Customer Reviews

Curtains

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As a long time fan of horror movies, I've seen a lot of great movies and horror that simply wasn't scary. This scared the life out of me! This is a true classic that needs to be released on DVD, with any extras that may be available. There is a scene in here, where the masked killer is skating toward the camera with a sickle in their hand.....brrrr, I'm getting goosebumps just thinking about it! If you are a fan of whodunnit horror films, you've seen this. If not.....it is highly recommended viewing if you like a good mystery with horror thrown in. This is a true classic that I hope will be released on DVD in the near future.

This Canadian slasher is quite the sleeper in a genre full of hockey-masked summer camp killers, and babysitter stalkers. Then we have the quiet, eerie "Curtains". For years I have been telling others about this film and yet not many remember it, or heard about it. But when told of the story, most end up seeing it, and loving it. The plot is not all that great, but it is a change from the norm. And one big plus I liked about this film was here is a slasher film that deals with almost all women, an idea that doesn't always happen in this type of movie.

The cinematography of this film is spectacular, the setting is somewhere I'd hate to be alone, and the atmosphere is quite chilling, which sets the stage for an outstandingly creepy witch-masked killer to get down to business with a good selection of weapons. John Vernon and Samantha Eggar are great as director and star of an upcoming movie. It was on cable HBO when most of us were kids. Cool poster too. I only hope that in the future there will be a sequel to this gem to introduce new viewers to this frightful, severely underrated, movie.

For the horror genre, I give this film 5 stars. Overall it's about a 4. It has everything you should want. Almost all the characters in the film are female. The score is perfect and downright chilling. The killer donning an old hag-looking mask is very creepy. All the actors are likeable and are the types you care about and want to root on. The storyline is simple. Six actresses are all called in to audition for a part that is to take place in a snowy, isolated mansion out in the boonies. Is the killer one of them who is trying to eliminate the competition? Does their host have more in store for them than just an audition? You will have to watch and see! It is not predictable, and you will not know who it is until the very end. I really loved this film because of the atmosphere, the actors, the score, the storyline, etc. It was all very well done. You even get a lengthy chase scene with one of the girls near the end. The ice skating scene is one of the most memorable scenes in the film and should be inducted in the horror film hall of fame. This ranks as one of my favorite horror flicks along with Black Christmas and Happy Birthday to Me which are also Canadian horror films. They sure did make some of the best! I'm assuming there is some sort of rights issue since this is not out on DVD yet and it should be, no question about it. Hopefully it will happen soon. This should not ever be forgotten. It's terrific!

I don't really think of this film as being "so much more" than a 80's slasher movie, but I would definitely recommend it to more-than casual fans of the genre. although there is a decent story behind it that makes it a little more sophisticated than most, a great killers-disguise (a grotesquely realistic looking old hag's mask), as well as some good suprises, "Curtains" is a little too slow paced to be a great slasher film. Nonetheless, I'd say its a lot better than most critic's reviews would have you to believe, and a proper DVD release is definitely well-deserved.

One of the most underrated slasher films of the early 1980s, Curtains has been dissed by many genre critics, but is tops with me. John Stanley's Creature Features movie guide says of Curtains: "Irritating Canadian slasher film paints characters in muddy fashion. ... There's nothing clever or suspenseful about the murders, and the climax is neither riveting nor surprising. Jonathan Stryker's direction rambles."

The Overlook Encyclopedia laments: "After a conspicuously implausible red herring opening ... Curtains takes off into a drearily pedestrian variation on the masked-marauder theme. ... the script has not bothered to provide [the killer] with a semblance of motivation, any more than it has contrived any logic or suspense in the plotting of the attacks."

I first praised Curtains in the 1980s, in The Journal of Horror Cinema, then in the 1990s in Horror magazine and Horrorfind. And at least some critics agree with me. In Slasher Films, Kent Byron Armstrong says: "Curtains is a very good slasher film." [Although he misspells Samantha Eggar's name throughout as Egger.]

Incidentally, contrary to Stanley's remarks, Jonathan Stryker is one of the film's characters, not its director. I'd thought it was an "inside joke," but Adam Rockoff reports in Going to Pieces that the real director, Richard Ciupka, was fired or quit mid-shoot "depending to whom you speak". Rockoff regards Curtains as "a decent slasher [film], but one that occasionally hints at greatness that could have been."

Well, I see more than hints at greatness. There is much to recommend Curtains, beginning with Samantha Eggar (The Brood, The Uncanny, Demonoid: Messenger of Death), who here portrays Samantha Sherwood, a classy fortysomething actress at her peak and imminent decline. Curtains also has a sociological dimension, examining two Hollywood customs practiced mostly by men: Riding a superstar wife's coattails to success, and dumping an aging wife. These customs are not necessarily connected. The discarded wife is often a quiet helpmate, not a star. But Curtains combines these themes to fine effect. And finally, there is a generous body count.

