Murkiness enfolds this nod to film noir

There were slit throats aplenty, a dame pecking on a manual typewriter and a smoky voice-over featuring lines such as “You see how certainty dissolves into doubt.”

But “Body Heat” it ain’t.

Offering, instead, a cracked take on film noir and femmes fatales, choreographer-dancer Meg Wolfe -- sporting a curly wig, sleeveless top and culottes (the anti-femme?) -- premiered her latest work, “Eleven Missing Days,” on Thursday at the Unknown Theater. Unfortunately, this 25-minute multimedia affair proved fairly toothless.

Crimes of passion were more like crimes of fashion, with the deconstructionist scenario propelled by mostly frenetic moves and the five dancers rarely registering sultry, sulky or anything Sam Spade-like. Twitchy solos and unisons predominated, with Rachel Lopez, clad in a form-fitting black dress, the sole exception as she conveyed angst amid leggy kicks. A less-than-scorching Jeremy Hahn, also in culottes, was decidedly more femme than private eye, especially when slithering on a chair.

Mikki del Monico wrote the text, which included an obsessive riff on bees, and also appeared, looking body-builder buff as she performed push-ups. She typed too and then hurled her typewriter to the floor -- because she could. Rae Shao-Lan Blum further skewed the work’s cohesion. Adorned in a red chiffon caftan and cavorting a la Isadora Duncan, she could have been in a Jeanette MacDonald picture.

Addressing themes of isolation, violence and disappearance, the proceedings were backed by a sound collage performed live by Aaron Drake on computer and Nancy Sandercock on drums. A clever bit had Sandercock beating time while Wolfe and her gal pals bumped and grinded as if at the Bada Bing.

Video montages by Del Monico, Hahn and Wolfe included static shots of chapter titles, barbiturates and Hollywood bungalows. Doing little to enhance the noir atmosphere, the imagery merely cluttered the already small stage. JaNelle Weatherford’s moody lighting, however, occasionally struck an apt note.

Usually a compelling dancer with intriguing choreographic ideas, Wolfe in “Eleven Missing Days” -- part spoof, part homage and all good intentions -- has perpetrated the crime of missing the mark.

Two improvisation-like pieces completed the program: Arianne Hoffmann’s “Doing by Undoing 2,” performed by Hoffmann and Kai Hazelwood, and Faye Driscoll’s “837 Venice Boulevard,” danced by Nikki Zialcita and the choreographer.

Wry and well-executed, these 10-minute curtain raisers, the latter an excerpt of a work scheduled to premiere in New York in November, provided pure movement without pretense.

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‘Eleven Missing Days’

Where: Unknown Theater, 1110 Seward St., L.A.

When: 8 tonight and 6 p.m. Sunday; and (with different guest artists) 8 p.m. Thursday through next Saturday and 6 p.m. July 13

Price: $24 ($18 online)

Contact: (323) 466-7781 or www.unknowntheater.com