The Crow (1994 film)

The Crow is a 1994 American gothic supernatural superhero film directed by Alex Proyas, written by David J. Schow and John Shirley, and based on the 1989 comic book series by James O'Barr. It stars Brandon Lee in his final film role, as Eric Draven, a rock musician who is resurrected from the dead to seek vengeance against the gang who murdered him and his fiancée.

Lee was fatally wounded by a prop gun during filming. As he had finished most of his scenes, the film was completed through script rewrites, a stunt double, and digital effects. After Lee's death, Paramount Pictures opted out of distribution and the rights were acquired by Miramax Films. The film is dedicated to Lee and his fiancée, Eliza Hutton.

The Crow premiered in Santa Monica on May 10, 1994, and was released in the United States on May 13, 1994, by Dimension Films. The film received positive reviews for its stylized noir aesthetic, emotional resonance and Lee's performance.

Production

Development

James O'Barr wrote what would become The Crow as a means to cope with the unexpected death of his fiancée, who was killed by a drunk driver. The first meeting O'Barr had with a major studio was quickly dismissed after the studio's vision for the film was a musical with Michael Jackson as the lead. Around the time of The Crows publication, writer John Shirley had pitched Angry Angel to Caliber Press, who turned it down due to similarities with The Crow. Shirley sought the comic out and decided to adapt it into a film. O'Barr was receptive and agreed to workshop the film with Shirley and producer Jeff Most, turning down a significant offer from New Line Cinema in the process. O'Barr oversaw three different script treatments by Shirley and Most before directly collaborating on the first two drafts of the screenplay. Shirley penned the third and fourth draft by himself which awarded him screenplay credit by the Writers Guild of America. Most claimed to have written a "substantial proportion" of the script, but was denied credit due to a rule in the WGA which prohibited producers from receiving credit. The addition of producer Edward Pressman gave The Crow further momentum, but Shirley would be fired during development after clashing with a development head at Pressman's studio. Splatterpunk writer David J. Schow was brought in for rewrites. From a suggestion by Most, Pressman primarily pursued music video and commercial directors to helm the film; Julien Temple being Most's top choice. Australian filmmaker Alex Proyas was hired to direct the film.

Christian Slater and River Phoenix were early considerations for the role of Eric Draven. Shirley and Most pushed for Slater while Pressman wanted River Phoenix. Brandon Lee was suggested to play Draven, but O'Barr was unconvinced fearing he wouldn't be suited for the material. However, Lee won O'Barr over and was given the role shortly thereafter. Lee dropped 20 pounds to portray Draven and worked closely with the crew to shape the film, co-choreographing his action sequences with Jeff Imada, performing most of his stunts, and removing a subplot due to its Asian stereotyping. Rochelle Davis, Ernie Hudson, Michael Wincott, Bai Ling, Sofia Shinas, Michael Massee, David Patrick Kelly, Tony Todd, and Jon Polito rounded out the supporting cast.

Filming

Production began on The Crow in February 1993 in Wilmington, North Carolina and was scheduled to last 54 days. A scene filmed two weeks before Lee's had called for the same gun to be shown in close-up. Revolvers often use dummy cartridges fitted with bullets, but no powder or primer, during close-ups as they look more realistic than blank rounds which have no bullet. Instead of purchasing commercial dummy cartridges, the film's prop crew, hampered by time and money constraints, created their own by pulling the bullets from live rounds, dumping the powder charge but not the primer, then reinserting the bullets. Witnesses reported that two weeks before Lee's death they saw an unsupervised actor pulling the trigger on the gun while it was loaded with the powderless but primed round. Since the primer was still live, it could launch the bullet with enough force to push it out of the case and wedge it in the barrel.

After Lee's death, the producers were faced with the decision of whether or not to continue with the film. Lee had completed most of his scenes for the film and was scheduled to shoot for only three more days. Lee's stunt double Chad Stahelski was used as a stand-in and digital face replacement was used to superimpose Lee's face onto the head of the double. The beginning of the movie, which had not been finished, was rewritten, and the apartment scene remade using computer graphics from an earlier scene of Lee.

A character from the original comic book called Skull Cowboy was originally planned to be part of the adaptation and even had scenes filmed. He acted as a guide for Eric Draven between the worlds of the dead and the living. He was set to be played by Michael Berryman, but the role was cut from the film due to Lee's death.

