Twenty years later, the suspect has taken up a new identity and moved to another town. He is now the well-respected barber of a little community, is best friends with the police chief, and is a regular at the local diner. The plot thickens when a young man (Chris Coy) appears and approaches him by putting a knife at his throat, which is surely a strange way to start an everlasting friendship. This guy is a serial killer fan who wants to learn the tricks of the trade from the best.

To reveal any more of the story here would spoil the fun of this little thriller, and we are just five minutes in at this point. Surely director Basel Owies and screenwriter Max Enscoe are not reinventing the genre here, but they have created a fast-paced and suspenseful tale with enough twists and turns to keep even the most jaded genre fan entertained. Scott Glenn, who is one of the most underrated actors ever, in my opinion, is the heart and soul of The Barber. He switches from subtle to almost Nicholas Cage-like crazy in a heartbeat, and he never loses the character. It’s a pure joy watching him; his performance makes even the most far-fetched plot twist believable—and you can be sure there are a lot of those. Each time the viewer thinks he has figured out the real motives of the characters, another little detail is added which that throw him off the tracks.

Sadly the ending is hard to swallow and has more holes than a piece of Swiss cheese, but it’s the journey and not the destination that counts. Not every movie can pull a Seven ending out of its magic hat.

In short, The Barber will give you a real close shave, but will leave some stubble as well. In a theatre I probably would have been angry about this, but judging the movie from a Netflix point of view, you can do much worse in 90 minutes.

RATING
IMDB-rating                              5.8/10
My rating                                  6.5/10
Scott Glenn’s Performance     9.0/10