Arrow Films, out now

A lonely hair stylist becomes obsessed with the lives of her clients and descends into murderous madness.

Co-writer/director Jill Gevargizian’s Kickstarter-funded horror movie about a serial killer hairdresser began life as a 15-minute short in 2016 and you can’t help feeling that while it always had room to expand, this feature-length version is a stretch too far.

Claire (Najarra Townsend, Contracted) is the eponymous stylist who dreams of living other people’s lives, scalping them after hours so that she can dress up like them at her leisure. “I guess we all want what we don’t have,” she shares on a number of occasions, though people don’t typically tend to commit murder just because they’re jealous of someone. When they happen, the scalpings are very gory and convincing, Townsend providing a scary visage of detachment as she sets about her grim task.

When client Olivia (Brea Grant, After Midnight) asks Claire to style her hair for her wedding day, it looks like Claire is considering giving up her murderous ways, but can you ever turn your back on such murderous activities? The ending of the movie provides a strong final image, compensating a little for the rest of the movie’s languorous pacing. There’s too much repetition in what we see and not enough focus on what happens to the bodies after the kills. Apart from a ‘missing person’ flyer, where is the investigation? If the salon was the last place where the victims visited, why are the police not interviewing Claire? It’s a beautifully-lit movie, featuring gialli-reminiscent vibrant colours, with the murder scenes glowing in Dressed to Kill or Profondo Rosso gore. But the lack of credible motive and these ease in which Claire carries out her crimes is too much of an oversight to be ignored.

This collector’s edition includes an illustrated booklet featuring new writing on the film, a gallery of location scouting photographs and fold-out poster. There’d also an audio commentary by Gevargizian and Townsend, a visual essay by author and critic Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, eight behind-the-scenes featurettes, the original 2016 short The Stylist and Pity, a 2016 short film directed by The Stylist’s editor, John Pata. Finally, there’s a separate CD soundtrack disc of the score by Nicholas Elert, an eclectic mix of the ethereal and Muzak.

Verdict: A well-shot, gory, female serial killer movie about a hairdresser already has an intriguing USP;  what a shame that it’s let down in its credibility and pacing.  6/10

Nick Joy