This is not necessarily what one might expect when hearing the words ‘Halloween movie’; I am however willing to bend the rules of categorization given how well this film sets the unnerving tone for its plot. Furthermore, this is yet another movie that this year to its thirtieth anniversary, so a little appreciation is a must at this point. The Crow is a 1994 movie directed by Alex Proyas and starring Brandon Lee in his last appearance before the incident that cut his life short during filming. Wikipedia reports it as ‘superhero movie’ since it is based on the homonymous comic book by James O’Barr – given its dark nature and grim setting, I chose to dedicate it an article for the month of ‘spooky scary skeletons’ October.
The story is quite linear as it represents nothing more and nothing less than a vengeance narrative; in a city filled with corruption and crime, on Devil’s night – the one before Halloween – gangs of criminals set fire to the city and run amok. Within this crime spree, a gang of goons find its way to Eric Draven’s house and kill him and his wife to be. A year later, a crow brings back his soul to the realm of the living from the land of the dead, giving him immortality and special powers. A beacon of light (despite the main character’s wardrobe) and hope in a city that has been devoured by darkness.
The colour palate heavily focuses on red and black fitting perfectly with the tone of the storye; furthermore, the music that was chosen, with a soft voice and hard drum upbeats and guitar riffs, gives it that ‘comic-book’ superhero badass-moment vibe even further. There is also something to be said about the appeal of a narrative that condenses most of the action within two nights and, as such, the pacing becomes extremely important: The Crow accelerates or takes its time accordingly and the scene succession emphasize that feeling one gets when reading a well-written graphic novel.
In my opinion, The Crow, although not being the first in its genre did in fact influence many other similar cinematographic renditions. It is impossible not to think about the peculiar aesthetic used in Frank Miller’s Sin City for instance or about the grim (yet partially whimsical interpretation) of McFarlane’s Spawn – which also coincidentally shares a similar vengeance plot scheme – or for that matter even the flaming insignia trope used in Daredevil.
I would give this movie an 8 out of 10 “can’t rain everyday”.