Curtains is a 1983 Canadian slasher film directed by Richard Ciupka and Peter R. Simpson, from a screenplay by Robert Guza Jr., and starring John Vernon, Samantha Eggar, Linda Thorson, Lynne Griffin, and Lesleh Donaldson. Centered on the world of theater and filmmaking, its plot focuses on a group of ambitious female performers who are targeted by a masked killer while auditioning for a film role at a prestigious director's mansion.
The film was conceived by Guza and producer Simpson, produced under the latter's production company Simcom Limited, who had previously released the box-office hit Prom Night (1980). Curtains was intended by Simpson to be an adult-oriented slasher aimed at older audiences, contrasting with the standard genre films of the time which featured predominately teenaged characters. Principal photography began in Toronto in late 1980, with much of the shoot taking place at Magder Studios on interior sets designed by Roy Forge Smith.
Curtains had an extremely troubled production, fueled by disputes between Simpson and Ciupka over its tone: Inspired by giallo films, Ciupka envisioned it as an arthouse thriller, while Simpson sought a more straightforward slasher film form. The conflicts between the two resulted in Ciupka abandoning the project, after which Simpson took over directorial duties, overseeing multiple rewrites and reshoots. The film was completed approximately two years after production began, with Ciupka detaching his name from the project and being credited under a pseudonym.
Curtains opened theatrically in the United States in February 1983, and was given a limited release in Ottawa the following year, through Jensen Farley Pictures. It received largely negative reviews from critics, with many citing its screenplay and lack of narrative cohesion as faults. It earned $1 million at the North American box office. In the years after its release, Curtains became a staple of late night television, and developed a cult following in the 2000s, with fans petitioning for an official DVD release. Following its inclusion in several multi-film bargain DVD releases sourced from video masters, the film received a 2K restoration by Synapse Films, who released it on Blu-ray and DVD in 2014.
Contents
Plot
Samantha Sherwood, a beautiful actress and muse for director Jonathan Stryker, feigns mental illness and has herself committed to an asylum to prepare for the titular role of a mentally unstable woman in a film called Audra. Once inside, she discovers that Stryker has coerced her into method-rehearsing the material and committing herself so he can audition a group of younger women for the role in her absence. Furious at being double-crossed, Samantha escapes the asylum to seek revenge.
One of the candidates, fledgling actress Amanda Teuther, has a nightmare in which, while driving to the audition, she spots a large doll in the middle of the road. When she leaves her car to move it, it grabs her hand as someone gets into her car and runs over her. After she wakes up from her nightmare, a killer in a hag mask stabs her to death and takes her doll.
The next day, the other five women auditioning for the part of Audra arrive at Stryker's rural New England mansion: stand-up comedian Patti O'Connor, veteran actress Brooke Parsons, ballet dancer Laurian Summers, musician Tara DeMillo, and professional ice skater Christie Burns. The women are met by the mansion's caretaker, Matthew. Samantha, the uninvited guest, appears at the house during dinner, creating tension among the group. The girls spend their first night getting to know each other as a snowstorm develops. Tara has sex with Matthew in a jacuzzi as Stryker assaults Christie. Then, an unseen figure enters the tool shed, grabs a sickle, and sharpens it.
The next morning, Christie goes to a nearby pond to ice skate. She notices a small hand protruding out of the snow and uncovers Amanda's doll. The masked killer with the sickle appears and attacks Christie. The killer manages to wound her, but Christie is able to momentarily incapacitate the killer, escaping into the woods. As she rests against a tree, the killer appears from behind and viciously decapitates her. Shortly after, Stryker humiliates Samantha during a group audition by forcing her to wear the hag mask and pretend to seduce him in front of the others.
Later that day, a drunk Matthew rides away on a snowmobile in search of Christie. Patti is given an impromptu audition with Stryker and nearly explodes with anger when he mocks her ability to act, not even giving her a chance to start. While Tara and Laurian are rehearsing, Brooke discovers Christie's severed head in a toilet bowl. She frantically informs Stryker of what she has seen, but when they go back to the bathroom, the toilet is empty. Exploiting Brooke's vulnerability, Stryker seduces the frightened actress. Meanwhile, Tara and Patti ponder Brooke's reason for claiming that Christie is dead, suspecting foul play. Later on, while Laurian is dancing in her room upstairs, the killer sneaks in and stabs her to death.
