"The Stylist" a nearly sympathetic portrait of a psychotic hairstylist

The Stylist (2021)

Horror has always been the genre to properly explore and observe loneliness and obsession, and in enough ways that are uniquely her own, director and co-writer Jill Gervargizian’s “The Stylist” makes the cut. This may not be the first time a horror film has made its protagonist a stealth psychopath, but Gervargizian (who has cut and styled hair for fifteen years and counting) turns the idea of someone using scissors for a living on its head. If the filmmaker has intended to make a character study, the “study” part feels less realized. It’s Gervargizian’s direction, her technical flair, and the vulnerable lead performance she gets out of Najarra Townsend (2013’s “Contracted”) that put the film over the top.

The titular stylist is Claire, an introvert who lives a wild double life. By day, she cuts and styles the hair of her most trusted clients. By night, she cuts and styles the hair of new clients (the first victim that we witness of hers is a complete undesirable) and then slices and collects their scalps in her basement dressing room to wear at her vanity. When friendly client Olivia (Brea Grant) begs Claire to style her hair for her upcoming wedding in two weeks, Claire reluctantly agrees. Before you can say “Single White Female”—the split-screen parallels between the two characters is a dead giveaway—Olivia invites Claire over for some girl time and then to her bachelorette party, which only makes the stylist even more clingy and needy. She will drop everything for Olivia, and then she will be beat herself up when she gets too close. At the same time, Claire is unable to break free from her homicidal urges.

One can surely see the genesis of Jill Gervargizian’s feature growing out of a short film, as the opening sequence here is essentially a remake of the entire twelve-odd-minute short. But as it is, “The Stylist” isn’t satisfyingly developed enough to fully justify a feature extension. Comparisons have been made to 1980’s “Maniac,” but a clearer influence is Lucky McKee’s “May,” where an introvert ultimately sews together her own friend from certain people’s body parts. That devastating and unsettling 2003 character study, though, made its subject more of a tragic figure (played by Angela Bettis), feeling more fully drawn in her loneliness and trauma. Gervargizian’s script, co-written with Eric Havens and Eric Stolze, seems to be missing a crucial bit of groundwork to make more emotional sense. Claire is lonely and, based on trying on those different scalps and repeating lines her victims have said, wants to be someone else or just have a friend who won’t leave her. Her early life is touched upon—Dad left when she was born and Mom died when she was 17—without getting to the pathology of her fragile psyche, but more exploration might have gained the viewer more understanding into why Claire is the way she is. It isn’t a difficult task, though, to almost sympathize with Claire when she is played by someone as seemingly approachable as Najarra Townsend. Claire, even with obvious social anxiety, certainly looks the part of an attractive, confident, and stylishly dressed young woman, and yet there is a deep sadness and insecurity that Townsend imbues into the part without overplaying it. With Claire, you don’t know if you should relax and tell her your whole life story in the chair, or cancel that appointment and run for the hills.

Classically scored and elegantly shot as it is, “The Stylist” still tends to leave one waiting for more unbearable tension. When Claire gets to be nervous and socially awkward, the film is effectively cringe-inducing in ways that make it hard to watch Claire interact with others. Cringe-worthy in other ways, there are impressively squishy moments of scalp gore, too, on such a modest budget. Once her nerves boil over into rage after overhearing some bitchy comments from two of Olivia’s bridesmaids, it seems like the film may pick up the slack. It never quite does, even when she breaks into someone’s house and decides to not get her slaughter on because of a framed photo and prescription drugs (?). Besides Townsend, the film does benefit from Brea Grant (2020’s “Lucky”), who brings such a natural energy to Olivia that helps make the character feel more fleshed out. Even though we know it’s coming, Gervargizian does end her film on an indelibly creepy note down the aisle at the altar of Olivia’s wedding. With “The Stylist,” the destination is what matters, while taking a little out of the shaggy middle might have made for an even sharper final cut. 

Grade: B -

Arrow Films released “The Stylist” (105 min.) to Arrow Player on March 1, 2021.