CURTAIN

Nurse and new home owner Danni (Danni Smith) discovers a mysterious portal in, of all things, her shower.

In spite of many attempts to hang up a shower curtain, it keeps getting sucked into oblivion to the fear/intense curiosity of Danni and her work colleague Tim (Tim Lueke). Curiosity slowly turns to horror as the pair track down their missing property and encounter a number of very worrisome individuals obsessed with portals and the occult.

Curtain makes the mistake in the first few minutes of revealing just too much of the monster in what is otherwise an intense opening sequence featuring the home’s previous occupant. Taking away some of the suspense, the film is by no means bereft of shocking moments as the duo investigate the disappearances and things become a little more violent.

Lueke’s performance as the earnest, environmentally-focused whale advocate who’s just trying to do the right thing is good for a few laughs, nicely contrasting with the film’s tension and Danni’s intensely-focused tenant throughout. It’s hard not to take a horror film lightly when characters demand to know where their shower curtain disappeared to and Lueke’s performance provides some of that comic relief; ensuring the film doesn’t take itself too seriously while delivering genuinely scary moments.

The penultimate chase scene along with an extended sequence where Danni and Tim track down a clue in a forest are among the most enjoyable in the film. While some of the shocks fall flat and minor elements are left unresolved or unexplained, Curtain is at its best at the very end with a surprise, quirky resolution that is both sad and oddly satisfying.

Certainly an original idea, Curtain, while in many respects imperfect, is a nice reprieve for light-hearted horror fans.

Curtain screened as part of the A Night of Horror Film Festival

On FilmInk