Themes
Literary critic John Kenneth Muir notes that madness is a primary theme of Curtains, which is outlined in its opening scene, featuring the character of Samantha performing a monologue on the subject in a theatrical performance. The politics of filmmaking and casting are also cited as theme by Muir, who suggests that Samantha's method acting rehearsal of her role as the mentally-ill Audra distorts her mental state and, in turn, results in her developing homicidal rage. The film makes use of several theatrical props and sets, also echoing its "witty" preoccupation with film and theater, as well as recurring dialogue from its actress characters:
Dwelling in the world of Variety, publicity shows, auditions, acting exercises and the like, Curtains' form nicely echoes its content... [because] all the characters are drama queens—literally—the dramatis personae are more interesting. "An actress must always be in control," one of them says, and that means—to Curtains' benefit—any one of them could be a liar or a killer. Or any two of them, for that matter.
Production
Development
Producer Peter Simpson had wanted to make another successful slasher film after the release of Simcom's Prom Night, which had been a major box-office success. While jogging with writer Robert Guza Jr. in Toronto's Queen's Park, the two began developing the idea of a whodunit-style slasher film about a group of actresses being killed while auditioning for a film at a New England mansion. Wanting to avoid the "failure of teenybopper horror films such as Terror Train", Simpson signed onto the Curtains project because the film was "aimed for an adult audience." Richard Ciupka, a cinematographer with no directing experience at the time, was enlisted to direct. At the time of his hiring, Ciupka had just completed filming of Louis Malle's Atlantic City (1980). Ciupka was particularly inspired by Italian giallo films, envisioning Curtains as "artistic and European."
Casting
John Vernon was cast in the role of Jonathan Stryker, a part that had originally been considered for Klaus Kinski. British actress Samantha Eggar, who had appeared in several Canadian films, was cast as Samantha Sherwood; Eggar stated she thought the characters in the film were "vaguely drawn", the end result "awful", and she took the role chiefly for the work and salary. Director Ciupka recalled being "very intimidated" by Eggar: "She hardly spoke... she was a big-time actress... But there was never a problem and she was very good with everything.
Lynne Griffin, who had previously appeared in the slasher film Black Christmas (1974), was cast in the role of Patti, the stand-up comic, and at the time had been working in local theater productions in Toronto. Originally, Celine Lomez was cast in the role of Brooke Parsons, but she was replaced by Linda Thorson after producer Simpson fired her.
Filming
Principal photography for Curtains began November 17, 1980, on location in Muskoka, Ontario, and Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on a budget of $3.7 million. Approximately ten percent of the film's budget was allocated to create the elaborate, art nouveau-inspired interior sets for its mansion setting, which were designed by Roy Forge Smith. The majority of the film was shot on these sets, which were constructed at Toronto's Magder Studios. Taking advantage of a record snowstorm that had hit the northeastern United States in December 1980, exterior locations were sought in Vermont for shooting, but a sudden rainstorm that melted the snow thwarted the opportunity. Instead, the snowy exterior shoots took place in Port Carling. Filming was still underway in January 1981.
In preparation for the film's ice-skating sequence, actress Lesleh Donaldson was sent for skating practice by the film's producers. She had very little prior training in the field and even had fellow actress Anne Ditchburn help with her choreography. Nevertheless, when filming for that scene commenced, Donaldson tripped on the uneven ice and injured herself, resulting in a stand-in double being used for her long shots.
The hag mask worn by the killer in the film was designed by special effects artist Greg Cannom.
Curtains suffered a troubled production, ultimately leading to it being shelved for a year, during which rewrites, reshoots, and one major recasting was done. As a result, two sets of credits grace the ending of Curtains, divided between "Act I" and "Act II", denoting the two different, protracted production periods. Eventually, numerous crew members had to be rehired to shoot footage to complete the film.
The film's turbulent production stemmed from a clash between director Ciupka and producer Peter Simpson. Commenting during the shoot in April 1981, Ciupka expressed some anxiety about his direction of the project, particularly around effectively depicting its large cast of characters. Ciupka envisioned the film as more of an arthouse giallo-inspired thriller in the style of Ten Little Indians (1965), whereas Simpson wanted a more commercial slasher film. According to actress Linda Thorson, at one point, the tension between the two became so intense, it caused many of the actors to feel uncertain whether the production would even move forward at all.
Music
The original score for Curtains was composed by Paul Zaza, who had previously composed the score for Simcom's slasher film Prom Night (1980) as well as My Bloody Valentine (1981).
