THE CROW Spoilers: Director Rupert Sanders Weighs In On "Sequel Bait" Ending Reports

Does he know…

That’s an interesting ending imo.

I didn’t know The Crow had the ability to traverse between the land of the living & the dead which is cool…

I don’t remember that in the 1994 film though perhaps it could have been in the comics or is a new wrinkle all together to the lore in this?

Anyway , chances of it getting a sequel are very slim to none so being able to explore that further is a moot point anyway.

I just saw it and I was surprised with the turnout. There were ten times as many people turning up to see it than I actually thought there would be. I gasped in shock as all 9 of them came into the theatre two by two.

Honestly though the movie's not good but it's not quite as terrible as the critics might be saying. It's not the worst thing ever.
It's like something you see on TV and you're like 'This looks worth giving a go' and then by the end of it you're like 'That wasn't really worth giving a go'.
It's watchableish. (put that on a poster)

They did the horse! Kinda.
In the comics Eric is on a train and sees a horse and is captivated by it's beauty as it runs free. The Crow tells Eric not to look but he does anyway. The horse turns to see him, then runs headlong into barb wire and dies horrifically.
If Eric hadn't looked the horse wouldn't have died. This is a symbolic motif for the rest of the book. Whenever Eric flashes back to a memory of Shelly or to the incident, the Crow will say "Don't look!" but he does anyway.
The idea is that if he didn't love Shelly she wouldn't have died. It's central to Eric's despair in the book.

In the film they do it differently. We see a young Eric come upon the horse and try to save it by lifting the barb wire, but failing.
It then becomes symbolic of Eric wanting to rescue Shelley.
I am glad they did it at all though, a great reference to the book.

Another sneaky reference that's harder to notice is a poster for the live-action adaptation of Crying Freeman.
This is a double-layered reference.
1. Rupert Sanders last movie was an adaptation of a classic '90s anime, Ghost in the Shell.
2. The titular role in Crying Freeman was played by Mark Dacascos who also played Eric Draven in the TV series The Crow: Stairway to Heaven.
The mentor character in this film is also a little reminiscent of how that show handled the Skull Cowboy character.

"At the end of the movie, Eric Draven makes a deal to give his soul up for Shelly's, and his lover is resurrected while he remains in the underworld"









It's certainly a more definitive conclusion than we were expecting, but with all the jumping back and forth between realms, it's entirely possible that Eric could return as Shelly's guardian angel in a follow-up.

Hey Everyone. I have been reading articles on this site since about 2000, maybe even earlier (if my memory serves me correct) and have never posted on any articles, until now... LOL. I am a huge fan of The Crow, I have a set of graded comics , the graphic novel, seen the original movie and every other movie/TV since. I have a few other Crow comics outside of the 1989 series. The Crow (1994) is my favourite comic book movie and in the Top 10 of my all-time favourite movies as well. It has been a few years since I have read the comics and/or graphic novels but they are also one of my favourite comics, along with Werewolf by Night #32.

I knew the new movie would be different and was not really looking forward to watching it after seeing the trailers and since the original is wicked, so I was already slightly biased going into the movie.

I saw the new movie last night and I did not like it at all, even knowing that the storyline was not really following the comics. The soundtrack was not really memorable for me, there was 2 or 3 goods songs. The one song that should have been epic but made the scene weak, was the make-up scene. Burn by the Cure in the original was powerful and packed a punch in his transformation. The song used lacked any oomph!!! for the scene, but maybe just it just me and how I saw. Still get goosebumps every time I hear that song or watch that scene. Hard to beat the original soundtrack where the songs used really added to the movie and more layered depth to the scenes.

The comic and the original movie really laid the groundwork for showing how deep their love was for one another and the fact that they were married and knew each other (for more than like 3 days, a week, not sure the timeline of the new movie) made it more tragic when Shelly dies. In the new movie, I just really do not buy the love that the both of them which really did not make me care for the revenge part of the movie. The original, yes, because I wanted to see the main and side villains die. Was not interested in John Wick Crow at the end killing security guards (even though bad).

This brings me to the side villains of the new Crow. The side villains were there, but had no personalities so I had no investment in the Crow getting revenge on them in a way because there is nothing to get excited about when going after the side villains. Even the female side villain was boring to me, Bai Ling's character was crazy and wacky but that what made her character stand out in the original.

Going from Cocaine and violence with Top Dollar to piano and violence and supernatural powers with Danny Houston's villain having these supernatural abilities was not interesting to me. It just felt like it was set up and to convenient to add to the in between land and to be able to bring her back to life. Having set it up so the main villain has powers did not work for me either. I like Danny Houston and he did what he could with the role. The fact that Top Dollar had no supers but the smarts and use of Bai Ling to notice the Crow following Eric gave him power and injured to weaken Eric.

One thing I saw that I that I cannot remember from the comics was whether or not Eric and Shelly did drugs and if the villains did drugs. I have no issues with drugs, people can do whatever drugs they want to do, if they do not want to do drugs, that is completely fine. I am high now trying to write this post for the last few hours. It was this and the appearance changes between the movies. The original had Eric and Shelly looking and I cannot think of any other way to put it right now: like gothic look, artsy look, musician look, a more cleaner look. Not a more alternative, emo look, "dirty" look as I have seen it used in other articles I have seen other places. No issues with the alternative, emo look and/or whatever look anybody wants to go with, that was just something I noticed and which made sense to have a 2024 fit vice 1994 fit on style and fashion trends.

The other thing was the switch from the original villains in the movie being a gang or criminal organization to the more high society/rich life, people with money and power rule, more refined appearance of the wealthy in dress, locations, possessions, etc. That was something that I noticed as well that almost made it like a Bizarro-Crow movie in a way.

If they were not going to follow the comic really then they should have made this movie with a different character name for the Crow but still have it set to Crow lore and separate it with Brandon's movie. Maybe set the movie in a different time period or used a female lead, used a POC, something to change different than using Eric and Shelly. This made me lose interest in the movie like the other things I mentioned above.

I can understand the reason to change the storyline and add in a modern take. No issues with the acting and actors and/or actresses (they did what they could with the storyline), or action, there were some cool visuals at some points with the cool blue lighting and the opera house interior and set designs were good.

Anyways, I could go on about the things that I did not like about the movie, a few more good things but there were too many things to not like and not much to like about the movie. If you really like the original like me, you may not like the movie. I did try to be open going into this but it was hard, there were just too many...

Yeah, done with post. If you are interested in seeing the movie, check it out, and if not, it was be available to stream and/or download eventually, or don't watch, whatever works for you.

And, apparently, yes, when I created my account back in maybe 2000, I used my picture of my Crow tattoo that was from the soundtrack and the huge standup that had the huge picture of the Crow that some theatres/movie rental places may have got for promo merch back in the day.

@TheVisionary25, I try to go into movies with an open mind as much as possible, cause you may never know based off the trailers, critics opinions, or opinions of the CBM community. You might find something that is absolute gold, or so crazy and strange that it was a wild ride, something that is funny and feel good, or a good drama that pulls the heart strings or maybe absolute gutter slim.

I watched about 30 minutes of a bootleg and it’s bad. The leads are completely unlikable and what’s with them being in a coed prison and falling in love as soon as they meet? Horrible dialog and editing too.