Dr. K's Waiting Room

Quick Facts:
Following the success of James O’Barr’s deeply personal The Crow in 1989, the story was adapted into an equally tragic critical and commercial hit in 1994. While the subsequent sequels failed to recapture this success, The Crow inspired a short-lived television series that became something of a cult favourite, one sadly cancelled before it could meet its full potential.

The Review:
Rather than being a spin-off of the original film or one of its sequels or crafting a new story about an entirely separate avatar, The Crow: Stairway to Heaven is essentially a retelling of the first film (and, by extension, the original comic book), though one heavily toned down for television. This pilot episode is basically a truncated do-over of the movie, especially Eric Draven/The Crow’s (Mark Dacascos) origin and his initial quest for revenge and serves to establish the status quo that subsequent episodes follow. Therefore, the film open one year to the day after rock musician Eric and his photographer girlfriend, Shelly Webster (Sabine Karsenti), were attacked and killed on Halloween night. The episode opens with Eric in what appears to be limbo, a forest-like afterlife where he wanders, confused and lost, until a mysterious crow guides him to Shelly’s spirit. It’s Shelly who gives Eric his mission to put the wrong things right and compels him to dive into the abyss, returning to Vancouver Detroit during the Day of the Dead festival rather than dramatically clawing out of his grave (though his coffin is later revealed to be empty). Though confused about what he is, Eric wanders with only revenge in mind yet instinctively helps a woman (Unknown) being accosted by her man (Unknown) before returning to his ransacked and abandoned loft apartment, where his memories of his past happiness with Shelly reach a boiling point.

Overcome with grief and anguish, Eric lashes out, breaking a mirror and injuring himself. He watches, stunned, as the wounds heal instantaneously and is wracked by momentary pain as his rage consumes him, transforming his face into a clown-like visage. Realising that his strange un-life has granted him supernatural powers (accelerated healing, an empathic touch, and the crow’s vision), Eric drapes himself in black attire and heads to Gideon’s (Marcus Hondro) pawn shop to retrieve Shelly’s engagement ring, terrifying the no-good pawnbroker so bad that he gives up the names of those responsible for killing Eric and Shelly. While Mark Dacascos lacks the same screen charisma as Brandon Lee, he does a decent job of portraying Eric. He’s soft spoken and sullen, conveying a lot of emotion with his eyes, and seems to be enjoying the role, spouting off cryptic rhetoric with a mocking smirk. Dacascos may be a small guy but he’s an accomplished martial artist, which really helps sell the legitimacy of the episode’s fight scenes. Sadly, these aren’t shot very well but it’s impressive seeing Dacascos flip and kick his opponents without annoying camera cuts to stuntmen and obvious stand-ins. Eric’s a little different to his filmic counterpart in that Detective Daryl Albrecht (Marc Gomes) reveals he’s been known for his temper. This quickness to anger seems to fuel his transformation into the Crow as much as his grief, though these aspects are only briefly touched upon here (at least until the episode’s end). I quite liked the transformation aspect to show Eric being consumed by his emotions, and he’s not portrayed as unstoppable. Bullets and wounds can hurt and slow him, allowing his victims to escape, which ties into an overall theme of Eric being blinded by vengeance. His blood (which he’s also seen crying) appears black and turns to ash, too, which I thought was a nice touch.

