algsmail Well, here we go. I thought the premise of this film was BRILLIANT! (Yes, I hear all the boos and the WTFs.) It seems everyone hates this film; I loved it. The subject of the "Black Dahlia" is always a catch phrase for a great deal of interest and hubbub. No one knows what really happened. The premise of this film gives an exciting take on one scenario that I didn't see coming. The blood and gore (really out there) was just a prologue for the REAL story. I suppose I don't have a great deal of imagination but... I never saw it coming. What a concept. I was mesmerized as well as troubled in getting my head around just how people could be so cruel. The female torturer, Kate (all 5'3" of her), would definitely make AFI's top villains of all time if this movie was not so low profile. As I mentioned previously, no one knows what the true story of the Black Dahlia is. This premise is fascinating and better than most. Captivating finale. ***SPOILER*** I really don't see any spoilers here but I don't want to take a chance on being blacklisted.

hasosch For most reviewers, this movie is atrocious, is feces, is garbage. To all those who think so I would like to suggest considering that Ulli Lommel's "Black Dahlia" (2003) was made at the end of the twenties and by somebody standing above critic from the gutter, like Salvador Dali or the early Luis Bunuel. In this case people would praise fantasy and techniques used for film topics that we otherwise have known until nausea. Is it that what Lommel wants to show when he presents four or fives times the almost identical killing scene? Or is it the fact that repetition recurs to itself and this process of self-reality is necessary to introduce new aspects of the crime that nobody would have foreseen? As a matter of fact, Lommel presents in this and his other movies practically the whole set of "alienation effects" (Brecht) which destroy the automatized attention horizon of the spectators.Since most reviewers are also convinced that Lommel just wanted to profit from the success that was to expect from Brian De Palmas "Black Dahlia" which was released in 2006, let me tell you that the two "Black Dahlias" have nothing to do with one another. While De Palma's film is strongly based on the story of Elizabeth Short, Lommel connects a series of crimes in the present with the 1947 Los Angeles murder case. Lommel's idea that the modern series of killings could be motivated by the 92 years old producer who never had a chance to make his movie with the original "Black Dahlia" some half a century ago, is very original. Another important point is that according to what can be seen in Lommel's "Black Dahlia", it was already made in 2003 and only released in 2006. It would not be first time that two persons who did not know of one another's plan would come up with the same result. The auto-car was invented no less than three times by three different people who did not even know one another.Last, but by no means least, one word about the constantly criticized style of Lommel. It seems to me that it is adequate to the semantics of his stories, thereby forming what is called in literature theory an "isomorphy". Lommel's movies are not pretentious, they show what the director wants to show, and Lommel does not even think that he is a second Fassbinder. Thus, I would like to introduce "pretence" as the kernel-criterion for judging if a movie has deserved a high or a low rating. In order to compare Lommel's and De Palma's "Black Dahlias", I have borrowed and watched both movies and given the latter a "1", because De Palma's movie is pretentious. The dramaturgy is not adequate to its topic, it is unnecessary complicated instead of being complex. Did nobody of all those wonder, who made Lommel's movie down on the cost of De Palma's film, why De Palma's "Black Dahlia" was nominated by an Oscar but at the same rated with only 5.5 by ten thousands of people?

jariilaan I mean no offense at all to smokskren, who wrote the negative review about this movie, but I have to disagree. I've always had a little obsession with cold cases (I'm a police officer in Colorado), and while this movie is lacking what other, high-budget films can bring to the table, I enjoyed it thoroughly. 'Black Dahlia' as the victim is popularly called (Elizabeth Short), killed on January 15th, 1947, most likely was a poor young woman who left this world far too early. I won't go into the details, since that won't matter to anyone who isn't truly interested in this case, but this movie produced an emotional reaction within me I never expected a movie could. Sure, this was a low-budget film, with hardly any special effects (all of the murders are quite ambiguously played out), and unique (yet awkward) cinematography. I've seen movies that have made a lot more sense to me than this one. Really, I suppose I want to ask anyone who thinks they might want to watch this film to do their best to understand as much as we know about the death of Elizabeth Short. While 90% of the characters are quite silly, the music is corny at times (thought provoking at others), the random clips of seemingly unrelated material to the case (military woman marching and saluting?!), for anyone who is truly interested in the sickening and completely wrong manner of death of a young woman (who might've had problems, but was no worse truly than you or I), this movie will truly strike you deep inside. Sorry smokskren, but I must give this movie a high ranking. Thank you to all the people who made this disgusting movie. Even in such a disgusting and horrifying manner, you have kept the story of Elizabeth Short alive in this modern era. Perhaps her murder will become as famous as those of Jack the Ripper. I certainly hope so, for if other's become as upset and emotionally impacted as I was with this movie, perhaps we can avoid a repeat of this tragedy.

spring_er I was going to rate this movie a 0, but you cant in this. All I gotta say is...81 minutes of CRAP!!! what a pathetic movie, it's meant to be a thriller but my friends and I laughed all the way through it, the actors should go or go back to acting school, because seriously 10 year old children can act better than that.Having to say that we watched the whole thing just to see if it went anywhere, and I tell you what, it doesn't. The end is bodged up and the you can tell it's a home made movie, the director on should be ashamed of this "E Grade" film, I would have gotten better value of barney and friends than this. If you want to waste your money on this then go for it, but please if you do then watch it drunk, you will laugh more.RIPPED OFF!! but laughed so yeah I guess i can push it up to half a star rating then.