Another absurd "adaptation" from director Uli Lommel (BTK Killer) that is just an embarrassment to everyone involved. As such, I will not even name the "actors" in this movie, other than to direct some well deserved criticism towards Lommel, who has to know what he is doing. Look, its no accident that this piece of crap is coming out to dvd at about the same time as the real movie about this actual, sensational, and still unsolved crime in 1947
But, understand, this movie has nothing, absolutely nothing, to do with any kind of serious story or fictionalized drama about the murder of Elizabeth Short-named the Black Dahlia, and really does not even try. I have ranted before about movies that sell themselves as "true stories" or "based on true stories" when they are not, particularly when the murder of someone is involved and there are family, friends, and people associated in some way with the case who are still alive.
This garbage does not even, really, attempt to do that...it is set in the present day, which right there tells you all you need to know. Huh? My guess is that Lommel and the producers of this were so anxious to cash in on unsuspecting or careless movie fans (like moi) that they put together something without even knowing what the Black Dahlia case was really about. Or, even more likely, there was not enough money in the budget for this type of period piece.
The plot is nonexistent, some garbage about an eighty-something year old man who was the "last person to see the Dahlia alive" (uh, not to bring up the obvious based on my previous career in law enforcement, but if a case is 'unsolved', then how do we know who the last person to see the victim alive-such a person would also be known as the killer -) and his granddaughter and her demented friends who basically lure unsuspecting (and none too bright) actresses to an abandoned warehouse under the guise of trying out for a role in a movie called (you guessed it!!) The Black Dahlia and then proceed to cut them up and dump the remains in the same spot in the same alley every time. The illustrious L.A. police department can't seem to get a clue, I guess it just doesn't occur to them to search the buildings, nor do they ever deem it important enough to even have uniform cops (probably another budget constraint) even secure the crime scene.
And, the plot is the best part of it. Seriously. The camera jerks more than the cam in The Blair Witch Project , although for no apparent reason. There are regular intervals-I'm not making this up-where the picture switches from black & white to color and annoying freeze frames for no reason. It gets worse. Throughout the film, we cut several times to the lead actress dancing in store bought Army fatigues by herself. Yeah, o.k., whatever. The leading actor, a detective, is twenty-two years old, tops, and goes undercover as a guy working in a video store. How in the hell he got to the bad guys in the first place is not clear.
Understand that this is not what you think, a flick put together for a little gratuitous skin/eye candy. Nope. Not that there isn't some of that, but when you pair nudity with evisceration, the feeling is just not there. This is something that was shot in one, maybe two days, and is not worth your $2.00. Tell your local video store owner to stop stocking Lommel movies in your community, its bringing down the curve for all of us.
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