Describe the plot of your favorite movie

When it comes to movies, it’s difficult for me to choose a favorite because I’m a very big fan of cinema. But actually, my two favorite movies of all time are Universal’s Dracula (1931) and The Crow (1994). I think the majority of people are familiar with the story of Dracula because it is over one-hundred years old and is known worldwide. It’s actually thought to be the most reproduced story in modern history, with many movies, stage plays, tv shows, and advertisements done about the character. Because of this, I would instead like to introduce my second favorite movie: The Crow.

The Crow is an American film shot in the year 1993 and released in 1994. It is about a superhero who comes back from the dead to get revenge on the people who murdered him and his fiancée. Many people who hear the plot say it is similar to the more popular character ‘The Punisher’ but actually the two stories are completely different. The Crow was created for a niche audience and works the culture of the audience into every aspect of the movie. It was originally a one-shot comic book series created by an indie American writer known as James O’ Bar. O’Bar unfortunately lost his fiancée in a car accident when he was just eighteen years old. The two had met in junior high school and had been long term sweethearts who were meant to be married after they finished high school. Losing her to a car accident shortly before their wedding deeply traumatized O’Bar and he went into a period of grief where he wrote The Crow.

Much like in O’Bar’s own life, the main hero in The Crow loses his fiancé due to a tragedy. However, in O’Bar’s story, the hero is also murdered with his girlfriend. A supernatural crow then helps the main hero come back to life and find the criminals who murdered them. A very notable aspect of the movie The Crow, however, is how it incorporates music into the atmosphere of the story. O’Bar was a big fan of 80s post punk bands such as Joy Division and Bauhaus. Because of this, he worked character designs into his novel where the characters looked like musicians from that era. The movie adaptation takes that aspect of the story up a notch and made the main character of the movie a musician himself and based his design on popular 90s American rock musicians such as Kurt Cobain from Nirvana and Trent Reznor from Nine Inch Nails (who actually made a cover of a Joy Division song for the film). The music is such an important part of the film’s atmosphere, most fans can’t imagine the movie without it. Many record stores near theaters even reported having tons of people coming in to buy the soundtrack after the movie finished. The soundtrack went on to top the charts during the week of its release. The dark story matched with the dark imagery and dark music went on to give the movie an identity of its own.

Overall, if you are a fan of dark fantasy movies or alternative rock music, there is a high chance the crow will speak to you. It is a story that captured a wide audience and even drove some people into new fandoms. The performance of the leading actor, Brandon Lee (son of martial arts movie star Bruce Lee) was also so captivating, it drove many future actors to try and imitate him and the makeup he created for the superhero, most notably Heath Ledger in his role as the joker in the Batman movie The Dark Knight, who said he took inspiration from the character for his makeup and his mannerisms. A remake of The Crow (1994) is actually being made right now and is expected to hit cinemas in the year 2024, so if anybody hasn’t watched the original, now is probably the best time to do it. It is a film I highly recommend.

Dolores

Vocabulary
niche (adj.) - appealing to only a small section of the population
one-shot (adj.) - story with no sequels or spin-offs
grief (noun) - a very sad feeling, especially when somebody dies
sweetheart (noun) - a name often used for young, long term, lovers
up a notch (idiom) - increase the effort of something
speak to you (idiom) - to attract or interest somebody/something