In Curtains, film star Samantha Sherwood buys the film rights to Audra (a hot play about a psychotic) for director Jonathan Stryker (John Vernon). It remains unclear whether they are (were?) married, but it seems they shared "something." A house in the wintry woods, for instance.

Feigning insanity, Samantha checks into an asylum to better understand her Audra character. Jonathan leaves her there to rot and sets about casting for a new and younger Audra. Six nubile actresses are scheduled for "a weekend audition at his house." An unknown woman (we never see her face) liberates Samantha from the asylum. Samantha arrives at the house to audition.

Everyone playacts in Curtains, on and off stage. Samantha feigns insanity. Jonathan feigns his intent to release her. An actress is "raped" by a burglar, who turns out to be her boyfriend playacting their usual sex game. O'Connor (the comedian in the group) playacts sex games with hand puppets, the dog cajoling a snake to "give head." (Like many comedians, O'Connor hides her pained neuroses and burning ambition behind jokes.) When the ice-skater discovers Jonathan and Samantha arguing, Jonathan claims they were rehearsing an old play. After Jonathan abuses O'Connor during an interview, she accuses him of playing
directorial mind games. He smiles, mum. When Brooke becomes hysterical, claiming to have seen a severed head in her toilet, O'Connor accuses her of "putting on a show, acting like Audra."

Curtains is about people so desperate to "make it" in Hollywood that they are always "in character," their personal identities as contrived as the characters they portray, their selves hidden behind curtains of their own making. After Jonathan has Samantha audition in a crone mask, he yanks off the mask, forces Samantha to face a mirror, and states, "This is a mask too."

Curtains examines those willing to do anything to "make it." It's the theme of O'Connor's standup act. "Have you ever wanted something so bad you would do anything to get it? Me, I wanted to be an actress. I wanted to be in pictures so bad, I screwed the guy from Fotomat." Hollywood encourages self-deception, and with this attitude the playacting is constant. One is always in character, projecting an image, the Self ever more elusive.

Samantha suffers and sacrifices to maintain her star status, including the sojourn in the asylum. But the stay affects her, the patients both frighten and move her. "So sad. Even when they're laughing they're sad." She advises O'Connor to forego a career in show business, to "get married and grow old together."

O'Connor suspects Samantha of trying to thin the competition, but more likely Samantha is stating what she might do if she could begin again.

Sociology aside, Curtains is an effective slasher film. The wintry location creates a coldly beautiful isolation, reminiscent of The Shining, Ghost Story, and The Brood. The slasher's crone mask, worn to hide her identity, also augurs these pretty young actresses likely fate, when they too will be discarded. Killings are stylized, shot with lyrical slow-motion. One actress is chased backstage amid mannequins, discovering a dead actress hanging among them (sagacious commentary on Hollywood's meat market?). The subsequent stabbings (off camera) are punctuated by quick jump cuts amid the mannequins. Unlike many slasher films, Curtains's killer is difficult to identify (there's a reason for that).

Curtains also functions as commentary on Samantha Eggar's own career. Named Best Actress at Cannes for her work in The Collector (1965), by the 1980s she had gone to slumming in Canadian slasher fare (to the genre's benefit). Notably, Eggar's character shares her first name. Curtains has other curious "insider" attributes. Actor John Vernon portrays the fictitious Jonathan Stryker, yet Curtains is credited to director "Jonathan Stryker." (Actually directed by Richard Ciupka).

Curtains opens with Samantha playacting a scene from Audra. She finds closure by performing the scene for real. What has she learned? "That an actress must always be in control," she tells O'Connor. It may be for naught. The final survivor in Curtains, the one who has what it takes to "make it" to the end, ends up in an asylum.

Both as a rumination on the relative values of fame and family, and as a tense and gory slasher film set in beautiful wintry isolation, Curtains delivers.

Well how far would you go to become famous? Apparently, in this film it means murder. Samantha Sherwood has worked with the well-known director Jonathan Stryker on all his major films. She naturally assumes she has been given the title role in his latest venture, "Audra". He tells her that she needs to do some background research on the part, so arranges to have her committed to an asylum (as Audra is a former psychiatric patient). She goes along with this, not realizing that he intends to leave her there indefinitely and audition six young women of various professions for the part instead. She finally manages to escape, and returns to the spooky old mansion where the auditions are taking place. But who is causing the disappearances of the young hopefuls?? Is it Samantha? Stryker? Or is one of the actresses willing to kill for the coveted part?? Just who is the killer in the old hag mask? one of the Great hidden slashers with a few great death scenes. Not bad acting, and a creepy hag mask worn by the killer (someone you will never think of btw). To go on, Curtains brings a few good things to the slasher genre. Best scene in the film is the ice skating scene, anyway worth a watch!

