Every generation gets The Crow they deserve

February 29, 2024 12:21 PM

"...it’s hard to imagine anyone being particularly precious about the character."

As someone solidly in the North American Gen X cohort, I leave you the comment about my love of The Crow as a teen and my incredibly patient mother from the FanFare thread.

posted by Kitteh (42 comments total)

i saw the crow a few months back, missed it when it came out. it's so bad lol (in a very entertaining way, to be sure).

sobbing nipple of justice indeed. indeed.
posted by Sebmojo at 12:24 PM on February 29 [3 favorites]

I kinda feel like this is what it feels like to be an Ed Hardy T Shirt... which sort of feels like bringing Gen-X, Millennials, and Gen-Z closer together. Gen-X gets their character, Millennials get their T-shirt, and Gen-Z gets to lampoon us all as boomers.

I saw the crow for $1.00 in college. I'm absolutely going to see this one for full price.
posted by Nanukthedog at 12:36 PM on February 29 [4 favorites]

This all being announced on the same weekend as Sting retiring from professional wrestling, hits me hard.
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 12:37 PM on February 29 [4 favorites]

I have the original comics. I got the first 3, and that was it for something like a year. Then someone else picked it up, and I got to read the whole thing. The cool thing about the comics was that for most of the run, it was unclear whether he had actually died, or he was just hallucinating a lot. The movie didn't have the ambiguity, which annoyed me. Otherwise, I liked it. I'll probably see this one in the theaters, too.
posted by Spike Glee at 12:51 PM on February 29 [6 favorites]

I have seen all four (yes, there are four) of The Crow movies more than once, despite not really liking any of them all that much. Why have I seen all of them more than once? I ... don't have an answer. At least not a good one, anyway.
posted by edencosmic at 12:53 PM on February 29 [7 favorites]

One of the most memorable weekends I've ever had was spent at an RPG convention in Atlanta in October of 1994. There was a preponderance of Horror themed RPG's being played at that con, and there was a LOT of Crow cosplayers about the hotel. That movie had a huge cultural footprint, and I'm kind of surprised it took them this long to do a reboot.
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 1:07 PM on February 29 [3 favorites]

The original Crow hit that sweet spot for me as someone who had moved beyond superhero comics somewhat, but still got the essential appeal of the superhero, and really just wanted them to do something really different with the genre. Like, what if Batman or the Punisher had an expiration date? They got their much lusted-after vengeance and then they just... stopped? For that reason, I wasn't that much interested in any of the sequels; there's an interesting concept in other people being sort of possessed by the Crow in a way (Matt Wagner did something similar with his character Grendel), but the reviews were dismal.
posted by Halloween Jack at 1:09 PM on February 29 [2 favorites]

The thing about The Crow is that it's so earnest. It's such a perfect crystallization of a certain idea of cool from the early 1990s in every aspect, from the look to the soundtrack to the demeanor. And it's done entirely earnestly and sincerely, clearly with love.

So the way to remake The Crow is to not remake The Crow, since it is such a perfect time capsule. But, if you must, then do the same thing for now. Make a film that is in every way a sincere distillation of early 2020s ideas of cool. That might actually be interesting, at least to me, since I'm too much of an Old to have any idea what's cool now.
posted by star gentle uterus at 1:13 PM on February 29 [31 favorites]

This perfect 90s time capsule needed remade as much as Total Recall, Point Break, Robocop, Oldboy...


"it’s basically a Death Wish movie dressed up in Hot Topic fashion" BINGO
posted by gottabefunky at 1:16 PM on February 29 [10 favorites]

The thing about The Crow is that it's so earnest. It's such a perfect crystallization of a certain idea of cool from the early 1990s in every aspect, from the look to the soundtrack to the demeanor. And it's done entirely earnestly and sincerely, clearly with love.

Oh my god, YES. That is perfect. The Crow is absolutely teenage Goth poetry: sincere, heartfelt, a little goofy if you think about it, but above all, YES, earnest.

