We all have certain movies we love. Movies we respect without question because of either tradition, childhood love, or because they’ve always been classics. However, as time keeps ticking, do those classics still hold up? Do they remain must see? So…the point of this column is to determine how a film holds up for a modern horror audience, to see if it stands the Test of Time.
DIRECTED BY ALEX PROYAS
STARRING BRANDON LEE, MICHAEL WNCOTT, JON POLITO, DAVID PATRICK KELLY
Can you believe Alex Proyas’ THE CROW turns 25 years old this month? Pretty crazy, right? I suppose no crazier than the accursed production slate and eerie on-set mishaps that would, unfortunately and in many ways, overshadow what is a tremendously crafted piece of Gothic vigilante vengeance. We’ll get into some of the ill-fated details below, but first, let us celebrate the lost life of Brandon Lee who, ironically, embodies the soul of the entire film, echoing the following opening line of narration:
People once believed that when someone dies, a crow carries their soul to the land of the dead. But sometimes, something so bad happens that a terrible sadness is carried with it and the soul can't rest. Then sometimes, just sometimes, the crow can bring that soul back to put the wrong things right.”
The way I see it, “THE CROW that can bring that soul back” is the movie itself, which, no matter how sad and tragic Lee’s death was at the time, has immortalized the actor as that very heart and soul of the project he literally gave his life for. Question is, how does the movie itself hold-up 25 years later? Does THE CROW still soar as high as it did in 1994, or has it clipped a wing and dipped down in altitude? Has the infamous tragedy sapped all the meritorious luster of what Alex Proyas was able to capture onscreen? Or has the movie actually appreciated over that span? We shall see when THE CROW fights The Test of Time below!
THE STORY: Adapted from the superb James O’Barr comic series by David J. Schow (LEATHERFACE, CRITTERS 3 & 4) and John Shirley (THE TOMB), THE CROW begins in Detroit on October 30th, aka Devil’s Night. Eric Draven and his bride-to-be Shelly (Sofia Shinas) are set to wed on Halloween the following day. Unfortunately, ruthless thugs bust into their apartment, where they rape and batter Shelly so badly she spends 30 hours in a coma before succumbing to her injuries. Eric on the other hand is shot, stabbed and tossed out of the window to his death on the street below. Officer Albrecht (Ernie Hudson) takes the case and meets a young girl named Sarah who claims to be Eric and Shelly’s friend.
A year later on Halloween, a crow knocks on Draven’s gravestone and immediately resurrects the death-metal rocker. Per Devil’s Night tradition, a ragtag gang of lowlifes led by T-Bird (David Patrick Kelly) begin an arson-spree throughout the city. Draven, an obviously play on The Raven, which is not only a relative of the Crow, but the name of a Gothic Edgar Allan Poe poem that the title character will allude to at one point in the film (during the Gideon pawnshop scene), returns to the crime scene and has visions of his assailants. Tin Tin (Laurence Mason), Skank (Angel David) and Funboy (Michael Massee), not to mention the unrelated Top Dollar (Michael Wincott) and his vicious vixen Myca (Bai Ling), all have an appointment with Death. And Draven is the reaper!
And if Draven’s the reaper, the Crow on his shoulder is his purgatorial passenger, his ferrying angel of death. The crow (no crows were used in the film, only ravens mind you, which are larger and have much gnarlier beaks) guides Draven to each of his attackers, starting with Tin Tin.Draven waylays that fool before heading to Gideon’s (John Polito) pawnshop to get Shelly’s engagement ring, blowing up the building but sparing Gideon’s life before he leaves. Draven finds Funboy all hopped-up with Sarah’a mom, Darla (Anna Levine) and shoots the f*ck out of him until he dies (it’s during this scene, ironically, that Lee would be accidentally shot and killed on set).
Draven then flashes signs of goodness, as he encourages Darla to be a better mother to Sarah and convinces Albrecht that his brand of vengeance is indeed justified. These scenes are key to keeping our sympathies with Draven intact. Later, Draven kidnaps T-Bird and duct-tapes his ass to a car-seat, drops an IED in his lap and sends him flying off the dock in a fiery explosion (note Draven’s three-finger signal to T-Bird as he drives off, a direct reference to David Patrick Kelly in THE WARRIORS, a favorite film of Lee’s). Two badass shootouts later and wicked rooftop finale (shoutout to Tony Todd), THE CROW finally earns his rightful retribution!
WHAT HOLDS-UP: Many factors account for such, which we’ll touch on below, but above all else, it has to be the overall entertainment level of THE CROW that continues to soar the highest 25 years later! Director Alex Proyas deserves the bulk of the credit for crafting such an eminently watchable piece of high-flying, fast-paced entertainment has he did…in his feature debut no less, doing so from a script he did not write. What an astounding feat. Of course, surrounding yourself with and delegating duties to the best people in the biz also falls at Proyas’ feet. This includes hiring editors M. Scott Smith (CRUISING, TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A.) and Dov Hoenig (THE FUGITIVE, HEAT) to cut the film at such an enthralling breakneck tempo. But beyond the mere editing, it’s the Gothic aesthetic style, brimming vim and vigor, and violent carnage that really retain THE CROW’S greatness.
