| “ | Six beautiful girls, trying to get ahead ... when the curtain falls, five will be dead. | „ |
| ― Alternate tagline |
Curtains is a 1983 Canadian slasher film directed by Richard Ciupka from a screenplay by Robert Guza Jr., and starring John Vernon, Samantha Eggar, Linda Thorson, Lynne Griffin, and Lesleh Donaldson. Centered on the world of theater and filmmaking, its plot focuses on a group of ambitious female performers who are targeted by a masked killer while auditioning for a film role at a prestigious director's mansion.
Plot[]
Samantha Sherwood, a beautiful actress and muse for director Jonathan Stryker, feigns mental illness and has herself committed to an asylum to prepare for the titular role of a mentally unstable woman in a film called Audra. Once inside, she discovers that Stryker has coerced her into method-rehearsing the material and committing herself so he can audition a group of younger women for the role in her absence. Furious at being double-crossed, Samantha escapes the asylum to seek revenge.
One of the candidates, fledgling actress Amanda Teuther, has a nightmare in which, while driving to the audition, she spots a large doll in the middle of the road. When she leaves her car to move it, it grabs her hand as someone gets into her car and runs over her. After she wakes up from her nightmare, a killer in a hag mask stabs her to death and takes her doll.
The next day, the other five women auditioning for the part of Audra arrive at Stryker's rural New Englandmansion: stand-up comedian Patti O'Connor, veteran actress Brooke Parsons, ballet dancer Laurian Summers, musician Tara DeMillo, and professional ice skater Christie Burns. The women are met by the mansion's caretaker, Matthew. Samantha, the uninvited guest, appears at the house during dinner, creating tension among the group. The girls spend their first night getting to know each other as a snowstorm develops. Tara has sex with Matthew in a jacuzzi as Stryker seduces Christie. Then, an unseen figure enters the tool shed, grabs a sickle, and sharpens it.
The next morning, Christie goes to a nearby pond to ice skate. She notices a small hand protruding out of the snow and uncovers Amanda's doll. The masked killer with the sickle appears and attacks Christie. The killer manages to wound her, but Christie is able to momentarily incapacitate the killer, escaping into the woods. As she rests against a tree, the killer appears from behind and viciously decapitates her. Shortly after, Stryker humiliates Samantha during a group audition by forcing her to wear the hag mask and pretend to seduce him in front of the others.
Later that day, a drunk Matthew rides away on a snowmobile in search of Christie. Patti is given an impromptu audition with Stryker and nearly explodes with anger when he mocks her ability to act, not even giving her a chance to start. While Tara and Laurian are rehearsing, Brooke discovers Christie's severed head in a toilet bowl. She frantically informs Stryker of what she has seen, but when they go back to the bathroom, the toilet is empty. Exploiting Brooke's vulnerability, Stryker seduces the frightened actress. Meanwhile, Tara and Patti ponder Brooke's reason for claiming that Christie is dead, suspecting foul play. Later on, while Laurian is dancing in her room upstairs, the killer sneaks in and stabs her to death.
After having sex, Brooke and Stryker are both shot dead by a figure in a robe. They fall from the second floor, with Stryker's body crashing through a window downstairs. Tara subsequently discovers the bodies of Brooke and Stryker, as well as Matthew. She attempts to flee the property but discovers the cars inoperable and covered in snow. Panicked, she takes shelter in Stryker's expansive prop shed, where she discovers Laurian's body among the hanging mannequins and is pursued by the killer. The killer ambushes Tara three times and she is able to fight them off, before hiding in a ventilation duct. Thinking she has outsmarted the killer, Tara begins to climb out of the duct, only to be pulled back in and murdered with an axe, her screams echoing throughout the prop shed.
Shortly after, Samantha finds Patti in the kitchen, and the two drink champagne together while discussing Audra's insanity. Samantha tells Patti about Stryker's treachery for having abandoned her, then admits to having killed both Stryker and Brooke out of rage. Patti seems disappointed and angered by Samantha's confession, before revealing she herself has murdered the other women to eliminate her competition. The disturbed Patti corners Samantha in the kitchen and stabs her to death with a butcher knife.
Some time later, Patti, now incarcerated in a psychiatric hospital, performs a monologue from Audra for her fellow patients, who pay her no mind.
List of Deaths[]
| Name | Cause of Death | Killer | On Screen | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amanda Teuther | Run over by a car | Patti O'Connor | Yes | |
| Christie Burns | Decapitated | Patti O'Connor | Yes | |
| Laurian Summers | Stabbed | Patti O'Connor | Yes | |
| Jonathan Stryker | Gunshot | Samantha Sherwood | Yes | |
| Brooke Parsons | Gunshot | Samantha Sherwood | Yes | |
| Matthew | Stabbed | Patti O'Connor (presumably) | No | |
| Tara DeMillo | Hacked with an axe | Patti O'Connor | No (screams heard) | |
| Samantha Sherwood | Stabbed | Patti O'Connor | Yes |
Cast[]
- John Vernon as Jonathan Stryker
- Linda Thorson as Brooke Parsons
- Samantha Eggar as Samantha Sherwood
- Anne Ditchburn as Laurian Summers
- Lynne Griffin as Patti O'Connor
- Lesleh Donaldson as Christie Burns
- Sandee Currie as Tara DeMillo
- Deborah Burgess as Amanda Teuther
- Michael Wincott as Matthew
- Maury Chaykin as "Monty"
- Booth Savage as Peter, Amanda's Boyfriend