As a former teenage Goth wrote that kind of poetry, it really nails that period of time for myself.
posted by Kitteh at 1:17 PM on February 29 [12 favorites]

I honestogod thought this was going to be about the relative merits of Trace Beaulieu, Bill Corbett, and Hampton Yount.
posted by non canadian guy at 1:21 PM on February 29 [10 favorites]

I feel like seeing The Crow when it came out was a Gen-X milestone.

And then then later realizing it was kind of garbage really, but still kind of loving it anyway, was another one.

(The sequel was just bad, but the soundtrack to the sequel was pretty good... not quite up there with the first soundtrack though.)
posted by Foosnark at 1:22 PM on February 29 [3 favorites]

Pretty sure "his sobbing nipple of justice" is still available as a sock puppet name here.

(...And probably everywhere else, too, come to think of it.)
posted by wenestvedt at 1:23 PM on February 29 [1 favorite]

The Crow City of Angels soundtrack was my absolute jam for a few years.
posted by signal at 1:31 PM on February 29 [4 favorites]

Having all of the original J O'Barr comic books in my collection, and re-reading them in trade paperback format many times, it was, of course, imperative for me to watch the movie when it came out in 1994. I saw it in the same theater as Pulp Fiction and The Blair Witch Project.

As a fan of The Cure, getting Burn as an unexpected surprise on the amazing soundtrack was part of the enjoyment, despite the occasionally wacky adaptation of the story into movie format. The movie was good enough (90's interpretations of comic books was always a mixed bag), and RIP Brandon Lee, who like Heath Ledger, died before he could reprise his excellent portrayal of the character.

I think I'll read it again, and yep, still have the first print Caliber comics in that box in the garage...in the same box as my copies of The Sandman...
posted by Chuffy at 1:50 PM on February 29 [2 favorites]

Every generation gets The Crow they deserve

What, precisely, did this generation do to deserve this Crow?
(sobs in eldergoth)
posted by The Ardship of Cambry at 2:10 PM on February 29 [6 favorites]

There was a preponderance of Horror themed RPG's being played at that con, and there was a LOT of Crow cosplayers about the hotel.

The go-to catty catchphrase of my (and probably every) goth club scene in the 90's was "Friends don't let friends dress like The Crow."
posted by FatherDagon at 2:35 PM on February 29 [2 favorites]

Genuine question: Is there a distinct Goth scene among kids anymore? Or distinct scenes anymore at all? I feel like the distinctions have all been dissolved by the Internet so that there aren't these separate defining identities anymore, whereas in the past people would call themselves Goths or metalheads or whatever and it meant something specific.
posted by star gentle uterus at 2:50 PM on February 29

Nobody is particularly precious about the character?! I guess it's plain to see who didn't date any goth girls in the 1990s.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 2:56 PM on February 29 [9 favorites]

I certainly didn't.
posted by y2karl at 3:20 PM on February 29 [3 favorites]

star gentle uterus- yes and yes.

There is a specific goth scene, multiple overlapping ones! But just like you said there is also a lot more acknowledgement and acceptance that people's interests are varied and broad, so there's a lot of overlap with metal, industrial, EDM, punk, etc. At least on the West coast of the US its a really diverse and progressive scene. I'm more of a metal person. Hard to tell the difference unless you're actually watching a band!
posted by kittensofthenight at 3:34 PM on February 29 [1 favorite]

My partner frequently attends Witchy Markets and Goth Beach Day, we saw a Death Rock band 2 weeks ago. I have the new Crow 4k pre-ordered. I should see if I can find the graphic novel, which I probably stole from Comic Con in 94 or 95.

From James O'Barr's wikipedia entry:

"O'Barr, an orphan, and was raised in the foster care system."

"Before entering the Marines, O'Barr's fiancée, Beverly, had been killed by a drunk driver. While living in Berlin in 1981, O'Barr began work on his comic The Crow as a means of dealing with his personal tragedy."

