Curtains (1983 film)

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Curtains

Official 1983 one-sheet poster
Directed by Richard Ciupka
Produced by Peter R. Simpson
Written by Robert Guza, Jr.
Starring John Vernon
Linda Thorson
Samantha Eggar
Anne Ditchburn
Lynne Griffin
Lesleh Donaldson
Sandee Currie
Music by Paul Zaza
Cinematography Robert Paynter
Editing by Michael Laverty
Henry Richardson (uncredited)
Distributed by Jensen Farley Pictures (USA)
Norstar Releasing (Canada)
Release dates
  • March 4, 1983 (1983-03-04) (US)
  • September 14, 1984 (1984-09-14) (Canada)
Running time 89 minutes
Country Canada
Language English
Budget $3,700,000 (Estimated)

Curtains is a 1983 Canadian horror film directed by Richard Ciupka, and starring John Vernon, Samantha Eggar, Linda Thorson and Lynne Griffin. The plot tells the story of a group of actresses targeted by a masked killer at a prestigious director's remote mansion where they are auditioning for a role in a movie.

Though fairly obscure, Curtains has gained some underground cult status among fans of the slasher film genre, many of whom cite the 'ice skating' murder scene as the memorable highlight. The pic was relatively obscure until word of mouth among horror fans developed interest in the film again.

Plot

Samantha Sherwood, a beautiful aspiring actress has herself committed to a mental institution to do some background research for the role of a woman with unstable sanity in a film called 'Audra' in which her well known director, Jonathon Stryker, leaves her at the mental institution. Once finding out Stryker is letting a new group of girls audition for the role of Audra, she escapes the asylum for revenge.

One of the girls who was going to audition, Amanda Teuther, is stabbed to death before she even gets the chance to go to Stryker's mansion for the audition. The next day we are introduced to the five other women auditioning for the part of Audra. The girls consist of comedian Patti O'Connor, actress Brooke Parsons, dancer Laurian Summers, musician Tara DeMillo , and ice-skater Christie Burns. A caretaker named Matthew is also introduced. Samantha thrn appears at the house during dinner, without welcome. After a night of the girls getting to know each other Christie is brutally decapitated with a sickle while figure skating by someone in a grotesque hag mask outside of Stryker's house the next morning.

Later that day, after the killer watches a drunk Matthew ride away on a snowmobile, Patty calls an audition with Stryker and bombs due to nerves. Then, while Tara and Laurian are all auditioning, Brooke discovers Christie's decapitated head in a toilet bowl. She tells Stryker what she saw but when they go back to the bathroom where she found Christie's head they find nothing in the toilet. Abusing Brooke's vulnerability, Stryker gets her to reluctantly sleep with him. Meanwhile, Tara and Patti start to wonder what may have caused Brooke to say that Christie was dead which causes Tara to suspect foul play while Laurian is stabbed to death while dancing in a room upstairs.

After having sex Brooke and Stryker are both shot to death, to which Tara discovers the bodies. After trying to escape the isolated location, running directly past Matthew's corpse, Tara is chased by the hag in a backstage prop shed. After escaping the killer nearly three times and discovering Laurian's corpse amongst a group of hanging mannequins, she is killed after being dragged into a ventilation system by the hag. A little later Samantha and Patti have a bottle of champagne and discuss Audra's insanity in the kitchen. Samantha tells Patti about how Stryker left her in the aslyum and eventually admits to shooting Stryker and Brooke. After telling Patti this information Patti admits to killing the other girls and stabs Samantha to death. The epilogue consists of Patti performing Audra to other patients in a mental institution.

Cast

Production

Filming for Curtains began November 10, 1980. The film was shot on locations in Muskoka, Ontario, Canada and Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The film had a very troubled production though. Ultimately the film was shelved for a year, during which there were re-writes, re-shoots, and one major re-casting done. Eventually numerous crew members had to be re-hired to shoot the footage to complete the film.

Curtains' troubled production stemmed from a clash between the film's director and Simcom producer Peter Simpson. The former envisioned the vehicle as more of an arthouse thriller, while Simpson wanted a more commercial slasher of the type that was en vogue at the time. 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.[1]

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 coreography. However, 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.[2]

Thorson was cast in the role of Brooke Parsons after actress Celine Lomez left the production. This was long rumored to have been due to Lomez refusing to do full-frontal nudity, but this was later rebuffed by Simpson, who stated the actress had simply been fired.

Deleted scenes include a backstory sequence where, prior to arriving at Stryker's retreat, Christie is emotionally rejected by her skating coach. This scene was intended to show the character's vulnerability when she is rejected again, this time by Stryker.[3]

Actors Michael Wincott and Anne Ditchburn also originally had more dialogue, but most their lines were cut from the final version of the film. Wincott's death was also originally filmed with him being killed on a snowmobile, and then crashing into the library, scaring Sandee Currie's character. This scene was later cut out of the film, and instead he is killed off-screen in a hot tub.[4]

Actress Lynne Griffin recalls filming an alternate ending in Toronto. In this scene, her character Patti O'Connor delivers a monologue on a theatre stage surrounded by her dead victims. This alternate ending was not used in the final cut of the film.[5]

According to Michael MacLaverty, film editor for Curtains, the alternate theatre ending was ultimately discarded because Alana Simpson—then wife of producer Peter Simpson—felt it was "too improbable." "[Alana] couldn’t really accept the fact that all these corpses were somehow dragged together [by the killer] and put on a stage somewhere," recalls MacLaverty.[6]

Release

After three years in production, Curtains was released in the USA on March 4, 1983 and Canada in 1984. Although it was largely ignored by the press, it has gained a cult following over the years.

The film was released in Italy as The Mask of Terror and as Death Count to Seven in Norway.

Influence

  • American death metal band Mortician used a sample from Curtains as an intro 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.[7]

DVD and Blu-Ray releases

The film was first 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, 3 direct-to-video B-movies.[8] This release, which featured generic cover art for the film and a poor transfer, has angered many fans, who have demanded a separate re-release.

It was recently revealed on Synapse Films' Facebook page that they are planning on releasing a high-definition blu-ray restoration in the near future.

References

  1. ↑ "I, Audra: An Interview with Linda Thorson - October 2013". The Terror Trap. 
  2. ↑ "Losing Her Head: An Interview with Lesleh Donaldson - November 2011". The Terror Trap. 
  3. ↑ "Curtains Unveiled: An Interview with Peter Simpson - August 2004". The Terror Trap. 
  4. ↑ "Curtains Unveiled: An Interview with Peter Simpson - August 2004". The Terror Trap. 
  5. ↑ "Six for Her Scythe: An Interview with Lynne Griffin - July 2011". The Terror Trap. 
  6. ↑ "Revisiting Curtains: An Interview with Michael MacLaverty - March 2012". The Terror Trap. 
  7. ↑ "Interview with Will Rahmer, Mortician's Vocalist & Bassist - February 2004". Oh My Gore!. 
  8. ↑ "Echo Bridge Entertainment Releases 'The Midnight Horror Collection: Bloody Slashers'". More Horror. 

External links

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