THE MOVIE

When vengeance has returned from the grave…you can run or you can hide…but you can’t escape the fury of The Crow.

Eric Draven was a brilliant young musician, in love with Shelley, the woman of his dreams… until one-day their lives were taken from them. She rose to heaven, but he remained on earth – a lost soul, avenging the killers who tore them apart.
In a world where justice is vanishing, evil has a new enemy. To reunite with his lover, Eric Draven must set things right and fight for those who can’t fight for themselves. But, every time he is forced to take extreme action, he is taken one step further from a place in heaven.

I am a huge fan of Alex Proyas’ original dark masterpiece, The Crow. I have the posters, the comics, the toys, all of that. It is easily one of my favourite movies of all time and with good reason. It is a beautiful modern day fairy tale, which although dark and disturbing is strangely hopeful. James O’Barr’s story was beautifully translated to the screen, by Proyas, and the resultant film will be remembered for a long time (although not for the most happy reasons). So, when I heard about a Crow TV series I was naturally, very excited.

This DVD from Magna Pacific contains the pilot episode of this series and unfortunately it isn’t great. The reason is simple. It is just a poor remake of Proyas’ film, almost scene for scene. Whilst I understand that to set up the back story and mythology for the following episodes it was necessary to tell the audience how it happened, but this film only serves to cheapen the original. If only they had tried to tell the story and mythology in a different way, then I think this pilot episode would have been much more enjoyable and the series would have lasted a lot longer than it did. After the failure original film’s sequels it was obviously thought that to succeed again they must go back and steal from the original. So that’s what they did.

However, the series itself isn’t that bad and I enjoyed it when it was on TV. So it is good to get a chance to re-watch some of those episodes here on this DVD. Although these episodes don’t have the same visual flair of the films, they try hard. Mark Dacascos makes a good Eric Draven and has the right dark, brooding, look that the part requires. The music is nice and the action is very impressive for a TV series. Also, as the series progresses it brings in more of the Crow mythology that was left out of the film, like the Skull Cowboy. The Crow: Stairway to Heaven will be enjoyed by fans and those who found the original films a little too dark.

THE TRANSFER

Video:

The film is presented in full frame, but as this was shot for TV this is to be expected. The image is clear and definitely gets the job done, but it won’t win any awards for excellence. The picture we have here is clear and sharp, and there is a reasonable amount of shadow detail. Colors and skin tones look natural whilst the all important blacks are strong.

This film isn’t the visual feast that the motion pictures were, with distinct colors schemes and plenty of black, and looks very much like your typical TV series. The picture is clean of any major blemishes and overall is pretty simplistic. Still, it gets the job done.

Audio:

The DVD features a Dolby Stereo soundtrack which gets the job done but isn’t great. This soundtrack is very reminiscent of what you’d see on TV, with minimal sound effects and a concentration on dialogue and music. The soundtrack is consistent and no distortions creep in to disrupt your listening. Dialogue is clear and easy to understand and there are no lip sync troubles to speak of. The score is well represented and the Crow theme comes across well. In fact the music helps to recapture some of the mystery and darkness of the Crow story. As I mentioned sound effects are kept to a minimum but the ones that are present come across well and certainly add to what is being expressed on screen. Overall this soundtrack, whilst simplistic, is perfect for the show.

THE EXTRAS

Aside from a trailer, this disc contains two episodes from the TV series. The first episode on the disc is Get a Life which is episode number 3. In this episode Eric has to try and exonerate an innocent man who has been framed for killing his fiancée. The next episode is Voices which is episode 5. Whilst at the fair with Sarah Eric meets a trance medium who may have been involved in a murder. These two episodes are good and provide an insight into what the series is all about. A great addition and I enjoyed these more than the pilot episode.

SUMMARY

This isn’t just for fans, in fact The Crow: Stairway to Heaven would be perfect for anyone wanting to immerse themselves in James O’Barr’s world. Whilst it doesn’t have the dark atmosphere of the films (and comics) this series is still entertaining and worth checking out. Magna Pacific has presented it on a pretty good DVD, the best part of which are the two bonus episodes. Well worth watching.