With some similarities to the actual black dahlia case from the 1940s, which was never solved.... this was written and directed by steve anderson. Claire (olivia thirlby) is sent to a small town on the coast to investigate the murder of a young, un-identified single woman. When she meets the local sheriff (john lynch, who we know from fargo), she doesn't trust him, and realizes she is on her own. Some fun roles for well known faces... jennifer beals is vivian. Nichelle nichols (lieutenant uhura !) is teresa, friend of the deceased woman. It's okay. It's a little more melodramatic than it needs to be, and the wigs and make-up claire uses make her look like a drag queen. And we really didn't need to spend so long watching the band in the bar about an hour in... that kind of took away from the noir feeling of the story. The first three quarters of the film run in a straight forward fashion, but the ending feels like it was an extra big twist ending , or maybe changed around from what it was originally. Confusing. Produced in association with the humphrey bogart estate. Anderson seems to be employed or partnered with santana productions, which was also the name of bogart's boat. As of today, this is the last project listed for anderson. He also directed the big empty, which is good but also has an odd, mysterious ending. Seems to be his specialty.
