Line #50 Film/Curtains


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/curtains.jpg]]
2
3	->''"Have you ever wanted something so badly that you'd do ANYTHING for it?"''
4	-->-- '''Patti O'Connor'''
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6	''Curtains'' is a 1983 Canadian horror film directed by Richard Ciupka ([[AlanSmithee credited as]] "Jonathan Stryker") and starring Creator/SamanthaEggar, Creator/JohnVernon, Creator/LindaThorson, Lynne Griffin, Anne Ditchburn, Creator/LeslehDonaldson, Sandee Currie, Deborah Burgess, and Creator/MauryChaykin.
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8	A slasher film centered on theater and filmmaking, its plot focuses on 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.
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10	The film suffered from a very messy production, the result of CreativeDifferences between Ciupka and producer Peter Simpson. This eventually led to the director quitting production and [[AlanSmithee taking his name off the finished product]], leaving Simpson having to finish the shoot. Over the next year or so, numerous rewrites and re-shoots were made, resulting in a choppy, disjointed film.
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12	Despite this, the film has since developed a small cult following.
13	----
14	!!This film contains examples of:
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16	* AloneWithThePsycho: After the killer murders [[spoiler:Tara]], [[spoiler:Samantha]] is left alone with [[spoiler: Patti]], who reveals she killed the other girls to get the role of Audra.
17	* AnyoneCanDie: The young actresses are murdered in no particular order or fashion, heightening the stakes of who will survive, or if any of them will survive whatsoever.
18	* AssholeVictim: Brooke, who is an arrogant veteran actress, who sleeps with Stryker to get the coveted role, and Stryker, who already has pinpointed who he wants to play Audra, invites the other women to his mansion to sleep with them, under the ruse of having them audition for the role. He also [[spoiler: abandons Samantha, his longtime partner and friend, in an insane asylum under the guise of her researching for the role of Audra.]]
19	* BecomingTheMask: [[spoiler:The final scene has Patti, now committed in mental institution, performing a monologue from ''Audra'' to other patients in the mental institution.]]
20	* BedlamHouse: The asylum where Samantha is committed by Stryker, and where [[spoiler: Patti]] is committed following the murders.
21	* BigBad: [[spoiler:Patti, desperate to break into more dramatic work, is the main killer]], while the more obvious suspect [[spoiler:Samantha]] turns out to be the BigBadWannabe.
22	* CarFu: Amanda is murdered in her nightmare by being hit by her own car.
23	* CollidingCriminalConspiracies: [[spoiler:Samantha's]] murderous revenge plot against [[spoiler:Stryker]] ends up conflicting with [[spoiler:the even more unhinged Patti's]] own efforts to [[RemovingTheRival kill the other contenders]] for the part in ''Audra'' and anyone else who stands in [[spoiler:her]] way, making [[EvilerThanThou the former an additional target of the latter]].
24	* CoolMask: The grotesque hag mask worn by the killer; it's especially unsettling when they confront Christie during her ice skating practice on the frozen pond.
25	* CreepyDoll: One such doll appears during Amanda's nightmare, and later during the ice skating sequence. It even appears on the poster!
26	* DecapitationPresentation: After killing Christie, [[spoiler:Patti]] places her severed head in Brooke's toilet to scare her.
27	* DecoyProtagonist: Samantha is introduced as the protagonist before the narrative switches to Amanda, an inexperienced actress and one of the hopefuls for the role of Audra, [[spoiler: only to be murdered in her apartment by Patti]]. The film then frequently delights in focusing on each actress, rather than just one of them. By the climax, only [[spoiler: Tara, Patti, and Samantha]] are left, and you can guess which one is the killer.
28	* DestinationDefenestration: After being shot repeatedly by [[spoiler:Samantha]], [[spoiler:Stryker]] falls to his death from the fourth-floor window.
29	* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:All of the actresses except [[BigBad Patti]] are dead, and Patti herself effectively [[BecomingTheMask becomes Audra]].]]
30	* DwindlingParty: The actresses become this as the murders progress.
31	* FinalGirl: Subverted, then averted. [[spoiler: Tara]], who is sexually active, appears as though she is going to fulfill this role, discovering the bodies of her fellow actresses and fighting off the killer more than once, before [[spoiler: Patti brutally murders her with an axe.]] The climax of the film suggests [[spoiler:Samantha is the killer and Patti will survive, only to reveal Patti murdered everyone besides Stryker and Brooke before she then kills Samantha with a kitchen knife.]]
