There is an attempt to expose an anti-woman theme of Hollywood. Directors or people from the industry are shown using women and luring them in sexually and using their position to do this. What happens though when sex isn’t all they are looking for? What if coaxing them in, giving them hope, and then diminishing that hope through kill them with brutality is what is truly desired? The Black Dahlia Movie would argue this especially in the case of Elizabeth Short, but furthermore that this may have happened or could still happen in other cases. What stood out to me the most in the film was the dramatization of the role of Elizabeth, just the presence of it. It is very easy to get wrapped up in a movie especially when it really speaks to you. As an actor though you are expected to become the character or at least make it seem that way. In Lisa’s case the more she gets in to the script, the more this happens. Except it isn’t a character anymore, it seems that it isn’t even someone who has departed from the world. She is alive embedded in to her mind. Towards the beginning of the film it is suggested that you can damage and destroy the physical body all you want, but the real life of a person resides inside of them, which isn’t destroyed by the death of the body. 60 years later, the inside of Elizabeth finds a way of coming back through Lisa; she now resides in her mind. Elizabeth is taking over Lisa’s thoughts and her reality becomes Elizabeth’s. Worst of all she is forced to relive the last and most trying days of Elizabeth’s life.

The Black Dahlia Movie is not without flaws though. I was completely taken away with the film as it began to unravel. Unfortunately, as it went on it began to lose me a bit. First of all I really didn’t care for the character of Grace played by Sarah Scott. She just seemed unrealistic and annoying. She backtracked from the work Kristen Kerr was doing. For example, when a friend is murdered she says that it will blow over and that Lisa is overreacting. I am not quite sure how a death is going to “blow over”, but I am pretty sure that her death isn’t just a phase. Even more so, she didn’t add one thing that helped the plot, story, or provoked any meaning of any kind in the film. It just seems that are so many other smart things that the movie has going for it, that a character like her just takes away from it. Another problem I had with the film was that I would have liked to get in the head of the killer more. I do understand why it wasn’t shown too much though. It is an unsolved case, so the culprit and obviously his motivations and mind set can’t be known. I would have really enjoyed it if they just took a stab at it though. As not much is known about the truth behind the case, it would have been interesting to see what new things could be brought to the table on the killer showed through an internalization of him. A killer is shown somewhat and I really did like what I saw from him. He is a copycat killer of the Black Dahlia case. He finds women who look like Elizabeth Short and recreates the sexual exploitation that ends in the same dire consequences. Because of this engaging element it left me wanting more, which I think could have really raised the bar of the film.
The visual aspects of the film were very unique and very artsy. It really captures you and lets you completely let your guard down. At the beginning of the film it almost looks like a black and white film. This is partially to capture the sense of the past; that the movie is about to embark on the memory of a woman that is longer with us. Another reason for this was it represents Elizabeth as the “Black Dahlia”, it shows her as a strong vixen. Yet the tables are quickly turned. The man she is with is clearly the one full of darkness. He puts her in a state of weakness and makes her completely inferior to him and ends her life painfully, taking away her pleasure and giving it all to himself. There are many instances of pictures or characters fading in to their surroundings. This is a symbol of the tendency to get lost in Hollywood. Each person is just another face, making it so easy to simply disaapear. The immense fear of this happening to these women is exactly what triggers the murders. The music also represents the film extremely well. It boarders so many emotions and circumstances in the film. There is even a more intense song called “The Devil’s Muse”, which is one of the alternate titles to the film. Even regardless of lyrics it is strong as it heightens and really brings out each scene for the importance that it has.

Interesting enough, The Black Dahlia Movie: The Elizabeth Short Story was actually filmed before the previous movies on The Black Dahlia. I haven’t seen the others so I can’t speak on those but it is clear that writer/director, Ramzi Abed, brang out a lot in this Black Dahlia film. It promotes a lot of issues on the industry of Hollywood, the role of women, as well as showing one of the most popular unsolved murders of the country’s past. It was interesting that it took place in present day, yet still showed instances of Elizabeth’s world in the 1940’s. Perhaps they could have gone in to that even more, but by straying away from it they were able to make it a present issue. It was more than just a story about a woman, it showed that these current themes that are still relevant today. The pacing towards the end could have been a bit better as well as further development on the killer as well as Elizabeth as a person. The Black Dahlia Movie: The Story of Elizabeth Short, even with this remains to be an interesting, thought provoking artistic piece that spurred from Elizabeth Short’s unfortunate treturous fate.

- By Kelsey Zukowski