THE STYLIST
Cert 18 ★★★ Streaming on Arrow from tomorrow
“WE ALL want what we don’t have,” says psycho hairdresser Claire (Najarra Townsend), admiring herself in the mirror.
Claire has nicked that line from a client she was chatting with the previous night. That’s not all. She’s also wearing her hair, freshly scalped from the woman bleeding out on her salon floor.
Claire, you see, loves to find out what’s going on inside the heads she is carefully pruning. If the chat goes well, the next day, she’ll be wearing your barnet and repeating your best lines.
Claire takes a break from building her grisly wig collection when she is offered a last-minute gig as wedding stylist for Olivia (Brea Grant) whose desperation she mistakes for friendship.
Director Jill Gevargizian loses the tension in a slightly repetitive second act. But I think The Stylist will stay with me. I shall definitely think of Claire when Boris deems it safe for me to get a proper haircut.
I intend to support my local barber – but I might not be quite so forthcoming with my holiday plans.