Curtains

""

Director: Richard Ciupka Year: 1983 Runtime: 89 min IMDb: ⭐ 5.6
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Synopsis

Six young actresses auditioning for a movie role at a remote mansion are targeted by a mysterious masked murderer.

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 England mansion: 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 assaults 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.

Summary adapted from TMDb and Wikipedia sources.

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Season 36

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Season 36 · Episode 1

Content Warnings

⭐ IMDb Parents Guide πŸ›‘οΈ Common Sense Media

someone is sexually assaulted
spoiler A director uses his power to force aspiring actresses into sexual situations they are not comfortable with.
someone leaves without saying goodbye
spoiler That's what the characters are led to believe but she's really dead
there's domestic violence
spoiler A director and actress who have known each other for a long time and were lovers are abusive toward each other.
someone gets gaslighted
Yes
someone is stalked
Yes
alcohol abuse
Yes
someone uses drugs
Yes
there are snakes
spoiler Fake snake prop
someone is restrained
Yes
someone's mouth is covered
Yes
a major character dies
Yes
someone dies
Yes
A child's dear toy is destroyed
spoiler A very creepy doll. I don't think it belonged to a child during the movie, but maybe it was one of the actress' when she was one. It is buried in snow and beheaded.
someone cheats
Yes
someone is kidnapped
Yes
there are jump scares
Yes
there's a claustrophobic scene
spoiler Someone hides in a crawlspace to hide from the killer. They are also lost in a lot of curtains.
there are mannequins
Yes
there's decapitation
Yes
there's a mental institution scene
spoiler The mental institution scenes are severe and somewhat prolonged. An actress pretends to be mentally ill in order to research for a part, and is comitted. The director is in on it, but loses interest in his former lover, and leaves her there so he can go after younger actresses, sexually. In one scene a patient wakes from a nightmare, screams, and then cries, while no one comforts her. Then she is forcibly dragged off by orderlies, and shown later, apparently lobotomized as punishment for her symptoms.
electro-therapy is used
spoiler Possibly a lobotomy
Autism specific abuse
spoiler Probably, because there were several scenes in an asylum, and they used to put people on the spectrum in asylums.
a mentally ill person is violent
Yes
reality is unstable or unhinged
Yes
there's body dysmorphia
Yes
there's dissociation, depersonalization, or derealization
Yes
someone has a mental illness
Yes
someone has a meltdown
Yes
there are hangings
spoiler Also mannequins are hung by their necks
someone's throat is mutilated
spoiler Throats get Slit slightly out of frame
someone struggles to breathe
Yes
somebody is choked
Yes
there's flashing lights or images
Yes
there are sudden loud noises
Yes
there's screaming
Yes
there is obscene language/gestures
Yes
someone is watched without knowing
Yes
there's ableist language or behavior
Yes
a minority is misrepresented
spoiler Probably people in an asylum.
there's a large age gap
Yes
a minor is sexualized
spoiler But a creepy, older director does have sex with a young actress, presumably under the pressure of trying to get hired. She cries after he leaves.
there is sexual content
Yes
there are nude scenes
Yes
someone is sexually objectified
Yes
someone is sexually assaulted onscreen
spoiler It only appears that way, but then it is revealed to be lovers participating in consensual force fantasy (pretend rape) kink. Otherwise, most sexual assaults are implied. See sexual assault section.
the ending is sad
Yes
there's blood/gore
spoiler Not a lot, despite this being a slasher.
someone drowns
spoiler Uncertain. Someone is shown lying face down in a hot tub with a knife in his back.
there's gun violence
Yes
there's torture
spoiler Largely psychologically.
someone is stabbed
Yes
someone falls to their death
Yes
Someone becomes unconscious
Yes

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