32	* HopeSpot: Tara is chased into the props warehouse by the killer, where they play cat-and-mouse. After incapacitating the killer three times, Tara appears to be in the clear but is soon caught and hacked to death with an axe.
33	* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: [[spoiler:Patti]] kills Tara by impaling her in the back with an ax. Later, [[spoiler:she kills Samantha by impaling her with a kitchen knife.]]
34	* KillTheCutie: [[spoiler: Innocent and mousy ice skater Christie is decapitated by the killer.]]
35	* MalevolentMaskedMan: [[spoiler:Patti O'Connor]] slaughters the main characters while hiding their face and identity behind a grotesque hag mask.
36	* MenAreTheExpendableGender: The majority of the women in this film are shown struggling with the killer and given graphic kill scenes, while [[spoiler: Stryker is easily offed by being shot and knocked out of an upstairs window, and Matthew is murdered off-screen by Patti, having a knife driven into his back.]]
37	* NiceCharacterMeanActor: Stryker, behind his respectable exterior, is a shameless sleazebag. Likewise, [[spoiler:Patti]] is all smiles and giggles on the surface, but in reality [[spoiler:is a cold-blooded SerialKiller]].
38	* NightmareSequence: Just prior to her audition, Amanda has a dream that while driving to the audition, she is stopped by a large porcelain doll standing in the middle of the road. When she leaves her car to move it, [[CarFu she is run over.]]
39	* NotMeThisTime: A two-sided example. At the film's ending, [[spoiler:Samantha delivers a MotiveRant to an initially perplexed Patti, revealing that she fatally shot both Stryker and [[CaughtInTheCrossfire (mistakenly) Brooke]] in retaliation for the former's betrayal, but that Patti and her remaining friends would be safe from her wrath since she had no quarrel with them. However, Samantha is confused when Patti unexpectedly reveals that all of the others are also dead, before brandishing a butcher knife and stabbing Samantha to death]].
40	* OffWithHerHead: Christie is decapitated with a sickle.
41	* RecycledSoundtrack: Parts of the score are re-used from ''Film/PromNight1980''. Both films share the same composer, Paul Zaza.
42	* RedHerring: The audience is led to believe that Samantha is the killer, having returned to take revenge on Stryker for [[spoiler: having abandoned her in an asylum. While she is gunning for Stryker and accidentally shoots one of the other actresses as well, she is not the main antagonist]].
43	* TheReveal: [[spoiler: Patti, unhinged by her obsession with the role of Audra, viciously murders the other actresses in an effort to get the part, before killing Samantha in retaliation for the murder of Stryker, which destroyed any chance she had to play the role.]]
44	* RemovingTheRival: In order to ensure she wins the role, [[spoiler:Patti]] decides to murder the other five auditioning actresses.
45	* RoomFullOfCrazy: Not really a room, but the props warehouse where the killer chases Tara is filled to the brim with a collection of mannequins, neon signs, and fake weaponry, all from Stryker's films, making it the perfect place for a cat-and-mouse chase sequence.
46	* SexSignalsDeath: Averted, then played straight. [[spoiler: Amanda and her boyfriend]] are immediately killed after having sex. While [[spoiler: Tara]] is shown having sex with Matthew in the jacuzzi early in the film, she is the actress who survives the longest. However, [[spoiler: Brooke and Stryker]] are quickly dispatched by a gun-toting [[spoiler: Samantha]] after having sex.
47	* SexualExtortion: Samantha knows that Stryker is only using the other actresses for their bodies and that the whole audition is just a ploy for him to have sex with them. Stryker ultimately sleeps with Christie, which leaves her visibly shaken and causes her to [[ScrewThisImOutOfHere quit the shoot in disgust]] - but not before being murdered by [[spoiler:Patti]].
48	* SnowMeansDeath: In the film's most celebrated scene, Christie notices a small hand protruding out of the snow while ice skating at the edge of a pond, and uncovers a porcelain doll. She is then attacked and decapitated by someone (later revealed to be [[spoiler:Patti]]) in a grotesque hag mask.
49	* WomanScorned: Samantha, [[spoiler:who is abandoned by Stryker in an asylum]], only to escape.

Context Film / Curtains