The Crow (Rupert Sanders, 2024)
Love is pain in this Gothic horror romance that is sold as a reimagining of the nineties cult classic.
Bill Skarsgard plays Eric, who learns the hard way that when a person dies (or in his case: is murdered) a crow accompanies them to the land of the dead.
FKA Twigs is his love interest Shelly who apparently has done something so evil that after she dies she will go to hell forever.
But perhaps there is a way out. If Eric is willing to sacrifice himself even more - he is already dead but he can suffer a lot worse - he might just be able to bring Shelly back to the land of the living.
It is an incredibly silly but also extremely romantic conceit, and the result is a blood splattered pulp fest, because to achieve his goal Eric has to kill absolutely everyone who is even in the slightest way responsible for Shelly’s (and his own) unfortunate demise.
The first act of the movie is devoted to Eric and Shelly’s love story, and yes the duo share a believable chemistry. In the long second act Eric has to go it alone, as he evolves into the titular superhero, while in the final act he goes full bonkers bananas, at one point shooting through his own body to kill his enemies.
Based on the comic book by James O’Barr and working from a script by Zach Baylin and William Joseph Schneider, director Rupert Sanders (Ghost in the Shell) puts a lot of effort in creating a retro look, that goes back to the eighties: all dark shadows and very little light, with a suitably gothic soundtrack to boot.
The end result is both glorious and hilarious. I can’t compare it to the earlier movies, cause I’ve never seen any of them, but I love this one in the same way as I love the Venom movies.
It’s not gonna win any Oscars, but I enjoyed it as a piece of pure, unadulterated pulp fiction.
Note: The Crow is released this week in most of the world.