Andrew Yackel delivers a committed performance as the barber. In a short film, there is little time for character development, but Yackel conveys a lifetime of exhaustion and desperation through body language and facial expressions. He serves as the grounded anchor in a reality that is quickly unraveling.
On a surface level, "Blue Barber" is a creature feature splatter film. However, underneath the slime, there is a commentary on the drudgery of the working class. The barber is a man bored by the repetition of his trade. When the horror begins, there is a sense that this break from reality is a twisted form of excitement for him. The film plays with the idea of bodily autonomy and the grotesque nature of the service industry—we trust barbers with sharp objects near our heads, and "Blue Barber" literalizes the danger of that trust in the most absurd way possible. blue barber movie