phantom of the paradise (1974)

"I made her the money grubbing ho that she was, and he calls me a disgrace,"
A rock updating of the Phantom of the Opera story, where a musician (William Finley) is ripped off by an unscrupulous record exec Swan (Paul Williams). The musician ends up disfigured when he tries to stop the exploitation of his music. Thus the musician becomes the phantom, and Swan signs him up to create a rock opera, but whilst doing so the phantom develops an obsession with Phoenix (Jessica Harper) and sets out a plan to get her to perform his music and gain revenge on Swan.
Throwing in radical politics and a pop at machiavellian managers, this updating of the Phantom story, also adds a dash of Faust and Dorian Gray, then throws in some fun pastiches of rock and surf songs. Then is topped off by De Palma's split screen direction, to produce an entertaining rock opera.

the black dahlia (2006)

"The basic rule of homicide applied: nothing stays buried forever. Corpses. Ghosts. Nothing stays buried forever. Nothing."
Two policemen are paired off in the homicide squad. One, 'Bucky' Bleichert (Josh Hartnett), is taken under the wing of the other, Lee Blanchard (Aaron Eckhart). The pair become friends, along with Lee's girlfriend Kay (Scarlett Johansson). But when Elizabeth Short is murdered, in whatbecomes known as the Black Dahlia case, their personal and professional lives get twisted up inside the mystery.
Inspired by the notorious and unsolved murder, this jumps into the seedy world of would be actresses attracted to the bright lights of Hollywood, via the LA police. A modern take on 40's noirs, moves along effectively, until the central murder, when it subsequently doesn't satisfactorily explain why the two should take so much interest in the case and ends up disjointed.