"O'Barr's own hope that his project would result in a personal catharsis went unfulfilled. During an interview in 1994, he said, "[A]s I drew each page, it made me more self-destructive, if anything... There is pure anger on each page"."
posted by kittensofthenight at 3:40 PM on February 29 [7 favorites]

I saw The Crow when it came out and I guess I was dealing with some shit in addition to the tragedy of Brandon Lee's death, because I started crying at the beginning of the movie and wept all the way through, to the point of pain. I love the music (have both of the first two soundtracks, and still tear up at the Jane Siberry song) but I never saw the first film again or any of the sequels. I can't imagine going back and watching the original again, much less a new version. Some things are better left in memory.
posted by gentlyepigrams at 3:59 PM on February 29 [3 favorites]

This is one of those movies that crosses my mind at least once a week. I live in the PNW and there are a lot of, well, crows. Funny, that.

I often think I should go back for a rewatch but also know it will be a bit corny, not to mention it just feels too morbid. Maybe I am feeling my age, or just genuinely sad about the movie’s tragic circumstances. I would probably embrace and enjoy a reboot.
posted by simra at 4:19 PM on February 29

For me, the first film adaptation only captured the feel of the book at a couple of moments. The rooftop Dead Souls scene comes to mind. I wish it had been filmed in black & white. That and a few other adjustments could have helped the adaptation succeed the way the comics did.
posted by abraxasaxarba at 4:33 PM on February 29 [1 favorite]

I was a nineties teenager who loved movies and while I was never brave enough to be Goth myself, I loved the aesthetics of it. I didn't catch this movie when it was at its peak cultural relevance (though I had and adored the soundtracks to the first two movies) and only caught it a few years later, and honestly, I was kind of fascinated by how not-good it was. I remember it being almost plotless except for the episodic Death Wish aspects, and i feel like there was a kid in there who, like, stumbled into this movie off the set of Annie or something. But yeah, wildly earnest, which is definitely a point in its favor looking back on it. If you're gonna make that movie, you can't do it cynically, or ironically, or with any kind of distance at all. You have to mean it.

No shade to those who loved it or found meaning in it, of course. Stuff you latch onto as a teen is manna in the desert, and while you maybe shouldn't revisit stuff from back then if you want to maintain those memories, you shouldn't let them be tarnished by some internet rando either.
posted by Navelgazer at 5:21 PM on February 29 [6 favorites]

(I want to be clear that I was very much a baby goth who mostly listened to Tori Amos and read The Sandman when this movie came out. It was 100% in my wheelhouse.

The original movie is good for what it is. I think I just felt it was too mainstream (which is laughable. but I was 14 or whatever).

I do like it more now.
posted by edencosmic at 6:13 PM on February 29 [3 favorites]

I was in grad school when the first Crow movie came out and it was a lot of fun when the skinny long haired dudes dressed as The Crow for Halloween and all the profs complimented them on their Alice Cooper costumes.
posted by srboisvert at 6:17 PM on February 29 [8 favorites]

I was in the army, doing signal school at Ft. Gordon, when the Brandon Lee one came out. There was a whole (weekend) goth contingent of soldiers that ate it up. Some of them covered their high-n-tights with wigs, and the strappy tanker boots were real.

After jump school I shipped to Korea and there were a bunch of army brats on our post who were all little crowlings. I stumbled onto a bunch of them occupying a quonset hut in the unused part of the post. Just a big squad bay with nothing but tipped over filing cabinets, broken office chairs, and all their pizza boxes and junk food wrappers and a couple of amps and some drums. They let me play harmonica with them. It was sort of sweet, and, I dunno, "even in a potential military flashpoint kids find a way." But plainly they were all very taken with the Crow.
posted by Pudding Yeti at 6:34 PM on February 29 [6 favorites]

My partner frequently attends Witchy Markets and Goth Beach Day, we saw a Death Rock band 2 weeks ago.

We still have a goth scene here too, with gigs and all, but the audience is broadly the same as it was 20 years ago. We've still got goths, but they aren't kids.

