Official Synopsis
Eugene van Wingerdt (Scott Glenn) is a small-town barber hiding a dark secret. Twenty years earlier he was arrested for several gruesome murders, but was released due to insufficient evidence. The detective in charge of the case killed himself in despair. Now the detective’s son is in town, with a few secrets of his own. Is he seeking revenge or hoping to learn at the feet of the master? Through the film’s myriad twists and turns, you’ll realize there’s much more to evil than you ever could imagine.
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I can completely see where director Basel Owies and writer Max Enscoe wanted to go with this story. They wanted to have an older serial killer training a younger serial killer, which would create new forms of evil in a small town. The is intriguing and it’s understandable when you see the flashbacks unfold at the beginning of the movie. A young Eugene Van Wingerdt (Scott Glenn), who is accused of killing women, but ends up getting released for lack of evidence creates a nice mystery. Adding the element of the lead investigator taking his own life because he feels like he failed so many families by not proving Wingerdt’s guilt adds another layer. Having the detective’s son witness his father killing himself, which screws him up badly and sends him on a plight to find and learn from Wingerdt makes for a good set up.
And that’s where the real beef of The Barber begins.
Act one starts with bitter/crazed son, John McCormack (Chris Coy), tracking down Wingerdt to get some advice about how to kill properly. Wingerdt plays along and begins to show the young pup the ropes of the game. Leading him to clean up aspects of his life, play it careful and training him in the proper methods of ‘hunting’ folks.
The first act is a bit unnerving, especially with the grandfather-esque aura that Glenn’s Wingerdt delivers. The act makes complete sense in the scheme of the set up as McCormack’s unspoken motivation and scarring from his father’s death would lend credence to his eventual ‘madness’. Director Basel Owies and writer Max Enscoe treat this act with respect and do a good job of laying out what could be the rest of the movie.
Then act two happens and the story not only gets stale, but it also loses its focus on what it wants to be.
McCormack’s character unveils an additional motivation beyond what we’ve figured out to this point (not going to spoil it, so expect vagueness). While the additional motivation does make sense, it’s shallowly written and seems like no depth or detail was given to it to smoothly help incorporate it into the body of work established. We’re also introduced to another character named Audrey Bennet (Kristen Hager), though not much background is given about her until the end (which is to late), just bits of fragments that are counting on the audience’s assumptions.
Anyway, the story reaches a crossroad in act two, where it can choose to go the same route it was heading or completely change the dynamics and try a different direction in attempts to make the creepy mystery of two warped personalities seem more than what’s just on the surface. This crossroad should be a no-brainer, but for whatever reason McCormack chooses a different route with no excuse for the trip (at least not in the second act). While the second act should focus on the budding relationship between Wingerdt and McCormack, it decides to dissolve it before any bond can really form. That is a real shame considering the mentoring was building towards a solid relationship.
By the third act, the identity of the movie is completely different. Different intentions and motivations are driving the story, which is disjointed. The saving grace is Scott Glenn’s character. Wingerdt, who has had a calm, silent, yet sinister demeanor suddenly shifts from second gear to fifth with full nitrous backing him up. He turns to pure evil, folks, which is where Scott Glenn’s comfortable grandfather build throughout the first two acts helps to magnify the nefarious demon that is underneath the surface. Glenn’s Wingerdt in the third act is the reason why most people will watch this movie, and should watch it. The guy is frightening, unforgiving and what you might expect from looking at the movie’s Blu-ray case. Sadly, we don’t get enough of this and the intensity is over much too quick. Had the filmmakers taken this character from the third act and scattered him in bits and pieces that build into a murderous crescendo by the end of the film, wow The Barber could have been epic.
As it stands, The Barber suffers from a good set up, followed by an identity crisis, which overshadows the power of the last act in the movie. This could have been so much more than it was, but it still has its moments.
On the Blu-ray side of this release, the movie gorgeously shot and transferred to HD. The movie tends to bounce from a blue to yellow filter, each filter giving an uncomfortable, yet beautiful visual effect to the story. Love it and it’s probably my favorite part of the release (I like the technique). Anyway, the transfer for this film is pretty flawless with no graininess or artifacts present in the picture.