I recently baught and watched this movie. I had been trying to get it for years now, because I had heard some good reviews about it. I will start off by saying it does have some scary scenes in it, but they could have left some of the scenes out. The scene with the one guy who is playing a joke on his wife by sneeking up on her, and pretending to force himself on her. That served no purpose for the movie at all! Also, even worse, was the scene where the director in the movie has two women acting out a lesbian scene, that should have been left out for sure. It had nothing to do with the story at all! I guess like most movies they have to put some uncalled scenes involving sex. The movie would have been much better without those scenes. Now the good, it has 2 or 3 pretty creepy death scenes, especially the girl trying to get away towards the end. Also, the ending is nicely done. Overall I give it a 3 out of 5.

After thumbing through some of my movie books I came across this universally panned horror film. After watching it I cant understand why all the negative reviews. This is by no means a classic horror film, but it is at times moody atmospheric and scary. Curtains suffers from being a little to talky at times, fortunatly the actors are all pretty good ( espeically samantha eggar). I can only think of what argento might have done with this story. That would have been something to see!

Just wanted to let people know that you can get "Curtains" at a cheap price. It was released on DVD for Halloween time in a 4 movies pack. It is listed on here under The Midnight Horror Collection which includes "Curtains" and 3 other films. It was releasaed by Echo Bridge home entertainment. You can get this DVD pretty cheap. A little less than $10.00 shipped on here. The artwork for "Curtains" is different on the DVD, than the original VHS Vestron rerlease, but it is still the same great 80's classic movie. I would much rather have this on DVD at a great price than paying over $70.00 for a VHS release anyway. I am giving this a 5 star rating because of "Curtains". "Room 33" is okay and I would give it 3 stars. The other 2 movies are really not that good at all. The clown one is the worst. Skip it completely, unless you are bored. Grab this DVD quick. This is the only version of "Curtains" available on DVD ever. Who knows if it will ever get a seperate release. You can't beat the price. Once these go out of print, these will be impossible to find. If you do, the DVD price will go insane when people realize this contains the original 1980's classic of curtains. I think alot of people don't know yet because of the artwork being different for "Curtains". Grab this 4 pack. You will enjoy it.

I agree with you all, and feel that this is my all-time favorite slasher film, and possibly the most underrated horror movie in recent memory. There is just something about the scenery, setting, characters, and everything else about this film that was a truly enjoyable wonder of 80's horror to behold. Given the background of this film, its something of a small miracle that "Curtains" was ever made.

What we have here is a movie about a play involving a character named "Audra" that was to be portrayed by the wonderful Samantha Sherwood (played to the hilt by the charming Samantha Eggar of "The Brood" fame). Audra was supposed to be a lunatic, and for Sherwood to get the part right, she and her director Jonathon Stryker (played by the intense John Vernon, of "Animal House")decide that the best way for Sherwood to prepare for the part is to get herself committed to a real mental hospital. Unfortunately for Sherwood, this was the opportunity that her director was looking for, when he decides to leave her to rot there, and cast for the part at his villa in the country for 6 other actresses. Once Sherwood finds out of this, she escapes, and heads for Stryker. No sooner does she get out, the other 6 actresses begin to get bumped off in a relatively bloodless and effective manner by a witch-masked killer that had me trembling.
The film then switches over to the "10 Little Indians" mode as we try to find out who the killer is.

The film was marred by setback after setback, even having its director Richard Ciupka ("Atlantic City")walk out on the film half way through the film. The film was then completed by the producer who used the pseudonym "Jonathon Stryker" in the credits. But through it all "Curtains" has the lush scenery, great atmosphere, and the claustrophobic winter setting to send chills up and down your spine like a blast of Missisauga air. I too cannot wait for this film to be released onto DVD, since it is a must have for anyone interested in the slasher film genre, or something that was a great tribute to these abundant films of the 1980's. "Curtains" was special to me because it gave what it promised to deliver: Scares. The killer was truly frightening, and this film did it all while breaking some of the rules of the modern slasher/horror film. We have a killing in broad daylight which was awesomely effective, a film that was mostly adults, and a scary little doll that seemed to have death follow close behind it. Great acting put this film over the top as well, with great scenes from Vernon, Eggar, and Lynne Griffin ("Patti O'Connor" in Curtains, and also starred in Strange Brew). Also take a peek for a young Michael Wincott of "The Crow", and "Strange Days" as a doomed Matthew.

Truly another great slasher brought to us by Simcom Productions, who gave us the famed "Prom Night". Great, great slasher film well worth the search and the view.

-C.West