Detective Albrecht is a little different here. He’s got a reputation for “open cases” and has worked the Draven/Webster murder for a year with no leads or arrests. His tendency to become obsessed with such cases frustrates his superior, Lieutenant David Vincennes (Jon Cuthbert), who demands facts rather than wild theories. Albrecht has apparently spent most of the year helping to care for young Sarah Mohr (Katie Stuart), a streetwise kid who was a friend of Eric and Shelly whose mother, Darla Mohr (Lynda Boyd), is a neglectful alcoholic who hangs out with “T-Bird” (John Tench), Mark Tremayne/Tin Tin (Darcy Laurie), and especially George Jamieson/Funboy (Ty Olsson). Sarah’s done pretty well here: she doesn’t stand for her mother’s crap, barely flinches when the goons wave their guns around, and even gives T-Bird backtalk when he tries to threaten her. She’s amazed when Eric turns up alive and is startled by his dramatic change in character. She misses him and Shelly deeply but can tell that something’s changed in Eric because of how he talks and acts. Oddly, despite Shelly also wanting Shelly’s killers to pay, Sarah convinces Eric not to murder the gang’s leader, Jason Danko/Top Dollar (John Pyper-Ferguson), at the episode’s end since it’s not what Shelly would want. Strangely, Eric agrees, preferring to render Top Doller a babbling lunatic by forcing him to experience the pain of all his victims, despite the fact that Shelly told him to set things right and him knowing that his soul cannot rest until they’re avenged. I wasn’t too impressed with Albrecht here either. When he encounters Eric, he arrests and interrogates him, believing that he snapped and killed Shelly and an assumed lover in a crime of passion, making their relationship much frostier than in the movie. Darla, meanwhile, has very much the same character arc as ever, only with booze instead of drugs, and is finally convinced to start turning her life around after an encounter with the Crow.

While Eric targets Top Dollar’s crew, there are less of them here and the execution is markedly different. Tin Tin is just some punk-ass gang member who gives Albrecht lip and helps lure him into an ambush to stop his investigation. Luckily for Albrecht, the Crow shows up instead. Like in the comics, Eric confronts Funboy and has him spread the word that “The Crow” is coming for him and his party pals, who are puzzled and aghast when Eric shrugs off their attacks. In this story, Shelly was killed because someone above Top Dollar ordered Eric to be murdered, which was supposed to be framed as a suicide, setting up an ongoing mystery for the show. Although T-Bird is still Top Dollar’s number one guy, he’s got far less presence here (a theme for this episode and show). He’s chastised by Top Dollar for filming their attack on Eric and Shelly, and mentioning the big man’s name, and feels much more like a main henchman than a dastardly villain in his own right. Top Dollar is equally unimpressive, desperately trying to give off a tough-guy aura and failing, even when wielding a sword. His gimmick is taking mementos from his victims, which comes back to bite him when Eric uses them to drive Top Dollar mad from his victims’ pain. Overall, the villains were merely shadows of their film and comic counterparts, with none of their performances particularly standing out and their effectiveness neutered by the toothless representation of the story.

Final Thoughts:
I watched a couple of episodes of The Crow: Stairway to Heaven back in the day and was always tempted to get the complete series DVD as I heard it was pretty good and it has some interesting concepts. However, after being burned by the sequels and the remake, I decided not to and I think that was the right decision. I’m impressed by how faithful the episode sticks to the aesthetic of the movie. While most of the episode is shot in the day, Eric’s loft is visually very similar (if smaller and cheaper), and the Crow’s look is very much a copy of Brandon Lee’s design. I like the transformation aspect and the wrinkles that Eric has a temper, though I wasn’t a fan of toning down his crusade to simply make his killers suffer rather than killing them. Albrecht needed some work (he strikes me as a character who improves throughout the show) but I liked Sarah’s streetwise attitude and even enjoyed the truncated retelling of the film. The episode feels oddly paced, however. It might’ve been better to be a more action-packed episode after about ten minutes, dropping Eric’s time at the police station and having him murder Tin Tin, only for Funboy, T-Bird, and especially Top Dollar to escape. Then Eric could’ve hunted them down over subsequent episodes to complete his mission. As is, it felt weird to jump straight to his confrontation with Top Dollar, which was clunky and awkward despite Mark Dacascos’ obvious fighting prowess. I am intrigued to watch more of the show, but the bar isn’t set very high here. I absolutely feel The Crow could work as a television or streaming show, but it’d need to be a lot darker and more violent to really pull it off. This does a decent enough job, I guess, but it needed more of an edge to stick the landing.

My Rating:

Could Be Better

Did you enjoy The Crow: Stairway to Heaven? Do you think it translated the concept well or were you annoyed by how toothless it was? Were you a fan of the transformation gimmick? Would you have preferred to see a new avatar be the show’s focus? Which of The Crow’s sequels was your favourite and would you like the see a new, ore violent television adaptation? How are you celebrating Devil’s Night tonight? Whatever you think about The Crow, leave a comment down below and donate to my Ko-Fi if you’d like to see me over more episodes of this show.