Traces of Red is a 1992 neo noir erotic thriller film directed by Andy Wolk and starring James Belushi, Lorraine Bracco, Tony Goldwyn and William Russ.
Women begin turning up dead in Palm Beach, with lipstick traces left by the killer. Homicide detective Jack Dobson (Belushi) and his partner Steve Frayn (Goldwyn) are on the case. A woman Jack has begun seeing, Ellen Schofield (Bracco), could be involved, but suspicion soon is cast toward Jack himself as the killer, but Jack's brother Michael (Russ), who is running for public office, could also be involved.
This film features examples of:
- Calling Card: The killer leaves lipstick traces at his crime scenes.
- Driven to Suicide: After Michael is outed as the killer, he manages to take Jack's gun and then commits suicide by shooting himself in the temple.
- Drop Dead Gorgeous: Morgan is shown lying dead in bed with her breasts exposed when Jack arrives at the crime scene; Jack covers her chest to restore her dignity. In another scene, when Jack testifies about Kimberly Davis' murder, a flashback shows her lying dead on the bed with her breasts bare.
- Faking the Dead: Turns out that Jack wasn't killed as the opening scene might've implied; he wanted to give Michael, the real killer, a false sense of security that he was dead.
- How We Got Here: The film begins with Jack flat on his back with a bullet in his chest. The film is then told in flashback form, leading up to the events that led him there.
- Parental Incest: It is eventually revealed that Jack's mother raped him as a child.
- Rape as Backstory: A rare male example. After Jack is suspected of being the killer, Jack eventually reveals that he was raped as a child by his former first-grade teacher, one Gloria Wurtz. While speaking with Jack's brother Michael, however, Jack's partner Steve learns that it was actually Jack and Michael's own mother who raped Jack.
- Shout-Out: A noir film that begins with the protagonist laying down, apparently dead? Sounds a lot like Sunset Boulevard. Unlike that film though, Jack actually lives to tell the tale.
