The unsolved murder of Elizabeth Short, dubbed "The Black Dahlia" by the media in 1940s LA, is probably the most underserved scandal in all art. Any movie attempting to address the unknown actress's horrific mutilation -- such as Brian de Palma's absolutely awful eponymous adaptation of James Ellroy's novelization -- usually ignores the truth to overcomplicate the tale. Granted, the lack of resolution makes such an undertaking suspect, but the undeniable facts -- Short was cut in half, her mouth sliced open into a hideous "smile" -- are just too intriguing to treat so shabbily. Even an independent effort like The Devil's Muse has a hard time sticking to the killing. Instead, this is a faux fever dream that never wakes up long enough to let us know what's really going on.

Struggling starlet Lisa Small (Kristen Kerr) is desperate to win the part of Elizabeth Short in a new film about the Black Dahlia murder. Along with other naïve wannabes, our heroine hopes the film will jumpstart her nowhere career. As she begins to research the character, the lines between reality and fantasy blur. Even the relationship with her boyfriend (Trent Haaga) starts to mirror events from the past. But there is something even more sinister haunting Lisa. Seems an unknown assailant is picking off members of the cast, one by one -- and our heroine might be next in line.

The Devil's Muse is Mulholland Dr. No, it literally is. Of course, it's not nearly as good as David Lynch's 2001 masterpiece, but in a bit of DVD-added content, writer/director Ramzi Abed admits that he started out making one kind of movie, and then scrapped said project to turn out the film you see here -- similar to how the American auteur took his failed ABC TV pilot and manipulated it into something very special indeed. Again, Abed is not nearly as successful, but he earns big fat brownie points for trying. This is a confounding and occasionally accomplished exercise in dream logic that wants to point out the pain Hollywood actresses go through while killing them off one by one. Again, the nods to Lynch are obvious. Too bad Abed doesn't have the filmmaker's way with surrealism.

There are times when we just can't keep the players straight. One moment, our lead is referred to as "Lisa." The next, she's supposedly the physical manifestation of Ms. Short. Huh? Before long, the script can't even keep them straight. It has to resort to a last act "haunting" to make the constant misdirection seem plausible. And then there are the performances. Kristen Kerr is quite good as Lisa/Elizabeth, bringing the right amount of disoriented desirability to the character. She is matched scene for scene by an always approachable Haaga, even if his Red/Bobby persona is unexplained and far too ambiguous. The rest of the company, however, feel like leftovers from a post-modern burlesque show tryout. There is so much cleavage and catty looks that you half expect Blaze Starr and Lili St. Cyr to show up and start taking names.

But it's Abed who's The Devil's Muse biggest asset... and liability. There's no denying his technical proficiency and eye for images. This movie looks great. On the downside, it is virtually indecipherable at times, characters popping in and saying illogical proto-philosophical things that have very little to do with forwarding the narrative. We are supposed to get lost in this world, to read between the lines to see Abed's main message -- that Hollywood literally murders the young women coming to its casting calls looking for fame. The "chews 'em up and spits 'em out" ideal is nothing new, and is another nod to Lynch's Tinseltown tirade. The director deserves praise for such an obvious allegory, but The Devil's Muse is too obtuse to be truly effective.

The DVD includes a making-of documentary, concert featuring music from the film, and 11 songs from the soundtrack on a separate CD.