Resurrecting The Crow: A 2024 Retelling
James O’Barr’s ‘The Crow’ is set to make another movie adaptation return in 2024. Lionsgate has revealed that the remake will be hitting cinema screens on 7th June, which could be the first sign that this version has a different spin on the events that went down the night before Halloween in the 1994 classic.
If you’ve watched the original adaptation released in 1994, you wouldn’t be wrong to think that not using October 30th as the release date is a massive overlook. Still, from the trailer they have revealed, this version of ‘The Crow’ might be taking us in a different direction, so the chosen date for release and ‘Devil’s Night’ might not matter at all. (Maybe the DVD/Blu-Ray/Stream release can be October 30th — It’s one helluva wait, but it would make sense)
I’ve always said that ‘The Crow’ is my favourite comic book Antihero. As much as DC and Marvel are noted as being the standard for their incredible artwork and blockbuster masterpieces, not to mention the tall tales written by the most intriguing and talented minds, you can keep them all. I’ll take ‘The Crow’.
First, The Crow — as a concept- has always intrigued me most.
“The Crow is his link between the land of the living and the realm dead.”
The Crow takes from the mythology of ancients and spiritual religions — like ‘The Badb’ in Celtic Mythology, or the ideology adorned on crows by those who practice religions such as Hinduism.
This is why, from a concept point of view, the character as a supernatural entity is more enjoyable to me. He wasn’t a baby left on earth but truly comes from out of space; he isn’t a wealthy child who lost everyone and inherits a fortune — only to exist in a city of corruption that he must fend off using his costly tech, and his not a failed super-soldier experiment whose shield consists of a rare form of metal and has a heroic super group on speed dial whenever he needs support to take on the next threat to humankind.
The Crow is just a tortured soul who cannot rest until justice is served. To that point, the justice seeker doesn’t have the need to save the unfortunate victim on the street, an entire city, or the whole of humankind — no, it’s much more human than that. It’s simply, personal justice.
Eric Draven — as a character but more so as portrayed by Brandon Lee, has a rawness; Lee did a fantastic job in the 1994 classic by conveying a human in what could’ve easily been portrayed as a ghoulish figure. Brandon was able to take simple moments to enrich the character and make him relatable. In turn, he is someone the audience can feel for and stand by his unruly, vengeful actions.
Having seen the new trailer, I had to watch it twice…
The first time, it was easy to wear the same drab cloth as so many fans of the original and the “anti-remake” cohort (I’ll touch on that later). On the second watch-through, I put my arms into the new threaded sleeves and said,
“Okay, well, let’s see what it can be.”
Here’s what stood out;
- It has more light, colour, brutality, and gore.
- The story has been adapted to modern times.
- Eric Draven, portrayed by Bills Skarsgard, is a lot ‘colder.’
- Shelly is no longer an angelic-like figure; she’s human.
- There is no sign of Sarah, possibly replaced by an elderly mythical gent.
When I think of the original movie adaptation of ‘The Crow,’ they did a beautiful job of conveying the achromatic vibe that comes from the black-and-white comic book, so much so that when explosions and big moments happened, the colours invaded our watchful eyes and burned the iconic moments in our memories — and yes, the eye as a candle was one of those moments.
Bill Skarsgard’s Eric Draven lives in a very modern world — The city looks much more prominent, brighter, and bolder. In some ways, this could help the character. First off, Brandon Lee’s version of ‘The Crow’ became more significant than the city itself; his character gradually outgrew the burning streets and grungy dark rooftops throughout the movie’s runtime. One of the many iconic moments of Lee’s version is when he reignites his passion for metal and embarks on performing an incredible guitar riff. At this moment, there are bursts of colour; the hollow streets of the city are lit with rich orange flames reflecting into the night sky’s darkness, and Eric seems to have mentally transformed himself onto a stage in front of thousands that we cannot see. Still, we can feel we’re amongst them, watching a young rock and roll genius at work, a simple moment of embracing the peace before again emerging into the darkness and eliminating the sources which stole the simplicity of his life.
Skarsgards’s version could show us the opposite: a man much smaller than his surroundings, a city that towers over him and makes him seem as vulnerable as the rest of us. This new feel could introduce a slow-burn pace until the final act, which could look like an iconic ending involving the “Scarface stairway” as ‘The Crow’ puts himself through limitless amounts of torture just to cast the last act of vengeance, as seen in the trailer. This isn’t ‘wrong’ by any stretch. It’s an adaptation, a different perspective on who the character could genuinely be.
Quickly creeping back onto the “Scarface stairway” point, there are few possible movie references in the trailer I’ll return to later, but It’s worth mentioning that the 1994 classic was also very much a love letter to many creatives —
“Tell them Eric Draven sends his regards.”
in an ode to The Godfather II, released in 1974.“You heard me rapping, right?”
in reference to the crow who rapped at the chamber door in Edgar Allan Poe classic.
Admittedly, I’m not aware of where the movie was shot, but it looks like a more natural city environment than the original. The cinematography embraces brightness much more — or, to be more clear with my meaning, natural light — than the 1994 classic. Despite looking very modern, the cinematography somewhat reminds me of the 2003 Daredevil movie based in Hell Kitchen, New York — it embraces the environment in a way that the character doesn’t see.
