Simply A Masterpiece

Pretty Good

Absolutely Fantastic

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

The movie is not for everyone and is a bit repetitious. However, the repetitions help build up to the ending. Admittedly I was drinking when I watched it. I was in prison some years ago and used to be tortured regularly by my cellmate (and occasionally another inmate) until I screamed. I did not really mind it and, unlike the movie, was not cut open. One time in between tortures, my cellmate had a smile on his face and I asked him, "You like this (torturing me) don't you?" He shook his head yes. Perhaps that helps explain why I liked the ending of the movie when everyone, except the victim, was beaming with glee. Besides the ending, I also liked the girl in pigtails and the marching scenes.

I am a veteran gorehound—maybe one of those low-brow gorehounds referred to in other reviews—but even I feel the need to sputter about this travesty, whether or not it's worth the effort.The sketchy plot involves one of the last men to see the Dahlia, aka Beth Short, alive in 1947. Now 92 years old, he is obsessed with seeing her one more time "before he leaves this planet." Presumably to return to whatever planet he and the other filmmakers came from. To that end, he recruits two hulking psychopaths and an equally deranged teen-aged girl. (If the hulks had half a brain cell between them, they would have offed the old goat and the girl for being downright annoying.) They hope to discover the new Black Dahlia by staging a fake casting call and luring starlets to their hideout. Of course, all but one of them fall short (tee hee) of expectations and are tortured and cut to pieces. Several dumber-than average movie cops investigate; one of them is butchered. No righteous payback for the four villains. THE END.As I sat through this, I had the feeling that Lommel had watched LAST HOUSE ON DEAD END STREET, then decided to stage a murder similar to that flick's infamous torture killing. Over and over, to the point where seeing people drilled and bisected actually becomes boring. …DEAD END STREET, with all its flaws, boasted some good locations, eerie music and atmosphere and a couple of convincing actors. Lommel disregards any sort of quality and instead goes for amateurish gore to the point of tedium, making matters worse by shooting the whole mess on video.I had no trouble getting through this without hitting the fast forward button. It was entertaining to see which rule of basic film-making Lommel would break next. It was also amusing to watch victims enter the killers' lair, see barred cells and bloodstained tables with shackles—and still not run when the running was good. I cracked up when the psychos went out to scatter pieces of their victims around the city. They do this in broad daylight and nobody notices them, even though the girl dresses like a reject from a School For The Retarded and the butchers wear clothing drenched with blood.Dark-haired Ivy Elfstrom, it should be noted, is a knockout. Too bad she doesn't actually look like Beth Short, any more than this production resembles a motion picture.I still can't believe that Ulli Lommel directed this. His second feature, TENDERNESS OF THE WOLVES, was skillfully made and well-acted. THE BOOGEYMAN and THE DEVONSVILLE TERROR weren't masterpieces, but they featured some interesting supernatural elements and were light-years ahead of BLACK DAHLIA. It's also hard to believe that this was directed by a man in his sixties rather than a cackling teenager with a camera, gallons of stage blood and some power tools. Most directors try to break new ground or improve with age but Ulli Lommel seems to be going the way of Jess (LUST FOR FRANKENSTEIN) Franco instead.Perversely, this flick almost makes me want to rent Lommel's CANNIBAL, ZODIAC KILLER, etc. Just out of curiosity. To see if all his recent movies are equally atrocious.Meanwhile, both halves of The Black Dahlia must be spinning in their grave.

(this movie should not be confused with the Brian DePalma film,which i haven't seen,but i am sure it is exponentially better than the travesty i just witnessed).yeesh.this movie is vile,and i mean that in the worst possible way.it looks like documentary or a home movie the way it was shot.i felt like i was watching a snuff movie.as a matter of fact,this "movie reminded me of another one,which also made me think i was viewing a snuff film.turns out there's a good reason for this.it seems Ulli Lommel is not only the director behind this p.o.s.but he is also responsible for that other cinematic travesty,B.T.K Killer.next time is see this guy's name near any movie,i gonna run as fast as i can in the opposite direction.of the 50 plus reviewers on this site,most voted this thing a 1.4/or less.there were a few people who loved it.or at least seemed to,and that's fine.everybody' is entitled to their opinion.but for me,this is just sick. a well deserved 0/10

That's all this film is - Gorenography.My mate brought it up tonight and goes "Man, you gotta see this. It's not the DePalma, but it's a super-gory sick flick". Well, ten minutes in and I thought, "This is terrible...". Twenty minutes in and I thought, "Have I fallen into a worm-hole? This is the same film..." Thirty minutes in and I actually said, "I am enjoying this about as much as I would enjoy watching a close relative die of cancer."By the 45 minute mark I had had enough. The quality of film-making here was actually worse than many porn movies I have seen, and I'm not a big porn fan. In fact the movie had the exact same structure as a run-of-the-mill skin flick. Girl goes to audition - girl gets murdered - cops have banter at crime scene - dumb arty surreal scene - girl goes to audition - girl gets murdered...And so it continues. For eighty minutes.I felt so used after watching this filth that I felt the need to research it on the net, just to see what other people's opinions were about it. Don't get me wrong - I'm a seasoned gorehound, but this was just insulting. I now have a much bleaker view of the movie industry having seen it. It was guerrilla film-making at it's most abysmal level. If Ulli says he had ANY kind of filming permit for this, he is clearly lying.Avoid at ALL costs, and I feel for those who are unfortunate enough to have had the displeasure.