Truly, can you think of another major motion picture that so stylishly achieved the visual aesthetic of a comic-book tableau in the Proyas did with THE CROW? Not even Tim Burton and his vision of Gotham city can hold a candle to the gritty, dirty, grimy, shadowy, steamy cityscape seen in THE CROW, which is steeped in a chiaroscuro lighting scheme with streets and alleys deluged with a shiny veneer. Word is Proyas originally wanted to shoot the whole film in black and white, using only color for Draven’s flashbacks. Of course, when the studio balked, Proyas took measures into his own hands by hiring a kickass Polish DP Dariusz Wolski (DARK CITY, PROMETHEUS, SWEENEY TODD), Production Designer Alex McDowell (FIGHT CLUB, MINORITY REPORT) and Art Directors John Marshall (ROBOCOP) and Simon Murton (FORTRESS). For those keeping count, it seems Tim Burton even agreed with our assessment of THE CROW boasting a better Gotham City than his two BATMAN movies, as he subsequently hired Wolski, McDowell (CORPSE BRIDE, CHOCOLATE FACTORY) and Murton (SLEEPY HOLLOW) to work on his films. And it doesn't stop there. Look at Chris Nolan's vision of Gotham and Heath Ledger's appearance as Joker. It clearly apes if not owes a lot to what Proyas and Lee did here, down to the scene where Lee/Ledger infiltrate the bad guys' table-meeting and vitiate the entire room. Not for nothing, I see a lot of SIN CITY in THE CROW as well. Clearly, Robert Rodriguez was just as big a fan as Burton and Nolan!
The brilliant visual design of THE CROW is one of un-mitigating factors contributing to its long-held greatness. Much of this has to do with groundbreaking CGI for the time. Not only in the face-swapping of Lee onto body-doubles or transposing Lee’s visage of reflective surfaces like mirrors, but right from the opening shot of a Crows’ eye view as it swoops, glides, dips, careens and soars through the aforementioned cityscape to land on a broken window. It’s such a surreally nightmarish and Gothic opening tone-setter, and having watched the film just yesterday, I can say with the utmost confidence that none of the CG has aged a day. I’m still utterly baffled, and just as impressed, as to how this splendid opening shot was achieved, which is a testament to the advanced filmmaking tactics of the day. I mean, 1994 doesn’t seem that long ago, but in terms of cinematic tech, its eons ahead. In that regard, the CGI in THE CROW, overseen by SFX foreman James Roberts (CAPE FEAR, FOREST GUMP) and VFX supervisor Andrew Mason (DARK CITY, THE 13TH FLOOR), is still second to none!
Adding to the stylized visual tableau of THE CROW is the manic energy pulsing around the edges of the film. To our eyes, this achieved through the use of music, which is a vital part of not just the aural design of the film, but the title character as well. The film kicks off with a pitch-perfect Cure song “Burn,” which was specifically written for the film. O’Barr is on record saying he was listening to Joy Division, The Cure, Nine Inch Nails and other Gothic/industrial sounding bands (Stone Temple Pilots as well). As a result, Proyas injected these inspirational tunes into the soundtrack of the film, which gives it a raw, anarchic rock-n-roll vibe that ingeniously layers what unfolds before our very eyes. Rage Against the Machine, Violet Femmes, Pantera and Rollins Band also add to a soundscape that perfectly mirrors Draven’s personal motivations, and that give the film a unique energy that keeps the film highly entertaining.
This sense of unbridled brio extends through to the editing of the film, which, at 101 minutes, has a faced-paced energy and upbeat tempo from start to finish. Honestly, I can’t find a dull sequence in THE CROW anywhere. Okay, perhaps the improvised scene where Draven speaks with Albrecht in his living room. Still, this lends much needed pathos to the character, so it’s hardly superfluous. Look, when you tally 31 corpses in a brisk hour and 40 minutes, you’re clocking a cool dead body every 3.25 minutes. Again, THE CROW is so entertaining and so violently action-packed in its limited run time, if you skip the john to take a leak at any point, then you’re bound to miss a grisly death sequence. THE CROW has great pacing and tremendous tempo, which makes the movie damn near as immortal as Draven’s soul!
WHAT BLOWS NOW: In the film itself, very little blows now. No, what blows is all of the off-screen drama and senseless tragedy that befell this production. Even for the most inured and desensitized moviegoer, watching the scene where Funboy shoots Draven is really hard to watch now a days, precisely because we now know what transpired on set that ill-fated day. What’s even odder though? Apparently, Lee cut his arm on breakaway glass during the pawnshop scene. Jon Polito expressed concern, even saying he feared Lee would die on set just as Vic Morrow did in THE TWILIGHT ZONE a decade prior. Not only did Polito prove prophetic, a whole host of additional “curses” plagued the production. A crewman severely burned his torso on the first day of filming, another got his hand stabbed by a screwdriver, an equipment truck immolated, a stunt cracked several ribs after falling from the roof, a rigger was badly electrocuted, an upset sculptor went postal and drove his car through the props room, and if that wasn’t enough, a hurricane obliterated many North Carolina sets. Reports of union corner cutting and rampant cocaine use on set more than likely contributed to some of these tragic mishaps.
THE VERDICT: 25 years later and THE CROW is still a highly entertaining and wildly electric piece of pop Gothic horror-fantasy. Proyas absolutely nails the comic-book aesthetic of O’barr’s celebrated strip. Even beyond the badass stints of violence and ferocious fisticuffs, it’s the striking visual style, crackling energy, complimentary soundtrack and assuredly pell-mell pacing that helps maintain THE CROW as one of the wisest old birds around. It’s damn rare that a movie so apparently cursed during production actually ends up overcoming the drama to become a bona fide classic. THE CROW is that and more at 25 years of age!