An starting to see the odd nu-metal or emo/scene looks from teenagers these days, so maybe just give it a few years?
posted by Dysk at 12:47 AM on March 1

Oh, it was a comic. That's why my friend Tom wanted to see it in the theater. Tom's dead now but I don't think I'll see this again.
posted by DeepSeaHaggis at 2:05 AM on March 1

On the outside I was the 1994 Crow, or maybe specifically its soundtrack. On the inside I was, and remain, much more Crow T. Robot.

The Skarsgård Crow looks like a fair share of the audience esthetic at any small venue show in east London. Which gives me hope that they, too, are in the process of discovering their inner Crow T. Robots while shielding themselves with severe bowl-mullets and ignorant tattoos. Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose. Godspeed, y'all!
posted by late afternoon dreaming hotel at 3:01 AM on March 1 [5 favorites]

This was my favorite film/whole personality for a few years. It is silly, but a lot of fun, and largely harmless.

I think what makes it (feel, at least) a bit less toxic than other revenge fantasy movies was a combination of a little class consciousness. (Eric and Shelley are killed by a landlord for trying to organize tenants to resist eviction.) And the fact that both the villains and the violence are essentially cartoonish. This isn't racist or classist in the ways Death Wish or Last Blood are.

The original script had some Asian stereotypes Lee objected to and got cut from the film. It also had a skeleton cowboy.
posted by The Manwich Horror at 3:48 AM on March 1 [8 favorites]

(sobs in eldergoth)

Not to be confused with Old Enochian.
posted by los pantalones del muerte at 7:32 AM on March 1 [3 favorites]

I too loved the original at the time. I had been very into Bruce Lee's movies when I was younger and was a Brandon Lee fan too and I was the right age for it to resonate with me, though I was never goth at all I don't know why.

I thought the action scene in the board room was very well done though now I'm curious to rewatch it as I have a bit more appreciation for what makes a good action scene.

I especially loved at the end when the cops show up and one of them yells, "FREEZE! Hands up! (Draven puts his hands up) Move and we shoot!" He then runs straight at them with his hands up and jumps out a window. It tickles me so much in the middle of such a dark movie.
posted by VTX at 2:56 PM on March 1 [1 favorite]

In 1993 I was in college, sort of getting into comics and thought The Crowgraphic noel was particularly great, and still do. I wasn't expecting much from the movie but was blown away by it. I loved it, the style, the darkness, all of it. A few years ago I did a rewatch and for me it doesn't hold up much at all; very much a product of its time and dated in many ways.

I went to comic book convention circa 1994 and James O'Barr was there. I asked him to sign my copy of The Crow comic book. He did but he was sort of grumpy about it. My girlfriend at the time asked the same thing and he was not grumpy with her at all, and even smiled and joked with her. Which makes sense because she was a lot cuter than me.
posted by zardoz at 5:14 PM on March 1 [3 favorites]

The only Crow I have time for these days is one Crow T Robot.
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 10:11 PM on March 1

I thought this post was going to be about Crow T Robot, which shows you how much I know about culture, which is nothing. Thanks for the excellent post!
posted by Bella Donna at 12:02 AM on March 2

"Other than that, my day sucked!"

Caught this again a few months back, and it still holds up for me. I'll grant that it's not a perfect or timeless film (among other things, I know that the scenes with an obvious double running across rooftops and playing guitar on a roof were needed filler, but...); nevertheless, it's still a fun watch. Banter. Soundtrack. Aesthetic. Medicine. And Peel help me, I still tear up at the ending 30 years later. Not to mention a memorable cast of characters on both sides of the Good/Evil fence (it took me a few years to realize that T-Bird was played by Luther from the Warriors).
posted by gtrwolf at 1:14 AM on March 2 [1 favorite]

holy crap there are four Crow movies?
posted by bitterkitten at 9:09 AM on March 2

holy crap there are four Crow movies?

The quality has a rapid and sustained drop across each film. City of Angels is by far the best of the sequels. By far.
posted by The Manwich Horror at 11:41 AM on March 2

The TV series with Mark Dacascos is fun, if you're craving some late 90s brooding and kicking.
posted by lucidium at 3:14 AM on March 3 [4 favorites]