Horror Movie Review: Curtain (2015)

A movie about the gates of hell opening when a shower curtain is put up in a nondescript bathroom of a shitty apartment? Count me in! As premises go this is one of the more absurd but can’t be faulted for its inventiveness. Sadly the delivery doesn’t quite live up to its promises.

The movie opens showing a disheveled man waking from a disturbing dream involving something moving up a lit tunnel & a demonic face. It doesn’t take a genius to work out that it’s some sort of demonic portal.

The man returns home where we get a really ominous shot of a sealed up bathroom. The man tears the tape off & begins to set up a shower curtain. Unseen to us he appears to be enthralled my something on the other side. He ends up cutting his wrists on the floor of the bathroom.

Some time later, Danni is moving into the same apartment. A former hospice nurse, Danni is struggling to make a life for herself starting with moving out of her Uncles house into this apartment. Danni is a troubled woman, her reasons for no longer working as a nurse hinted at several times throughout (stressful, unhappy & a possible drinking problem).

Alongside her friend Tim, she spends her time trying to get donations from the general public in support of stopping the culling of whales. Yeah, this movie also wants you to know about the plight of whales. Plenty of time is dedicated to Tim & Danni’s attempts to involve an uninterested public. I’m not sure quite what the point is…Danni seems like she really doesn’t care half the time & Tim’s methods to engage the general public make him come off like a bit of a dick.

Neither seem happy with their lives so when Danni’s shower curtains begin to disappear into a vortex it provides ample distraction for the pair. Tim’s excitement outmatches Danni’s as he believes they have come across a major scientific discovery. She just wants her shower curtains to stop disappearing.

The Curtain had a lot of promise but ultimately fails to deliver on most fronts. It’s leads are neither interesting or particularly likeable with the only real memorable character being a hillbilly/drug taking man who finds one of their disappearing curtains.

The movie builds & builds towards what should have been a memorable & exciting payoff but is in fact a massive letdown. Nothing is really explained…a weird cult is introduced half-way through the movie & by the end I was none the wiser about just who or what they were. The leader of this group speaks in riddles & lacks any real threat because of how silly he looks!

Far too many times the movie seems like it’s going to reveal something & then it just doesn’t. Take for example the moment where Danni uncovers a mysterious & ominous map behind the tiles in the bathroom. It looks to be a map of Hell with the 9 circles clearly labelled. It’s an awesome moment & really gets your mind racing with the potential but it goes nowhere. By the end the most you’ll know is that things that go through the bathroom portal appear elsewhere & sometimes give birth to a demon baby. Yeah, that’s it.

In possibly the most ill-advised move ever Tim decides to enact plan B. He mentions it a few times throughout & in the final moments we see just what that is. It’s so predictable & in no way shocking because it just doesn’t show enough. Tim puts himself between 2 curtains & gets sucked into the void. What happened? Who knows as all we know is that he ‘couples’ with a demon to create a Tim demon that Danni beats to death before realising it’s him. You’ll just end up shrugging your shoulders with how little you care.

Attempts at tongue in cheek humour falls really flat too with the final scenes attempting to make you smile in a ‘they got what they deserved’ kind of way. I didn’t care, you won’t either. So much promise, such an interesting & silly idea. A bit more money maybe & we could have had something really special though.

Disappointing.