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Legend has it that crows ferry the souls of the dead to their final resting place. However, if Death demands revenge, then the crows can help the avenging souls.
Eric Draven and his fiancé Shelley Webster are viciously attacked and killed. Previously a fairly peaceful man, Draven returns a year later to exact revenge - with the help of a crow.
Originally written as a comic book series by James O'Barr, The Crow set the standard for films based on graphic novels and comic books with its neo-gothic sets and startling images.
The on-set death of Brandon Lee - son of martial arts legend Bruce Lee - not only helped to fuel the mystery surrounding the father's death, but also helped the film's rise to cult status.
Lee Jnr was killed days before completing the film in an accident involving a gun which was supposed to be loaded with blanks, but also contained a bullet.
The picture is a fitting epitaph to someone who could have become a very good actor. It suggested he may have at least made a credible stab at the action hero genre.
A gothic nightmare, The Crow is a visual masterpiece with an excellent metal soundtrack, even if it is a bit thin on the plotline.
The gory action takes place at a frenetic pace and even characters who played bit roles were fairly fully realised.
Michael Wincott made a great villain with that gravely voice of his and Ernie Hudson was sympathetic as the cop trying to figure out what was happening, but always one step too late
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For once, having a voice-over actually helped a film. Told from the viewpoint of Sarah (Rochelle Davis) - the young friend of the dead Eric and Shelley - it actually attained an emotional level which a purely action movie would have missed.
The Crow was finished with the help of some nifty computer-generated images, eventually dedicated to Lee and his real-life fiancé Eliza Hutton, and turned out to be one of the sleepers of 1994.
The film's monetary success persuaded studio bosses that they simply had to make a sequel and two years later The Crow: City of Angels was released. Not as successful as the first, it still retained some aspects such as the crow motif and the voice-over.
This time around Sarah had grown up and was played by Mia Kirshner, while Vincent Perez was the unfortunate soul who was brought back from the dead to exact revenge for his son's death.
Continuity goofs, shoddy production and brutal violence instead of character development made it a pain to watch after the first one.
The third film, The Crow: Salvation, was released straight to dvd - and no wonder. Yet more continuity goofs, bad dialogue and scenes lifted from the first film meant more dilution of what was originally a cool idea.
How Kirsten Dunst ever survived this dud is a testament to her acting skill and hard work.
