People once believed that when someone remakes a beloved film, people ignore it. But sometimes, a remake's trailer can look so awful, people get angry. Then, sometimes, just sometimes, the studio will release the original on Blu-ray/4k to put the wrong things right. Though they were probably already planning on releasing it for the 30th anniversary of this beloved cult classic. It just happened to come about two months after the trailer for Rupert Sanders' awful-looking remake.
The 90s was a strange place. The global zeitgeist was wrapped up in the coming millennium. Tomorrow was the far-flung future. Popular media was a bright, dayglo colour affair that induced migraines. It was the 80s on speed, minus the fear of nuclear floodlights. People enjoyed themselves. So, of course, the counterculture would be intensely grimy, gritty, stripped down, and anti-materialistic. Enter Alex Proyas with his film adaption of James O'Barr's Gothic fable, The Crow.
Devil's Night, 30 October. As crime-riddled Detroit burns during the annual riot, police find the bodies of local rock guitarist Eric Draven (Brandon Lee) and his fiancée Shelly Webster (Sofia Shinas). Victims of a brutal murder and rape, the only ones left to mourn are teenage Sarah (Rochelle Davis) and police Sergeant Albrecht (Ernie Hudson) and a large Crow. A year to the day later, the Crow brings Eric back from the grave to hunt down the gang that killed him and Shelly. Guided by the Crow, Eric “paints his face in the colors of joy,” brings a level of justifiable homicide that shakes the foundations of Detroit's gangland and brings him into conflict with local boss and charming sociopath Top Dollar (Michael Wincott).
One thing that will forever hang over The Crow is the tragic death of Brandon Lee during the production. A fatal accident with a prop bullet mortally wounded him near the end of production. Those involved were haunted by what occurred, none less than Michael Massee, who had fired the gun, and O'Barr, who blamed himself, wishing he had never written the comic.
Despite the tragedy, The Crow remains a cult classic that has stood the test of time and is the reason your older brother got into the Goth scene. While other directors had made gritty and dark takes on comic book films, they still felt cartoony, like Tim Burton's Batman films. There was a marketing angle for a toy line to work out later. The Crow was different. It was a mature comic with a mature Gen-X audience.
It's a cynical take on America. Eric and Shelly are the victims of chance and circumstance from the gangs in a city everyone has already given up on. The sets are ghettos and urban blight; the tenement street blocks leer in like the set of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari; the action is rough and balletic, stylish and chaotic. This is urban gothic—more punk than Poe. The special feature “Shadows & Pain: Designing The Crow” fully explores the visuals and tone.
Lee's Eric is also one of cinema's most interesting action characters in the cinema. Caught between life and death, sanity and madness, his motivation is not simply a desire for justice. It's a cathartic drive to violence to rid him of the grief he's carried into the next world. It's not the dry, incredible wit or brooding sullenness of other contemporary or modern comic book adaptions. He plays with his food and draws out the moment. The scene with Laurence Mason's Tintin is both unnerving and enjoyable to watch. It adds another layer to the tragedy of Lee's death as we only get a hint of how his career could have gone.
In addition to “Shadows & Pain”, the special features include “Slideshow Collectibles: An Interview with Edward R. Pressman”, audio commentary with Proyas, and another with producer and screenwriter Jeff Mort and John Shirley. A Behind-the-Scenes Featurette, a profile on James O'Barr, extended scenes and deleted footage. However, what is strange is that there is nothing about the amazing soundtrack the film used. Given that it has music from The Cure, Rage Against the Machine, Henry Rollins Band, and Nine Inch Nails, it's a cavalcade of 90s alt-rock.
Out now on 4kUltra and Blu-Ray, The Crow is an urban gothic fantasy that should definitely be in your collection, particularly before the Juggalo remake comes out later this year.
