2K Replay: THE BLACK DAHLIA

 by Adam Riske

Nominated for “Best Cinematography” (Vilmos Zsigmond) at the Academy Awards. He lost to Guillermo Navarro for Pan’s Labyrinth.

• Best Scene/Moment: The two scenes where Josh Hartnett’s character visits the Hilary Swank character’s family. They’re demented even by Brian De Palma standards.

• Best Song: “In the Mood” written by Joe Garland.

• Best Merch: A “Black Dahlia Movie Film Ticket Stub Pepsi Logo Multiplex Opening Month 9/24/2006” for $17.50 (a great deal because it’s marked down 50% off from $35.00). I like the seller is bragging that the ticket stub has a Pepsi logo. They also bought the ticket at 9:42pm for a 9:25pm. What a creep. The movie might have already started by then. This isn’t 2026 when there are 30 minutes of previews. I also like the seller boasting about seeing it opening month as if seeing the movie 9 days after its release date is worth noting.

• Director Grade: The Black Dahlia was directed by Brian De Palma.
Great Movies: Phantom of the Paradise, Carrie, Blow Out, The Untouchables, Carlito’s Way
Good Movies: Sisters, Scarface, Casualties of War, Mission: Impossible, Snake Eyes
OK Movies: Dressed to Kill, Body Double, Raising Cain, Femme Fatale, The Black Dahlia
Bad Movies: The Bonfire of the Vanities, Passion
Unseen By Me: Murder a la Mod, Greetings, The Wedding Party, Hi, Mom!, Get to Know Your Rabbit, Obsession, The Fury, Home Movies, Wise Guys, Mission to Mars, Redacted, Domino
Overall Grade: B+

• Double It with This 2006 Movie: Lonely Hearts

• Year 2006 Movies to Trailer Before Them: Lucky Number Slevin, The Prestige, Scoop

• Ella McCay or The Black Dahlia? Ella McCay

• Mall Movie? I’m going to go yes because De Palma wasn’t as popular in the 2000s as he was back in the '70s, '80s and '90s. This movie’s pretty trashy so it would fit in nicely at the mall.

• Only in 2006: The subject matter of a movie made me feel guilty about my crush on Love, Lights, Hanukkah’s Mia Kirshner.

• Scene Stealer: Hilary Swank. She’s giving a femme fatale performance from outer space.

• I Miss: Major studio Brian De Palma movies through The Black Dahlia.

• I Don’t Miss: Non-major studio Brian De Palma movies after The Black Dahlia.

• 2006 Crush (tie): Scarlett Johansson and Love, Lights, Hanukkah’s Mia Kirshner.

• 2026 Crush (tie): Love, Lights, Hanukkah’s Mia Kirshner and Rachel Miner.

• What I Thought in 2006: I thought the movie was legitimately good for the first couple of acts only to lose its way completely in the final act and become very demented and silly. It was memorable, I’ll give it that.

• What I Think in 2026: I think pretty much the same thing. It’s probably more than a little insensitive for the victim of the real-life crime, but I guess it gets a pass since it happened decades ago, like the Titanic tragedy where people feel free to joke about it now. I dunno. It’s weird, right? Anyways, there are things I like about the movie (especially the stunning cinematography) and the trio of Josh Hartnett-Scarlett Johansson-Aaron Eckhart are charming. This is a very sleazy, silly movie and few people do that better than Brian De Palma. It’s not one of his best, but it’s entertaining most of the time and a little bit better than its reputation.