Years ago I read about the Rosenhan experiment, in which a professor had his students feign insanity to get placed in an asylum. As time passed, the institutionalized students behaved normally, because they were in fact sane. They were eventually released—but only with diagnoses like “schizophrenia in remission,” rather than being recognized as sane.
Unfortunately, like many great anecdotes, the truth has been shown to be more complex. You can google the details.
That said, the story was clearly part of the inspiration for 1983’s “Curtains.”
In the film, Samantha, a famous, slightly over the hill actress, plots with the director of her next project to get herself institutionalized so she can observe crazy women up close. (This is key to the film they are making.)
However, once she’s locked up, the director, in a boss move, just leaves her there. He then sends out a casting call and arranges for six younger women to come to his house for a weekend to audition for the role Samantha was supposed to have.
Before the weekend even starts, one woman is killed by a figure wearing the mask of a hag.
Then, Samantha shows up at the mansion. (Somehow she escaped!) But she seems remarkably forgiving of the man who abandoned her.
Over the weekend, more women are killed. It’s a Hitchcockian whodunit.
“Curtains” is a fun movie. My main complaint is that the film stock of the Amazon copy I watched was terribly overexposed. The lights are too light, the darks too dark. This made it hard to tell the female characters apart. They were all brunettes with similar builds.
Embedded in the films is an exploration of how men use their power over women, constantly gaslighting them or keeping them on guard, etc. In a sense, the whole thing is about the evils of the casting couch.
The twist at the end was very nicely done. It surprised me while still making sense.
Samantha Eggar, great in the serial killer movie “The Collector,” which I have reviewed, plays the main character.
If you’re looking for a more cerebral slasher, with a cast older than the oversexed teenagers of the “Friday the 13th” films, you might dig this.
(One side note about this movie poster. Look at the flapped opening the doll is coming out of. Does that, uh, remind you of anything?)
