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Curtains for Christmas
December 19, 2024 @ 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm
Do you enjoy mixing a little horror into your seasonal movie-watching? Then you’ve come to the right place!
Curtains for Christmas follows a woman who will do whatever it takes to ensure her life is as perfect as the characters’ in her favorite holiday films. This locally filmed horror-comedy was directed by prolific Coraopolis-based filmmaker Steve Rudzinski and written by Rudzinski and Aleen Isley, who also plays the leading role.
Isley and Rudzinski will premiere Curtains for Christmas regionally at The Lindsay Theater and Cultural Center on Thursday, Dec. 19, at 7:30 p.m. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Rudzinski, Isley, and attending cast and crew. This event is free, but RSVPs are encouraged in advance due to space limitations.
“When an organization like The Lindsay Theater really does a lot to support movies and actively wants independent filmmakers to screen there, I think it’s important to give that support back how I can and make sure I do at least my regional premieres at the theater,” says Rudzinski.
Rudzinski has earned an international following by directing at least one film a year since 2011. He’s known for independently produced horror romps like the CarousHELL Trilogy that played at The Lindsay earlier this year. Rudzinski had planned to take 2024 off, but that changed after Isley “came up with a really great idea with a really great title.”
“It’s our first totally new intellectual property in seven years, yet still feels like exactly what my fans have come to love,” says Rudzinski. “We may take a look at the holiday through maybe a less wholesome lens, but even as we skewer seasonal obsession, it’s still done with genuine loving homage for the holiday and the films that helped inspire this.”
In Rudzinski’s experience, Christmas horror is a “super fun genre that feels like it doesn’t have as many entries as I would like to see.” That’s why he was excited to mobilize the Pittsburgh film scene—including frequent on-screen collaborators like Isley, Michael Varrati, Jessa Flux, Jess Uhler, Andrew Gordon and Sewickley native David Dietz—for a little holiday-themed horror.
“There are a lot of great creators and performers in this region, and a film like this helps display a very small portion of that creativity and talent,” says Rudzinski. “It shows how folks outside of the larger studio system can put together some really unique and creative takes on multiple genres without needing to break the bank.”
