by Ciupka in the earlier parts of the narrative. The murder scenes throughout are quite striking (especially a ballsy one committed in broad daylight, generally considered a horror no-no), but the most impactful and disturbing scenes are those involving Stryker's mind games. While the killer's motivation is tied up in the audition process, somehow it doesn't resolve the film's themes in a satisfactory manner. The last scene ends things on an appropriately melancholy note, however, helped immeasurably by a Satie-inspired theme from composer Paul Zaza. Overall an impressively mature take on a much reviled genre, whose art-house aspirations elevate it beyond mere shocks for shock's sake. Try to see it in Synapse's brilliant restoration, which reveals how much love and care was really put into the film's visual style.

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Scott LeBrun
1983/03/11

Samantha Sherwood (Samantha Eggar) is a veteran actress who very much wants the title role in her director / lover Jonathan Stryker's (John Vernon) new film "Audra". So much so that she's willing to feign insanity to get herself committed to a mental institution for first hand experience. Unfortunately for her, her surroundings do seem to get to her, and Stryker gives up on her. He invites six young ladies to his remote estate to audition for the part. Well, Samantha gets wind of this, and is able to escape and get back to Strykers' pad. There's also a killer on the premises, as well, one wearing a memorably hideous old hag mask.Considering how troubled this production was, it's a miracle that it ended up being as coherent as it is, and that it's actually pretty damn entertaining. It's a solid Canadian slasher that takes full advantage of atmospheric environments; there aren't enough slashers set in the winter in this fans' humble opinion. It's rather low on gore, but *does* feature one fun severed head gag. It's got some pretty interesting moments that let us know that just racking up the body count is not the primary concern of writer Robert Guza Jr. or director Richard Ciupka (who ended up using the fictional name Jonathan Stryker as a pseudonym). The scene where Stryker puts the mask on Samantha and demands that she "seduce" him without words comes to mind. The music by Paul Zaza (composer for the original versions of "Prom Night" and "My Bloody Valentine") is very effective.The film also creates some very engaging characters such as stand-up comic and aspiring actress Patti O'Connor (lovely Lynne Griffin of the original "Black Christmas"). Vernon is fun as the pompous director and Eggar is just great in her part. Also among the auditioning thespians are Linda Thorson, Anne Ditchburn, Sandee Currie ("Terror Train"), and Lesleh Donaldson ("Happy Birthday to Me", "Cries in the Night", "Deadly Eyes"). It's also a treat to see actors Michael Wincott ("The Crow") and Maury Chaykin ("Dances with Wolves") in early roles for them.There are some mighty fine moments involving a doll left in a road, and an extended chase sequence set inside a storage space full of props and costumes, but the main thing that would give "Curtains" a reputation is the incredible ice skating set piece, which this viewer saw on TV many years ago; it burned its way into his brain long before he ever knew the name of the film.Very well directed and featuring appropriate scene transitions, this is one entry into the slasher genre that its dedicated fans *should* check out.Eight out of 10.

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