Review: The Stylist

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Official synopsis: A lonely hairstylist, Claire (Najarra Townsend) becomes obsessed with the private lives of her clients and descends into murderous madness. 

This was one of the films I learned about from the 1000 Women in Horror documentary I watched recently. Director Jill Gevargizian adapted this from her short film of the same name.

This film is shot like a 90’s erotic thriller at times. the close ups of Claire doing hair with that sensual score playing in the background made me think of that immediately, and it works despite this being a pretty un-romantic film. Claire is a pretty interesting character to follow. It would be easy to write her off because she IS a murderer, but she’s also just an incredibly awkward woman. I weirdly had a soft spot for her. It might be the first time I’ve ever been worried about a serial killer taking too long in a room. Like girl, you’re gonna get caught.

The film reminds me a lot of Maniac (2012) which was another I really enjoyed. You can tell some of the actors in this are pretty green, but Najarra Townsend is not one of them and gives an excellent performance. It builds tension wonderfully, especially for its very flashy ending.

The Stylist  is currently available to stream on Tubi

Grade: B

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