In August 2022, Waxwork Records released Zaza's original film score via digital download and streaming. Waxwork subsequently released a vinyl LP edition in October 2022.
Release
Curtains opened regionally in the United States, premiering in Phoenix and San Antonio on February 25, 1983. The film expanded its release on March 11, 1983 to numerous other cities, including Spokane, Washington, Kansas City, Missouri, Boise, Idaho, Omaha, Nebraska, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. The film opened in New York City on April 8, 1983.
In the United Kingdom, the film opened in Greater Manchester and Liverpool on June 23, 1983. It was released in its native Canada the following year, premiering in Ottawa on September 14, 1984. The film was released in Italy as The Mask of Terror and as Death Count to Seven in Norway.
Home media
Curtains was first released on VHS by Vestron Video in 1984.
Throughout the early 2000s, a DVD release for the film never manifested, leading fans to start an online petition for a DVD release.
The film eventually was released on DVD on October 5, 2010, by Echo Bridge Home Entertainment as part of the Midnight Horror Collection: Bloody Slashers DVD collection, which also includes Secrets of the Clown, Hoboken Hollow, and Room 33, three direct-to-video B-movies from the 2000s. This release featured generic cover art and a poor transfer from VHS source material.
On July 29, 2014, Curtains was released on Blu-ray and DVD by Synapse Films, featuring a new 2K transfer from the original prints, as well as a 5.1 surround sound audio remastering. It features a retrospective "making of" documentary and vintage documentary footage, an audio commentary, and the film's original theatrical trailer.
Reception
Box office
Curtains earned approximately $1 million at the North American box office.
Critical response
Reviewing the film for Cinema Canada, Andrew Dowler observed, "the whole thing is so badly written that it's astounding the performers managed to make anything at all of their roles," but conceded that Eggar, Griffin, and Thorson gave adequate performances. Film critic Leonard Maltin gave the film an unflattering review, calling it a "badly conceived and executed horror opus." Joe Baltake of the Philadelphia Daily News noted that Vernon "projects a genuine aura of menace" and that Eggar is "saddled here with a character that looks like a practical joke by her agent," summing up the film: "The movie itself is never a mystery, never frightening, but is, instead, unrelievedly solemn, given to long, mournful pauses." Rick Brough of the Park City Newspaper ranked the film two stars out of five, adding: "Don't bother using logic to figure out whodunit. The movie cheats shamelessly. Outwitting the dumb script in Curtains may be the only challenge in this waste." The Buffalo News's Dale Anderson also noted the film's plot inconsistencies, adding: "Given the isolation, the snowstorm outside and the marvelous art deco appointments in the place, a sudden shift to the plot framework of The Shining might be in order, but the dramatic deftness of this crew is so slight that the act of getting half a dozen people into the same place at the same time is about all they can handle." The Omaha World-Herald's Roger Catlin criticized the unbelievability of its twist ending, and noted that several moviegoers at his screening walked out.
Linda Gross of the Los Angeles Times summarized the film as a "mediocre and grotesque Grand Guignol horror movie," criticizing its depiction of violence against women. Stephen Hunter, writing for The Baltimore Sun, noted that "the most affecting thing about Curtains is its melancholy subtext of failed career and unrealized aspirations," but concluded: "Only the presence of several slick professional actors—Samantha Eggar and John Vernon—and some glossy production values separate this pointless, thoroughly meretricious film from the cruder, rawer teenage hacker melodramas that it so resembles." Meta Gaertnier of The Wichita Eagle echoed this sentiment, writing that the performances of Eggar and Vernon are "what rescues the film from utter inanity," and recommended it only to ardent fans of slasher films.
Richard Martin of the Ottawa Citizen criticized the film for its unbelievable characters and lack of coherence, but conceded that, despite this, audiences "go expecting to be scared, to feel those delicious shivers run up and down your spine, to gasp and cry out in shock and then laugh with relief. And Curtains delivers enough of the time to make it worthwhile." The Fort Worth Star-Telegram's John Dycus similarly felt the film featured a cliched screenplay but was no less frightening, writing: "You'll duck beneath your sweater sleeve at Curtains. The slayings are unsettling, but there's something worse: the plot."
In popular culture
American death metal band Mortician used a sample from Curtains as an introduction for the song "Audra" from their 2003 album Darkest Day of Horror. Bassist / vocalist Will Rahmer has said in interviews that Curtains is one of his favorite films. Clips from the film were used in the music video for Oneohtrix Point Never's "Lost But Never Alone."