It has been said that the only difference between a slasher flick and an action flick is if the "Last Girl" is a woman or a big action star. The Crow does this in reverse.
The "Last Girl" is Brandon Lee's Eric Draven. Who is not a big hulking action star, but a man engulfed in sadness. The plot, minus the supernatural elements, is not much different than Steven Seagal's "Hard to Kill". The difference, of course, is that Eric Draven is an undead champion of vengeance. He is not a zombie though and he still feels, well, everything.
This leaves us the question. Is The Crow a horror movie?
I still say yes. The horrors visited on Eric and his fiancé Shelly are enough to merit a "Horror" tag. Eric himself, an undead force of vengeance is akin to Freddy and Jason; he just kills bad guys.
In truth, this movie influenced a lot of what we think of as the Modern Supernatural out now. This struck the same chords in people (and often the same people) that "Lost Boys" did. While Lost Boys was very much a product of the late 80s, The Crow is a product of the mid 90s and it's influences reached far and wide. Watch the scene where Eric confronts Top Dollar and his gang and then watch Heath Ledger's Joker confront the criminal underworld in The Dark Knight.
Ultimately the movie is sad.
Sad not just for the subject matter, but sad for the real-world death of Brandon Lee.
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