Review: The Stylist
Blu-ray: The Stylist (2020)
Based on the short film of the same name by writer/director Jill Gevargizian, The Stylist tells the story of Claire (Najarra Townsend) who is a solitary hairdresser working in a small salon somewhere in America.
As she cuts her clients hair she drifts off imagining what their lives must be like, and if she finds their lives desirable, she arranges for them to have a late haircut, drugs them, scalps them and wears their hair in front of her mirror at home, repeating whatever they said to her.
When Olivia (Brea Grant) comes to her salon asking for bridal hair, Claire seems to fall in love with her, and attempts to give up her hair raising (sorry) antics, to no avail.
This is quite a ‘moody’ film (as in sulky) with long periods of silence, and the performances are rather one sided and wooden (particulary the star who is monotone throughout).
It does look and sound good, but this doesn’t detract from the plot holes (what does she do with all those bodies? WHY isn’t she covered in blood? Do I care? No I don’t).
The ending…. yes one of ‘those’ endings. The one you can see coming from 89 minutes away. It’s such a shame to wrap it up in such an expected bow, which unfortunately did make me regret the last 88 minutes of viewing.
2-DISC LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS
- Limited Edition Blu-ray™ and Soundtrack CD collection
- High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
- Original DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 audio
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Sara Deck
- Double-sided fold-out poster
- Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Emma Westwood and a gallery of exclusive location scouting photographs
DISC ONE (BLU-RAY) – THE STYLIST
- Audio commentary by co-writer/producer/director Jill Gevargizian and actress/producer Najarra Townsend
- Exclusive Blu-ray introduction by Jill Gevargizian
- The Invisible Woman, an exclusive visual essay by author and critic Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, exploring the themes of women’s labor and female killers in The Stylist and horror cinema
- The Stylist – Behind the Scenes, a series of eight behind-the-scenes featurettes on different aspects of the film’s production, featuring interviews with the cast and crew
- Location scouting featurette
- Outtakes
- Original Kickstarter video
- The original 2016 The Stylist short film directed by Jill Gevargizian and starring Najarra Townsend, that inspired the main feature
- Pity, a 2016 short film directed by The Stylist’s editor, John Pata, and executive produced by Jill Gevargizian, with an optional introduction by Pata
- Teaser trailer
- Theatrical trailer
- Image galleries
DISC TWO (CD) – THE STYLIST SOUNDTRACK (LIMITED EDITION EXCLUSIVE)
- CD containing the original The Stylist Soundtrack
The Stylist is released 7th June 2021.
Review by Tina from discs kindly supplied by Arrow Films via Fetch Publicity.