An '80s slasher movie I never heard of? How can that be? Oh, I get it. It's, uh, not very good.
I only found _Curtains_ because I love horror movies set during winter, particularly when there is snow.
While there are several great qualities here, the movie overall just falls flat. Where to begin? I think it's important to understand that, much like other slashers from the era, this is a whodunit; trouble is, all of the girls look alike, so I was never sure who was dead and who wasn't. What the movie gets right is the score, the lighting, the overall atmosphere, and the tension.
_Curtains_ has a very slow build, but that's fine, because it does a magnificent job of becoming claustrophobic and interesting as the bodycount raises.
I thought I was going to like this, but the ending just comes out of nowhere, and there was a plot hole so big, I thought a scene was missing or I blacked out. Really just lazy writing. I mean, most slasher movies rest on the explanation being "crazy though." But this? Come on!
All that will stick with me about _Curtains_ is the killer's mask - truly creepy. That and how well the cold, dark environment was captured on film.
If you love old slasher movies - e.g., _Black Christmas_ (1974), _Friday the 13th_ (1980), _My Bloody Valentine_ (1981) - I'd still recommend this. Just know that it hits different than those. That is to say, it feels as if they wanted to make a psychological horror movie, but wanted to cash in on the slasher boom.

Stumbled across this one on another of those curated lists. I had reservations about it but in all honesty, it wasn't all that bad for a movie from the 1960's... except this one was done in 1983. It was that bad, ladies and germs. It had all the earmarks, the drama, the intrigue, the Oscar-winning performance that you would expect from a low-budget (I have no idea what the budget actually was, but this film was low-budget performance, for sure), little-heard-of film. There was nothing to enjoy about this one. You might see (as I did, in the aforementioned curated list) some blurbs here and there about the "ice skating murder".... Trust me, you won't miss it. This was made in 1983, so the teen horror flicks were already out and about: _Friday the 13th_ , _Nightmare on Elm Street_ , etc. This thing acted like showing any type of violence was still taboo in motion pictures and the "ice skating murder" was laughable. In addition to incredibly underperformed acting, the lighting throughout was simply awful: too dark to really make out anything that was going on for almost the entire duration of the film. The storyline was so thin you could spit through it and never get it wet, and the ending?... I'm still scratching my head over what happened. In fact, the final ... I would say at least the final 20 (if not 30) minutes of the movie are so rushed and discordant that I watched it twice trying to figure out who did what, where, how, and I guess I'll never know WHY. While the name Brian de Palma garners some attention, this atrocity does not. Do yourself a favor and spend this 90 minutes in a far more productive way. This was just bad.

**_Someone’s slaying wannabe actresses at an isolated manor in the wintry sticks_**

A demanding director (John Vernon) rejects his aging muse (Samantha Eggar) for the role of a mad woman in his next film and so has six young lasses vie for a role at his mansion in the snowy woods of the Northeast. The problem is, someone in an old-hag mask is killing ’em off one by one.

"Curtains” (1983) is an artistic slasher birthed from a troubled production. Shooting began in November, 1980, with original director Richard Ciupka wanting to make an arthouse thriller, which led to hostilities with producer Peter Simpson, who wanted a conventional slasher since they were in vogue. This caused Ciupka to abandon the project with most of it shot. The film was shelved for over a year with uncredited Simpson taking over; rewrites and reshoots were done (mostly the beginning and end), along with one recasting (the role of Brooke Parsons).

You might remember Vernon as Captain Fletcher in “The Outlaw Josey Wales.” He’s commanding here; very convincing as the arrogant director.

There’s enough good for those interested, with the skating sequence standing out, but it’s not as effective as the similar “StageFright” (1987), yet it’s not too far off. There are too many dull parts with not enough character development and the directors didn’t take advantage of the feminine resources (not talkin’ ’bout nudity or sleaze), not to mention some scenes are too dark. However, the climax is good and surprising.

If you’re going to view it, stay away from the lousy darker prints with washed out colors offered on some streaming channels. There’s a decent restored print currently available on Youtube.

The film runs 1 hour, 29 minutes, and, was shot in the greater Toronto area, including Muskoka, Caledon and Forks of the Credit (the gas station scene) with studio stuff done at Commercial Studios in Scarborough.

GRADE: B-/C+