I loved nearly everything about Jill Gevargizian’s THE STYLIST, though not all the elements worked at the same time. It was a strange, but wonderful experience.
Claire (Najarra Townsend) is a hair stylist with a dark secret: She sometimes kills and then scalps other women, wearing their hair as a wig. When she puts on these homemade wigs she becomes those women, at least in her imagination. She’s able to channel their personalities and step outside her sad, lonely life, if only for a little while.
Claire’s quiet, nervous personality suits her profession. She’s a good listener, she’s attentive, and she goes out of her way to ask her clients questions about themselves. The interest, of course, never goes the other way. To her customers, she’s merely a cipher, barely human, an empty jar with which to fill their confessions.
This all changes, however, when her client Olivia (Brea Grant) has Claire do her hair for her wedding, which is a week away. Olivia loves the haircut, and as a kind gesture, invites Claire to her house for some wine, and later to her bachelorette party. Claire sees a close friendship developing where Olivia was just being polite. Soon, Claire becomes obsessed with Olivia, and when Olivia doesn’t reciprocate her feelings, she feels an intense sense of rejection. This isn’t a good feeling under the best of circumstances, but even less so when the person who feels such intense emotions is a murderer.
Aesthetically, I’ve never seen anything quite like this movie. The movie opens in a parody of Lifetime-esque movies (films marketed almost exclusively to women) with credits in a lacy gold font that you might see in a perfume commercial or a soap opera. The glossy sheen makes for some beautiful scalp-peeling scenes, as funny as that might sound.
Cleverly, the movie brings attention to the invisibility of women in horror by featuring female characters almost exclusively. There’s barely any male speaking parts, and only one of them rises above the periphery. And that’s only because he’s married to one of the main characters. It’s kinda interesting to be on the other side of this phenomenon, considering that I’m usually genre film’s target audience.
THE STYLIST has an interesting premise, though the odd thing is that the movie could be reworked without the kills and still basically work the same. It’s true that the gore adds a sense of Claire’s intense inner struggle that a traditional obsession / stalker film, so there’s that, but it’s still a bit odd that you’d essentially have most of the story if you made it a straight stalker flick.
Najarra Townsend’s Claire is a perfect mix of social alienation and profound sadness, and a strange kind of confidence at times. Claire feels too much, whatever that emotion happens to be. Her narcissistic obsession with Olivia is intense, of course, but she puts an equal amount of intensity into hating those people that she feels are deserving of her wrath. Townsend is able to embody these emotions, as well as the deep insecurities and sadness that Claire tries unsuccessfully to hide. And she’s good at hiding. Being a stylist, she’s an expert at covering things up. It’s a complex performance of a complex character.
Brea Grant’s performance as Olivia is equally impressive. Olivia is everything Claire isn’t. She’s a successful middle-class businesswoman working in the publishing industry. She’s confident, she’s got a ton of friends, her family loves her, and she’s in a stable relationship.
I loved that the acting and the aesthetics, and the sheer visceral experience of the thing, even though the story is pretty weak at times, and it’s especially bad at telegraphing its beats. You’ll see the ending coming way before it actually happens, for one thing. But that’s what I like about movies. Sometimes the story doesn’t have to be perfect for an excellent overall experience.
As always, Arrow Video has made a wonderful Blu-ray. The disc features a fun commentary between Gevargizian and Townsend, and a well-produced video essay by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas. There’s also behind the scenes featurettes, outtakes, the Kickstarter video, and two short films. There’s also a bonus soundtrack CD.
THE STYLIST is a refreshingly unique and very welcome take on the serial killer genre, and it’s one of the best Blu-ray releases of the year.
Tags: Aaron B. Koontz, Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, Angela Dupuie, arrow video, Brea Grant, Davis DeRock, Horror, Jennifer Plas, Jill Gevargizia, Kickstarter, Millie Milan, Najarra Townsend, Robert Patrick Stern, Sarah McGuire
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