The Stylist

With so many nuances and some very graphically, bloody demises, some viewers may get overwhelmed or dismissively turn away, but it all fits commendably here as a grim necessity without being overtly gratuitous. Co-writer/director Jill Gevargizian's vision is sharp and, completely on the money when it comes to all thing’s hair, with snippets infused by her own experience as a stylist/hairdresser, that really shine. The entire movie clearly has her love for hair fully interwoven among all the many themes presented. This film was crowd funded online, being fully independently financed on KickStarter (no small feat!) and is wonderfully shot with a robust cinematography from a straightforward script and has a soundtrack which never intrudes or hinders, all of which elicit a higher level of quality throughout. The entire film is tight, concise, and centered.Written as a feature-length follow-up to the short that shares the same name (included within the ton of extras on the Limited-Edition Blu-ray), this film is a great extension of the prior film’s tone but with a more fleshed-out experience and an all new, grown-up look. With many of the prior crew returning, the untouched angles and brief confessional bits that captivated audiences and won numerous awards for the short from various festivals, have all been extended but not as mere filler, here they further accentuate and explore areas of Claire’s domain.Najarra Townsend (reprising her role) is transfixing as Claire, our stylist by day, serial killer ‘all the time’ (ala Dexter) who endures while eternally struggling. A dark soul trapped and all but helpless. Fiercely private, Claire fights an internal tug-o-war with her own powerfully compulsive desires, relying on her lone coping mechanism, she anguishes within her solitary human existence. Themes of Trichophilia (Hair Fetish), social anxiety, obsession, personal identity, parental loss, and others are deeply and skillfully interwoven into Claire’s dystopia which soon begins to spiral and fracture.Her vicarious rapport with her top client, Olivia (played superbly by Brea Grant) splinters, fraying into a multitude of strands triggered by Olivia’s pending marriage. Claire maneuvers through arrogant clients, and the individuals encircling Olivia. With each new adversary, her struggle to hold onto lucidity achieved from each trophy slips and fades quicker with each new challenge. As the wedding looms, everything drives a seemingly quiet life, further beyond her influence, culminating into the ultimate sacrifice for control and survival.Not without questions or a couple very minor faults, this movie just works and works VERY well.

For an Indie horror movie, it is a very enjoyable watch if you have nothing else to do and looking to kill an hour and 40 minutes of your life.

On a whim, I decided to buy the blu-ray of The Stylist, and I'm glad I did. I thought it was very entertaining, very creepy, very beautiful, great cinematography, chilling ending, and the actress that played Claire, Najarra Townsend was absolutely great in the role. Her character of Claire is a great psychological case study, similar to Joaquin Phoenix in Joker, Robert De Niro in Taxi Driver, and Joe Spinell in Maniac. Townsend deserves awards for this role, she is just great to watch. She's psychotic, but socially awkward. She goes from crying, then laughing while wearing somebody's scalp in the span of two minutes.Claire is a brilliant hair stylist who is awkward, but randomly kills some of her clients, scalps them, and takes the scalps back to her lair so she can wear them and pretend to be somebody else.One day, she gets a call from her client, Olivia, who is getting married soon and needs her hair fixed immediately. Olivia is played by Brea Grant, from Rob Zombie's Halloween II. After fixing her hair, Claire and Olivia slowly start a friendship, and it's sad to see Claire so awkward, but trying hard to fit in with her. Eventually, she becomes obsessed with her, to the point of trying to text her everyday and even breaking into her house and tries on her clothes. In a weird way, you feel sorry for her, even though she's a psychopath.I understand this is a passion project for the director, Jill Gevargizian. She directed a short film of The Stylist before turning it into a feature length film. Everybody needs to stop what they're doing and show this woman some love and support her films. I'd like to see a sequel someday. I highly recommend THE STYLIST!!!

Recommended

Automatically the preview/trailer had me anticipating and intrigued to rent this movie, and trust me it was worth it. Loved the beautiful shots of the landscape of Kansas, and the visuals was very appealing in the film. As for the beginning of the movie, thought it was exciting from the start, so don't worry about any slow dry pace parts, the lead character Townsend does an excellent job at playing her role, which at times she can be awkward, sinister, sad, angry, and overall Psycho, all of that being characteristics of a role to help fit a great horror/slasher film like this. Also it's different to see the angle taken from a female perspective, as for most slashers are from a Male character point of view. This movie some will love, and some will not, but my advice rent it and give it a try for yourself, but I think true horror fans will love it. Only con is I wish the movie dug deeper into the main characters history on how they became the psycho monster they are, but enjoyed it!

Around 4th of July there was an all digital sale of Arrow Movies, I picked up a couple of older titles and grabbed this one as well. It completely blew me away, so much so I purchased a physical copy the same day, not only to enjoy, but to show my support of this film. While this film borrows from many before it, it completely holds its own and carves its own niche. At its simplest core it's a movie about a woman that just wants to fit in and feel like she belongs, however it becomes much more than that and the character arch takes on something much more complicated and engrossing.From it's art form to its lead actress and co-stars, NOTHING is phoned in, it is one the the best movies I have seen in quite sometime, and by far the greatest gem this year!! Jill stated this film was very personal to her and meant so much to have Arrow embrace it, and after viewing it (twice in a 24-hour period), I can agree, they made a great choice to grab this instant classic. My Highest Recommendation!!!

Unusual movie. Rate it fair or waste of film

I enjoyed the simple differences of this movies take on horror. The psychotic scenes seem so subtle yet so impactful.

"the stylist" nous met en présence d'une coiffeuse / serial killeuse qui a complétement fondu du côté de la boite à fusible. Elle est tellement impliquée dans son métier qu'elle scalpe ses clientes pour revétir leur coiffure et avoir l'impression de vivre leur vie (c'est qu'on en raconte des choses à sa coiffeuse). Assez peu de scènes vraiment saignantes, tout est dans la tension psychologique et le plongeon dans la folie furieuse de Claire jouée par une Najarra Townsend impeccable et ultra crédible dans son rôle. Bien sur dès l'ouverture de la scène finale on voit arriver la chute comme si elle était éclairée au néon mais "the stylist" (qui est d'ailleurs le dvd du mois de Mad Movies) est vraiment une très bonne surprise 4 / 5

J'ai pas bien aimé ce film là l'histoire bizarre du ce film .mais il a des scène bien et d'autre nul .Pas de sens ce film il a mieux déçu pas grave

Je m'attendais à mieux.