Curtains (1983 film)

Plot

Samantha Sherwood, an actress and muse to director Jonathan Stryker, feigns mental illness and commits herself to an asylum to prepare for a film role. She discovers Stryker has used her commitment to audition younger women for the part. Escaping, she seeks revenge. Fledgling actress Amanda Teuther dreams of a doll in the road and a car running her over; after waking, a killer in a hag mask stabs her and takes her doll.

The next day, five other women arrive at Stryker's rural New England mansion: Patti O'Connor, Brooke Parsons, Laurian Summers, Tara DeMillo, and Christie Burns. They meet caretaker Matthew. Samantha appears uninvited during dinner. That night, Tara has sex with Matthew in a jacuzzi while Stryker assaults Christie.

An unseen figure sharpens a sickle in a tool shed. The next morning, Christie ice-skates on a pond, finds Amanda's doll, and is attacked by the masked killer with the sickle. She wounds the killer but is decapitated from behind. Stryker later humiliates Samantha by forcing her to wear the hag mask and seduce him during a group audition.

Production

Producer Peter Simpson sought another successful slasher after Prom Night. While jogging with writer Robert Guza Jr., they conceived a whodunit about actresses killed during an audition at a New England mansion. Simpson aimed for an adult audience, avoiding teen-focused horror. Richard Ciupka, a cinematographer without directing experience, was hired; he had just finished Atlantic City and was inspired by Italian giallo films, envisioning an artistic, European tone.

John Vernon was cast as Stryker, a role originally considered for Klaus Kinski. Samantha Eggar took the role of Samantha Sherwood chiefly for the work and salary, later calling the characters vaguely drawn and the result awful. Lynne Griffin, who appeared in Black Christmas, played Patti. Celine Lomez was originally cast as Brooke Parsons but was fired and replaced by Linda Thorson.

Principal photography began November 17, 1980, in Muskoka and Toronto, Ontario, on a $3.7 million budget. About ten percent of the budget went to art nouveau-inspired interior sets designed by Roy Forge Smith, built at Magder Studios. Exterior snowy shoots took place in Port Carling after a planned Vermont shoot was thwarted by rain. Filming continued into January 1981.

Release

Curtains first hit screens in the U.S. with a regional rollout, debuting in Phoenix and San Antonio on February 25, 1983. It widened to Spokane, Kansas City, Boise, Omaha, Los Angeles, and San Francisco on March 11, then opened in New York City on April 8. Across the Atlantic, the film premiered in Greater Manchester and Liverpool on June 23, 1983. Its Canadian release came later, with an Ottawa premiere on September 14, 1984.

Internationally, it was retitled The Mask of Terror in Italy and Death Count to Seven in Norway. Vestron Video put out a VHS edition in 1984. For years, fans clamored for a DVD, but no official release materialized until Echo Bridge Home Entertainment bundled it on October 5, 2010, in a budget collection with three direct-to-video B-movies, using generic cover art and a subpar VHS transfer. A proper restoration arrived on July 29, 2014, when Synapse Films issued a Blu-ray and DVD with a 2K scan from original prints, a 5.1 surround remaster, a making-of documentary, vintage footage, an audio commentary, and the theatrical trailer.

Reception

Curtains earned approximately $1 million at the North American box office. Critics largely panned the film. Andrew Dowler of Cinema Canada wrote that the writing was so poor it was astounding the performers made anything of their roles, though he noted adequate performances from Eggar, Griffin, and Thorson. Leonard Maltin called it a badly conceived and executed horror opus.

Joe Baltake of the Philadelphia Daily News observed that John Vernon projected genuine menace but that Eggar was saddled with a character that looked like a practical joke by her agent, and found the film never mysterious or frightening, but unrelievedly solemn. Rick Brough of the Park City Newspaper gave it two stars, noting the script cheats shamelessly. Dale Anderson of The Buffalo News noted plot inconsistencies and compared the setting unfavorably to The Shining.

Roger Catlin of the Omaha World-Herald criticized the twist ending's unbelievability and noted walkouts at his screening. Linda Gross of the Los Angeles Times called it a mediocre and grotesque Grand Guignol horror movie, criticizing its violence against women. Stephen Hunter of The Baltimore Sun noted a melancholy subtext of failed careers but concluded the film was pointless and meretricious. Meta Gaertnier of The Wichita Eagle wrote that Eggar and Vernon's performances rescued the film from utter inanity, recommending it only to ardent slasher fans.

Did You Know?

• The original score was composed by Paul Zaza, who also scored Prom Night and My Bloody Valentine.
• American death metal band Mortician used a sample from the film as an introduction for their song 'Audra'.
• Clips from the film were used in the music video for Oneohtrix Point Never's 'Lost But Never Alone'.