The Ultimate Nightmare: The Making of Curtains (2014) User Reviews

The Curtains Fall

[Michael_Elliott · 22 November 2015]

The Ultimate Nightmare: The Making of Curtains (2014)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Highly entertaining documentary about the making of the slasher CURTAINS, which had a very troubled production. Director Richard Ciupka, actresses Lesleh Donaldson and Lynne Griffin, composer Paul Zaza and artist Greg Cannom are interviewed about their involvement in the film. It's easy to see that very few people are actually proud of the movie and as this documentary wears down we can see that everyone in honestly shocked that someone would want to distribute the film as well as view it. The most fascinating parts of the documentary center on the troubled post-production, which included nearly thirty-five minutes worth of footage being added without the director knowing. We also learn about the various issues that caused the producer to shoot new scenes nearly two years after the movie went into production. Everyone involved does a very good job at explaining the troubled history of the movie and by the time this is over you really do understand why a film can simply go off the tracks and end up somewhat of a disaster. Fans of CURTAINS will certainly enjoy hearing all of these stories.

Neat and informative documentary

[Woodyanders · 8/10 · 25 November 2014]

This 36-minute documentary offers a nice overview on the troubled production of the cult slasher item "Curtains." Among the people interviewed are actresses Lesleh Donaldson and Lynne Griffin, director Richard Ciupka, editor Michael MacLaverty, make-up artist Greg Cannom, and composer Paul Zaza. Ciupka talks about how he was approached by producer Peter Simpson to helm the film and how Simpson ultimately was dissatisfied with Ciupka's "artsy" approach to making the picture. Griffin reveals that she relished playing a survivor for once -- she's usually cast in victim parts -- and that she wrote her own stand-up comedy routine which she performed in front of a live audience at the club Yuk Yuk's. Donaldson trained for her skating routine, but still wound up falling down on the bumpy ice on the pond and cut her chin (a double was used for the long shots of Donaldson skating). We also find out that actress Celine Lomez was fired early in the production, the original cut was only half a movie, all about the reshoots that Simpson demanded to salvage the film, Michael Wincott's character initially had a totally different death scene, the original ending with Griffin doing a monologue on stage with the corpses of her victims, and how everybody involved with this picture are amazed that it went on to achieve cult classic status (Zaza confesses that he was hoping that he would get fired from the movie!). Worth a watch for fans of the film.