User blog:Panzysoldat/PE Proposal - Patti O'Connor

Oh boy, another obscure horror/slasher film that probably not a lot of people have heard of. But, since she's already under the category, I figured it's time to make her official.



What's the Work?
Curtains is a 1983 horror/slasher film about six girls (Patti, Christie, Amanda, Laurian, Brooke, and Tara) who come to the mansion of famed director Jonathan Stryker to audition for the part of a mentally ill woman named Audra. Meanwhile, the girls are stalked and killed one by one, by someone wielding a sickle wearing a mask of an old woman.

Who is She?


Patti O'Connor aka The Hag, is one of the six girls and the main antagonist of the film. It's never really explained what her motives were, but we're assumed to believe that she just really wanted the part of Audra or was actually insane.

What Did She Do?
One of the actresses named Amanda is in her apartment building, when Patti/The Hag sneaks into her apartment and stabs her multiple times with a knife. The next day, Patti and the other actresses show up at the mansion, along with Samantha. At night, Patti prepares for her killing spree by sharpening a sickle.

One morning, Christie is ice-skating when Patti turns off her boom box. When she goes to investigate, she finds a doll that Patti had stolen from Amanda. The Hag skates towards Christie and swings her sickle, decapitating the doll. The Hag swings more times, but Christie avoids by crawling backwards, and then runs out and hides behind a tree. Unfortunately, The Hag grabs Christie from behind the tree and decapitates her with the sickle. Afterwards, Patti forges a note from Christie saying that she couldn't handle the pressure.

Plot plot plot, The Hag puts Christie's severed head in Brooke's toilet. After discovering it, she tries to get the others to check it out, but Patti moves it, so when Stryker looks, it's not in there. That same night, Laurian is doing yoga, when The Hag sneaks into her room and kills her.

Samantha eventually snaps after walking in on Stryker and Brooke and shoots them both with a gun. They fall through the window and Tara sees this. Tara tries to flee in her car, but it's frozen. She finds Matthew's body in the fountain and flees into a storehouse, where after a long chase, The Hag pulls her through a ventilation shaft and kills her with a hatchet.

With only Patti and Samantha remaining, Patti opens a bottle of champagne to celebrate on getting the part. However, Samantha says she shot Stryker and Brooke, which causes Patti to go psycho and stab Samantha with a knife. After her killing spree, Patti is sent to the same asylum where Samantha was, performing her comedy routine and calling herself Audra.

Let's see her rap sheet.
 * 7 premeditated murders. (2 of which weren't even necessary. Matthew and Samantha weren't in the way of her getting the role.)
 * Theft
 * Psychological abuse
 * Breaking and entering
 * Forgery

Heinous Standards
There are two other villains in the film.

Samantha Sherwood is the original girl that was supposed to get the part of Audra. In order to get a good idea of how a mentally ill person acts, she had Stryker commit her to a mental hospital. It was only supposed to be a coupe weeks, but Stryker betrayed Samantha and left her in the hospital while he held auditions for the part of Audra. Samantha eventually got out and went to the auditions to expose Stryker. So, why is she a villain? Well, at the end she kills Stryker and one of the six girls with a revolver.

Jonathan Stryker is the director of the film the girls are auditioning for. Stryker is a classic example of a Hollywood scumbag, expecting girls to have sex with him in order to get a part. He and Samantha had some kind of relationship, but that ended when he betrayed Samantha and left her in a mental hospital. He's also a bit of an abusive prick. However, he did feel guilty about having sex with Christie, after she didn't enjoy it.

I don't think there's a problem with the standards here. Samantha is pretty tragic, and while Stryker's a dick, he didn't murder anyone.

Mitigating Factors

 * It's not an exploitation film.
 * She's not tragic.
 * She doesn't show any remorse.
 * She might be mentally ill. However, she acts normal during her comedy routine and throughout the whole movie.
 * Didn't seem to care about anything, but getting the role of Audra, or murdering everything in sight.
 * All of her acts are on screen. Except for killing Matthew, but we do get to see a body.

Verdict
Not good with this. It's up to you.