Bill Skarsgard’s version of ‘The Crow’ seems to be a lot more solemn; there are no wisecracks or moments of inspiration; it’s a sense of cold, distance and anger in a person pent up with frustration and lust for revenge. His look, again, is very modern — no longer does ‘The Crow’ carry the long black hair, the white base dramatic make-up and uniform of black — now he has short hair, make-up more similar to the comic and a bare upper body adorned with tattoos. I’ve read a lot of references to “SoundCloud rapper from 2016.” Still, I understand the need to reimagine the product as if it were from today — it also seems to try to identify more with the comic than the previous cinema take.
It wouldn’t be right for me to write this piece without acknowledging the music accompanying the original grungy and gothic soundtrack of the 1994 classic. In the original film, Eric was a rockstar who was passionate about music, exemplified by the iconic rooftop scene and through photography and flashbacks. Whether Bill Skarsgård’s version of Eric shares this passion is unclear, but the trailer suggests a modern twist and, quite possibly, a lost soul to begin with. The trailer features Ozzy Osbourne, the godfather of heavy metal, and modern-day hip-hop artists Post Malone and Travis Scott. This blend of old and new pays homage to the past while passing the torch to today’s mainstream hip-hop. Although grunge was once considered a niche, it has recently seen a resurgence in popularity, but it has never been mainstream.
This is a side note, but if you’re a fan of professional wrestling, you’ve coincidentally seen a foretelling of this image change over the last three years with the change of hands from WCW’s Sting character to AEW’s Darby Allin.
For many, the imagery change has been an overwhelming disappointment, mainly because Alex Proyas’s version was such a homage to the grunge era of the ’90s. It was dark, edgy, and had a touch of gothic, which was only ever lightened by Brandon Lee’s wit or sympathetic moments that often featured Sarah.
One thing that has been dialled up by ten is the brutality and bloodiness. The original did feature bloody moments — and having a corpse full of knives or needles isn’t particularly child’s play — but this was all very cinematographic. Rupert Sanders’s version of brutality has a more sombre tone, much like modern series that no longer shy away from showing those moments.
And to quickly mention blood… oh, there is blood — oozing everywhere like syrup, so much so that some of the shots make it difficult to distinguish whether this version of Draven has black blood or whether his make-up is waltzing with the rouge shades.
The story has gone modern. They no longer live in an apartment with a watch tower open-faced window, and it seems our villains are no longer just a bunch of delinquents acting out on one night of the year. Furthermore, Eric and Shelley meet at a counselling session at what looks like a mental health establishment. The area that stands out the most is the amount of screen time the couple could get together, hoping to heighten the audience’s connection with the happy couple.
We only briefly saw Shelley in 1994; she was gone instantly, and whenever she showed up in flashbacks or the final moments, she was portrayed as an angelic, good person with the kindest heart. We only ever heard of her curiosity about stopping the madness. In this new-blood version, it seems Shelley has a different side; she likes to steal, and this leads her into the wrong place at the wrong time and will ultimately lead to the end of their potential summer of romance.
Lastly, there are no signs of Sarah. Instead, we have this elder gentleman narrating the story and existing within the world himself, much like Sarah.
The mythology in this version of ‘The Crow’ delves into deeper territory. This could clarify some aspects of the lore that were missed in the original, but it could also alienate those who were content with the brief version we received in ‘94.
The trailer shows Eric entering what appears to be another realm to meet an elderly man surrounded by crows, similar to the scene with the bats in Batman Begins (2005). Eric’s makeup looks like it’s formed from black tears, and his body transforms. When he lands in a puddle, he seems to awaken in the land of the living — but this could also be him being pushed into this open sea in a scene prior, where we see Shelley drift downwards into the black abyss, similar to Leonardo Di Caprio’s character Jack from Titanic (1997).
I’ll be honest: I’m not thrilled by the idea of not having Sarah’s character involved — In much of the original adaptation, she was the beacon of hope and the couple’s last connection to the living world. That said, there is a sense that Shelley’s life could be saved in this version. We’re unsure whether this is a return to the living or not, falling deeper into the dead realm, wherever that could be. To be fair to the film’s producers, it could’ve been a decision to keep this version’s very graphic and adult nature.
Overall, I’m looking forward to seeing what this new version of ‘The Crow’ could be; whilst I’ll always be loyal to the original movie adaptation, we must be open to future media reimagining.
In closing, I’d like to end the idea of remakes and how they receive harsh criticism before they’re a reality — whilst I don’t support the portrayal of nonfiction by those who have no business conveying their story, I understand the desire to recreate or rather reimagine fictional pieces of media. Many classics are left behind in history, and with the advancement of technology in modern times, our multimedia stream is flourishing, only adding to the pushback of classics.
If new versions of old classics are sold as reimagining, I can get behind it; often, they tell the story, and that is enough — but the reason they should be supported, in my view, is that they open the gateway for conversation, which in turn allows those classics to receive fresh eyes that have never seen them.
The Crow (1994) and The Crow (2024) look like night and day comparisons regarding their look, feel, and features, which automatically makes me regard the 2024 version as a reimagining, maybe even closer to the source material by James Barr.
