Tags:
Film: Curtains
Year: 1983
Director: Richard Ciupka
Writers: Robert Guza Jr.
Starring: John Vernon, Samantha Eggar and Linda Thorson
Review:
This is a movie that I learned about thanks to podcasts. What is interesting here is that when people cover it, it seems like there are fans, but also it comes with its fair share of issues. Now I selected this as it takes place during the winter and it also doubled as a Traverse through the Threes film.
Synopsis: six young actors auditioning for a movie role at a remote mansion are targeted by a mysterious masked murderer.
Now we start with Samantha Sherwood (Samantha Eggar) acting in a role. She is critiqued by the director, Jonathan Stryker (John Vernon). They disagree with how the role should be played. Then to get more into the headspace, Samantha checks herself into a mental hospital. She is voluntarily committing herself. Stryker is there as well. They both think it is a good idea.
The problem here is that Samantha has issues. She is here longer than she expected but is exploring problems that she has. Stryker also has abandoned her. She learns through Variety that he is recasting her role for the movie that she is researching by being here. She escapes from the hospital with help.
Stryker is taking these actors to this remote place like the synopsis says. The actors he's invited are Brooke Parsons (Linda Thorson), Laurian Summers (Anne Ditchburn), Patti O'Connor (Lynne Griffin), Tara DeMillo (Sandee Currie), Christie Burns (Lesleh Donaldson) and Amanda Teuther (Deborah Burgess). We see that Brooke is the most accomplished. She almost doesn't go as she demands an offer, knowing how difficult it can be to audition. Patti is a comedian; Tara is a singer and Christie is a figure skater by trade. They all must decide how far they'll go to get the part.
To complicate things further, there is someone in an old man mask killing them. One of the women doesn't even make it. Then Samantha also arrives at the manor, making it uncomfortable for all involved. The killer could be one of the women that is here for the part, taking out the competition to get the role. Then there is also Samantha or one of the other house guests that are staying here as well.
That is where I'll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Now where I'll start is that we have an interesting slasher film here. We set the stage with Samantha getting committed. This gives her a clear motive to be our killer. She could be killing the other women to get the part that she helped get in the hands of Stryker and it was taken from her. It could also make her a red herring since it is the easy choice to be the killer. I did like that aspect and I mean, Eggar also plays crazy well.
Let me then go over to the other actors that are up for the role. I'll include our director here as well. Any of these individuals has a motive. The converse to Samantha is that maybe one of the other women is killing for a similar reason. Brooke knows how difficult it can be to win an audition for a role. That is why she is pushing for a deal before leaving for the mansion. Over the dinner table, a couple of the women say they will do sexual favors. Another actor even goes as far to say she'd do anything. The red herring concept there is even murder. The killer could also be Stryker. Maybe he's finally gone crazy and lured these women here. I did like the mystery that is built and it feels like a take on Agatha Christie's 'And Then There Were None'. Our red herrings are dwindled as people are killed.
I'm going to then shift to the other actors. Vernon was good as our eccentric director. I take it he's had success so he can get away with what he's doing here because of it. He fits this role perfectly. Thorson, Ditchburn, Griffin, Currie, Donaldson and Burgess are good as our group of actors here that are vying for the part. I wouldn't say they're all red herrings, but there are some that feel like they could be capable. I'd say the rest of the cast are solid to push our characters to this mansion to get things going there. For a slasher, I do think we get a bit more character development than normal, which is a plus in my book.
Where I'll then go will be filmmaking. I do want to say that I didn't predict who the killer was. There is something that happened that made me think that what we saw was too easy of an explanation for what we got to that point. What happened there though was a fitting callback to something earlier and that was good writing. The reveal was enjoyable. I liked the look of the killer as well. That old man mask was creepy. The slasher elements there were good. We get solid kills. I do feel there was censorship a bit as it does cut away. That can work in its favor if you can’t make the kills look good. I did like that one involved a hand scythe. Such a great weapon. I'll say that the setting being isolated like it is and the cinematography were good to capture that. It also feels cold. A problem I have is that like with most slasher films, it is boring and quite slow until the action picks up for the climax.
There isn't more that I want to go into so then in conclusion, this slasher has solid elements. The driving force to get our characters to this isolated location was good. I thought that the acting for the characters was solid with Vernon, Eggar and Griffin leading the way there. The look of the killer was solid as well. This is just a bit too much of a slow burn for me. The kills could have been a bit more to liven it up as well. This variation on the classic Christie style story was solid regardless and I enjoyed how things eventually played out. I'd recommend it on the back of that for sure.
My Rating: 6.5 out of 10