THE CROW – 2024

*CUT TO THE CHASE*

NOTE: This spoiler was submitted by Jeremy

The film opens with a young Eric Draven (Solo Uniacke) running outside of his home to find his beloved horse lying in pain after walking into a barbed wire fence. The boy tries to help him but injures his hands on the wiring, while his mother is passed out drunk in the house. The adult Eric (Bill Skarsgard) talks about the pain of losing a loved one, and how you never forget, or forgive.

In present day Detroit, a young woman, Shelly (FKA Twigs), gets a phone call from her friend Zadie (Isabella Wei) to let her know that an incriminating video has been sent to some bad people, and both women are involved. As Zadie is trying to get somewhere safe, she is found by criminals Marion (Laura Birn) and Lex (Trigga). Shelly tries to flee her apartment but gets arrested on the streets when cops find drugs in her purse.

Marion and Lex bring Zadie to their boss, a crime boss named Vincent Roeg (Danny Huston). Zadie is brought to a room where Roeg speaks with her. He has made a pact with the devil to avoid being sent to Hell if he can deliver innocent souls in his place. Roeg whispers something into Zadie’s ear that makes her pick up a dagger and stab herself in the throat so she can bleed out.

Shelly is brought to a rehab center where Eric is also staying. He is frequently antagonized by the other patients there and spends his time drawing and writing music. Eric meets Shelly, where they quickly develop a mutual attraction and affection for one another. Shelly later finds that her mother Sophia (Josette Simon) is visiting, but she’s with Marion and Lex. Shelly starts to panic but Eric helps her so that they can both escape the facility and run back to her apartment, where they have sex, do drugs, and talk to each other about what drew them to one another, as well as things about their past.

A crooked detective named Milch (Dukagjin Podrimaj) contacts Roeg while he is observing a piano prodigy, informing him that Zadie’s body has been found. Roeg and Marion are concerned with finding Shelly’s video before they are exposed.

Eric and Shelly continue to grow in their relationship and even spend time with her friends. On a night out, Shelly runs into her friend Dorm (Sebastian Orozco), who warns her that Roeg’s guys are coming after her. She and Eric rush back to his apartment, but Lex and other goons are already there. They attack the couple and place bags over their heads to suffocate them to death.

Eric pulls himself out of a lake and follows a crow to a hidden location that looks like an abandoned train yard. He meets a spirit named Kronos (Sami Bouajila) explains that Eric is in some sort of limbo and that his soul cannot rest until the tragedy he has endured can be avenged. Eric dismisses this as a nightmare until Kronos pushes him into a pool, and he wakes up in his apartment. He finds Milch there investigating, and he shoots Eric in the chest. Eric rises, bleeding but still able to fight back. Milch tries to kill him again but Eric stabs Milch in the neck, killing him. He then runs into the bathroom and finds that his wounds are slowly healing themselves.

Eric leaves his apartment and goes into the streets where he sees what looks like Shelly about to jump off a bridge. When he tries to run after her, he returns to the limbo station with Kronos. Eric realizes he and Shelly are both dead, but Kronos tells him about Roeg, and if Eric can kill him and his men, he and Shelly can come back to life.

Kronos sends Eric back into the world so that he can go to his friend Chance (Jordan Bolger) and get a gun from him. Afterwards, he goes to Shelly’s funeral and finds Sophia there. While she denies that her daughter was murdered, Eric tells Sophia that he will kill everyone responsible for Shelly’s death. He goes into her old room and finds photos, letters, and a badge of Shelly’s when she worked for Roeg’s company.

Eric goes out and finds Lex in his car. Before he can get any answers out of him, Lex tries to draw his gun but gets his brains blown out first by Eric. He then spots Roeg and Marion leaving a place and goes after them, throwing himself in front of their car so that he can fight them inside. After a hectic drive and some gunfire, Eric gets thrown out of the car and is run over by a truck. He painfully limps until his bones snap back into place.

Roeg then goes to Sophia’s house, where she tells him about her meeting with Eric. She tells Roeg that she regrets the deal she made with him and that she should have died instead. Roeg whispers in Sophia’s ear, causing her to throw herself out of her window to her death.

Eric encounters Dorm on the street and interrogates him over Shelly’s involvement with Roeg and his goons. Dorm says that he, Shelly, and Zadie used to get drugs from Roeg and party with him. Eventually, Eric sees the video of Shelly, which is of Roeg using his power to make Shelly stab another woman to death, leaving Eric shaken.

Eric goes back to Chance’s apartment, where Roeg’s goon Wickham (David Bowles) and others arrive to bring Eric in on Roeg’s orders. Wickham shoots Chance in the head while Eric fights the other goons until one of them blasts him with a shotgun. Eric returns to the limbo station and learns from Kronos that since his love for Shelly was left in doubt after watching the video, Eric can no longer bring either of them back to life. He makes one last request to return and save Shelly’s soul while he remains dead. Kronos then uses some of his blood to give Eric enhanced abilities so that he can return once more.

Back in the apartment, Eric shoots the goon that shot him before bludgeoning Wickham to death. He reads a text from Marion meant for Wickham, revealing that Roeg will be at the opera house. Eric then dons black face paint so that he may (FINALLY) become The Crow.

Eric arrives at the opera armed with a blade. When Roeg’s bodyguards catch wind of him, they attempt to shoot and stab Eric, only for him to slaughter them in numerous gruesome ways. He eventually kills all of them until only Marion is left. She tells Eric that Roeg is at his mansion, while she appears to express some remorse for her involvement in Roeg’s crimes. Eric decapitates her and then throws her head into the audience, sending the theatergoers screaming in terror.

Eric goes to Roeg’s mansion for the final showdown. Roeg stabs Eric in the chest and tries to absorb his blood like he did with Zadie, but Eric’s love for Shelly reignites his will to fight. He pushes Roeg through a mirror, which sends them into the limbo station. Eric beats the shit out of Roeg before he gets pulled underwater by vengeful spirits.

Shelly’s soul resurfaces from the water, and she reunites with Eric. However, he tells her that he cannot go back with her, despite her pleas to join him in death. Eric reaffirms his love for Shelly just as she is revived next to Eric’s corpse. She weeps for him.

Eric remains in the station as his final narration is about how his love for Shelly will live on in what she does. He envisions her continuing to live her life, singing and being with friends. Eric says that this is almost good enough for him.

CTTC

Eric Draven meets a young woman named Shelly in a rehab center. The two fall in love and escape, but are soon caught and killed by thugs working for a man named Roeg. He made a deal with the devil to avoid Hell if he can send innocent souls down there instead. Eric is sent back to life by a spirit named Kronos so that he can kill Roeg and be reunited with Shelly.

Eric finds out that Shelly was targeted because she and her friends used to get drugs from Roeg, and he used his powers to make Shelly kill another woman, which was recorded in a video. Roeg's goons kill Eric again, and since his love for Shelly was thrown into doubt over what he witnessed, Kronos tells him that he and Shelly cannot be revived anymore. Eric makes one last deal so that Shelly can be saved and he will remain dead if he kills Roeg. Kronos sends him back with enhanced abilities, turning him into The Crow.

Eric slaughters all of Roeg's goons before facing him off in his home. Roeg tries to take Eric's abilities to cheat death, but Eric pulls him into the limbo station that he kept returning to, and Roeg is pulled to his death by angry spirits. Shelly's soul is saved and she is reunited with Eric long enough to reaffirm their love for one another.

Shelly comes back to life while Eric remains a spirit, though it brings him peace to know that Shelly will continue to live and be safe