'Curtains' (1983) – Richard Ciupka.

The authoritative character actor, John Vernon utilizes his menacing persona to striking effect in his barnstorming, deliciously Machiavellian persona of, John Stryker. The tyrannical director goes about casting his latest production in a singularly charismatic, wholly unethical fashion! The bizarre approach of convincing his leading lady, Samantha Sherwood (Samantha Eggar) to have herself committed in order to better research her comeback role yields unforeseen results! The amusingly tweaked Canadian shocker's unpredictable narrative, becoming increasingly outlandish as the evilly enigmatic, Stryker continues his esoteric auditions within this snowbound isolated country estate. 

Matters soon mount with a maniacal intensity after, Samantha's arrival, having orchestrated her unrehearsed escape from the psychiatric ward. Richard Ciupka's surrealistic slasher maintains a delightful eccentricity, there's a compelling strangeness to its flamboyant theatricality that sporadically distances 'Curtains' from being a generic run-of-the-blood-spill splatter that don't matter. Enlivened by the bravura performances of Eggar and Vernon, the increasingly sinister events that befall these tormented theatrical artistes still makes for exquisitely skewed entertainment. 'Curtains' remains one of the 80s more appealingly mental horror films, having a luridly loopy atmosphere all of its very own!

'For this tyrannically terrorized troupe of highly strung Thespians the final curtain will be fatal!' - Weirdlingwolf.