O'Barr later remarked that losing Lee was like losing his fiancée all over again, and he regretted ever writing the comic in the first place.

Reception

Box office

The film opened at number one in the United States in 1,573 theaters with $11,774,332 and averaging $7,485 per theater, making it Miramax's biggest ever opening. Some industry sources believed that Miramax overstated the weekend gross by as much as $1 million. The film ultimately grossed $50,693,129 in the United States and Canada, and $43 million internationally, for a worldwide total of $93.7 million against its budget of $23 million. and sold 4,604,115 tickets in France, Germany, Italy and Spain. In Seoul, South Korea, it sold 83,126 tickets.

Critical response

The Crow has an approval rating of on Rotten Tomatoes based on reviews and an average rating of . The critical consensus states: "Filled with style and dark, lurid energy, The Crow is an action-packed visual feast that also has a soul in the performance of the late Brandon Lee." The film also has a score of 71 out of 100 on Metacritic based on 14 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Reviewers praised the action and visual style.

The film was widely compared to other films, particularly Tim Burton's Batman movies and Ridley Scott's Blade Runner.

Accolades

7th – Sandi Davis, The Oklahoman
Top 10 (listed alphabetically, not ranked) – Matt Zoller Seitz, Dallas Observer
Top 10 (listed alphabetically, not ranked) – Mike Mayo, The Roanoke Times
Top 10 (not ranked) – Betsy Pickle, Knoxville News-Sentinel
Top 12 worst (Alphabetically ordered, not ranked) – David Elliott, The San Diego Union-Tribune
Top 3 "Best in-your-face exploitation" (not ranked) – Glenn Lovell, San Jose Mercury News

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders"

! scope="col"| Award

! scope="col"| Category

! scope="col"| Recipient

! scope="col"| Result

| rowspan=3|MTV Movie Award

The score consists of original, mostly orchestral music, with some electronic and guitar elements, written for the film by Graeme Revell.

Home media

The Crow was first released on VHS and LaserDisc multiple times between 1994 and 1998 in addition to the widescreen DVD on February 3, 1998. The two-disc DVD was released on March 20, 2001, as part of the Miramax/Dimension Collector's Series. On October 18, 2011, The Crow was released on Blu-ray through Lionsgate Pictures who also re-released the DVD format on August 17, 2012.

The fourth film, The Crow: Wicked Prayer, was released in 2005. Directed by Lance Mungia, it stars Edward Furlong, David Boreanaz, Tara Reid, Tito Ortiz, Dennis Hopper, Emmanuelle Chriqui and Danny Trejo. It was inspired by Norman Partridge's novel of the same title. It had a one-week theatrical première on June 3, 2005, at AMC Pacific Place Theatre in Seattle, Washington, before being released to video on July 19, 2005. Like the other sequels, it had a poor critical reception.

Canceled sequel

The Crow: 2037 was a planned sequel written and scheduled to be directed by Rob Zombie in the late 1990s; however, it was never made.

Television series

The Crow: Stairway to Heaven was a 1998 Canadian television series created by Bryce Zabel and starring Mark Dacascos in the lead role as Eric Draven. It garnered generally positive reviews and performed moderately well in the ratings, but was cancelled after one season.

Reboot

On April 1, 2022, a new attempt at a remake was announced by The Hollywood Reporter, with Bill Skarsgård starring as Eric, Rupert Sanders directing, and Edward R. Pressman and Malcolm Gray co-producing. Days later, the site also reported that FKA Twigs had been cast as Shelly. In July 2022, production on the reboot was reportedly underway in Prague, Czech Republic. By August 26, 2022, Danny Huston was cast as Vincent Roeg. On September 16, 2022, the film wrapped production.

The film was theatrically released on August 23, 2024, by Lionsgate Films, in the United States, and achieved neither the critical nor commercial success of the original.

References

Bibliography

Bridget Baiss. The Crow: the life, death, and rebirth of a classic film, rev'd & updated edn. Essex, Conn.: Applause - Theatre & Cinema Books, 2024.
Jeff Bond. The Crow: the definitive history. Titan Books, 2025.
Alisha Mughal. It can't rain all the time: The Crow. Toronto: ECW Press, 2025.