I have accurately chosen this gif to express my feeling of gratitude for the email that just popped up in my inbox from Brandon Slagle. Mr. Slagle saw my previous Black Dahlia Haunting article, probably because I posted it on Jessica Cameron’s Facebook wall, and he was gracious enough to pass along some new information about The Black Dahlia Haunting as well as some exclusive screen grabs from the film.
The Black Dahlia Haunting follows New Yorker Holly Jenson (played by Devanny Pinn) who is “investigating unsolved murders in Los Angeles and begins receiving what she believes are clues from the afterlife revealing the murderer of Elizabeth Short, better known as The Black Dahlia. She soon begins questioning her own sanity as not only does she learn the identity of Short’s killer, but unsettling facts about her own past…as well as her fate…” The Black Dahlia Haunting is written and directed by Brandon Slagle. Devanny Pinn is joined on stage by Jessica Cameron, Cleve Hall, Noah Dahl, Britt Griffith (of “Ghost Hunters” fame), Brandon Slagle, and Alexis Iacono as Elizabeth Short.
Now for some of the juicy new details about this film, which I am so excited to see. I am a huge fan of real life depicted in horror films or the “based on actual events” types of films. Again, the writing and directing of Mr. Slagle along with the amazing cast is going to make this movie a hit. Trust me! Special FX make-up will be done by none other than Adrian Marcato, also having worked with Pinn and Slagle on American Girls.
The new information provided to us by Slagle mostly pertains to the main characters Holly (Pinn) and Tyler (Dahl). Holly and Tyler are half siblings and Tyler is being held in a psychiatric treatment center ever since the murder of his mother and father. Now Tyler is blind, yet he still manages to draw people and objects…people and objects he couldn’t have possibly seen. One of Tyler’s most popular portraits are of Elizabeth Short, who was murdered 60 years ago. Then in interviews with his doctor, Brian Owen (played by Britt Griffith), Tyler confesses that Elizabeth Short talks to him, not just in his mind but in plain sight. Not only does Tyler see her, but she tells him to kill the ones who have wronged him in life.
Unlike other Black Dahlia films, this film will portray Elizabeth Short as she was in real life. Most films portray her as “angelic,” although this is far from the truth. However, that certainly doesn’t mean she deserved what happened to her. For those of you who are unaware, Elizabeth Short was found naked, cut in half, and with a Glasgow smile in what would become one of Hollywood’s most notorious unsolved murder cases. This film will weave various theories into the plot and expose both real life back story and the back story of the characters depicted in The Black Dahlia Haunting.
Remember to follow the film on twitter @Dahlia_Haunting. I think that’s really going to be the best way of keeping up to date with this film. And now for your viewing pleasure, the new screen grabs!
*PS: Thank you so much for the exclusive content, Brandon!
Can we talk about how these people stole their poster directly from the wonderful film “Perfume”? They cropped out the title and added a few blood spatter vectors. Pretty brazen to straight up steal a talented graphic designer’s work and then deface it was that atrocious font. In case you’re not convinced, you can see the unsullied original here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfume:_The_Story_of_a_Murderer_(film)
Please, don’t give thieves and hacks a platform. These are the kinds of people that shouldn’t be making movies, horror or otherwise.
We will give everyone a shot at talking about their movie. What they do with the images, graphics, and anything else is all on them and not us. Please contact the people doing the movie about that. We have given you their twitter and info above.
We actually STOPPED using that poster long ago when someone informed us it had been used before.
The image was in a dark art gallery and was only used for about a day in the indiegogo campaign for the film and was removed when someone brought it to our attention. I never saw “Perfume” and had no idea the image had previously been used for that production. We also didn’t send the author of this article that picture, and was most likely leftover from google. Simple mistake. It’s better to leave it at that than begin verbally assaulting people based on a misunderstanding and extremely limited knowledge of the project and people involved.