‘Medusa Deluxe’ Review: Single Take Murder Mystery Dazzles [Panic Fest 2023]
Murder mysteries are crowd-pleasers. While oftentimes formulaic, there’s something about watching the mystery unfold and learning about each character’s potential motives for taking a life. Thomas Hardiman throws his hat into the whodunnit ring with his feature film debut Medusa Deluxe. But, he flips the script by placing his murder mystery at a regional hairdressing competition. On top of this incredible setting, Hardiman and his cinematographer Robbie Ryan shot the film in one long take. It’s dazzling, fascinating, and a refreshing look at a subgenre that’s been done over and over again.
Typical fancy estates are replaced with a community center and cement staircases as working-class hair stylists fight to make a name for themselves in their small professional bubble. Medusa Deluxe starts in media res, after a murder has rocked a hair competition. But the stylists aren’t just worried about the murder. They want to know how this affects the competition and their chances of winning the show. Immediately, Hardiman establishes the eccentric personalities at hand as Cleve (the stunning Clare Perkins) angrily rants about how hard she’s worked on her entry this year as she rips at the hair of her model with a brush, pinning it up into a towering pile of gorgeous keratin.
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From there, the camera moves through the community center as we piece together the evidence. The victim is Mosca, a highly regarded stylist who was scalped. Trying to wrangle the gaggle of gossiping models and plotting hairdressers is event organizer, and former lover of Mosca, Rene (Darrell D’Silva) whose perfect pompadour is constantly surrounded by a cloud of vape smoke. He must also calm Mosca’s current lover Angel (Luke Pasqualino), who immediately breaks out into soap opera-level hysterics when he learns the news. Oh, and all the while Angel has his and Mosca’s baby strapped to his chest.
Every actor is on their A-game here. From Perkins’ Cleve throwing creative curses to her rivals’ Divine (Kayla Meikle) and Kendra (Harriet Webb) to Angel’s meltdowns, this cast leans into the ridiculousness of a script that boasts lines like “Vidal Sassoon, bitch!” Everything about these characters and the conceit is camp, from Rene’s vape and Angel’s entire vibe to the different hair sculptures perched atop the models’ heads.
But, Hardiman grounds the film from becoming pure camp with the dimly lit hallways and brutal concrete stairwells that frame our larger-than-life characters. If pitch-black British humor is your speed, then you’ll particularly love Hardiman’s script. It’s clear Hardiman is trying to strike a balance here between that more grounded humor with campy sensibilities, but Medusa Deluxe could perhaps use a little more camp to even further highlight its unique conceit.
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The biggest achievement of Medusa Deluxe is its cinematography. Ryan’s single take is incredibly impressive, creatively finding ways to shift character POV without edits. Filming Medusa Deluxe as if it’s in real-time does add to the mystery’s tension as we follow our cast of characters breathlessly delivering gossip across dressing rooms. Then, once we’ve acclimated to the film’s pacing, there’s a time jump achieved via the single take. It’s perhaps one of the single most impressive technical feats I’ve seen in a while.
However, this achievement is also perhaps its biggest flaw, particularly when it comes to the script. There are too many instances of the camera shooting the back of heads as it follows characters walking down another hallway or up another flight of stairs. While it’s interesting the first few times, it becomes repetitive as Hardiman relies on this technique to further the story. The already lean film drags in spots of dead air as we silently watch characters walk from point A to point B. Yes, it does add to the tension, but ironically it also breaks it as we drum our fingers waiting to get to the next narrative beat.
Overall, Medusa Deluxe is a technical triumph supported by incredible acting. The mundane becomes ridiculous and darkly humorous as we all just want to know who scalped Mosca and why. And the answer to that question matches the strange tone concocted by Hardiman, a strange yet appropriate cherry on top of a beautiful hair sculpture. Even with Medusa Deluxe‘s missteps, Hardiman’s creativity and vision have me positively bursting with excitement about whatever he does next.
Medusa Deluxe is currently on the festival circuit but was recently acquired by A24, so look out for news about its release right here on Dread Central.
Summary
Thomas Hardiman’s hairstylist whodunnit ‘Medusa Deluxe’ is a dazzling technical triumph supported by incredible acting.
