RR: Now did "The Crow 2037" provide a nice warm-up writing-wise when it came to writing the script for "Corpses"?

RZ: Yeah, that helped just because I had never done that before. When I was involved in ["Crow 2037"] and I was like, 'Oh yeah, I'll write the script!' I went home and I was just like, 'Shit! How do you fuckin' write a script?' "Corpses" was a little easier. And I just finished a new script. I think that with certain things like making records or filmmaking there's only one real way to learn how to do it and that is you have to do it. You can think about it all you want, you can read about it all you want, but until you really do it... You know?

RR: Now, what happened with "The Crow" movie?

RZ: I basically bailed on the project. I worked on it for about 18 months. And at the end of 18 months I felt like we had made no headway whatsoever. We were getting ready to start casting, we hired an incredible set designer - this guy, Kreka - who had done 'Delicatessen.' He was amazing. These designs, I still have them, that he did were just outrageous. Incredible. But I felt, as far as creative meetings with the producers, they just could not decide on anything. If something was blue on Friday, come Monday morning it was red and by Thursday it was green. They could not make up their minds. And after 18 months I felt that we had accomplished nothing. I was like, 'I can't take this, I'm losing my mind, I quit.' And, you know, that movie dragged on forever and they ended up doing some direct-to-video thing that had nothing to do with the movie I wanted. Nothing. I know they were doing the same thing with John Carpenter 'cause they were working with him on 'The Martian Chronicles' and it was the same company and they were sort of, like, spending millions of dollars and accomplishing nothing.

Just when you thought you'd heard the last of this film forever, the people over at Creature Corner have this:

LEE'S BRUSH WITH THE CROW

3.27.03 By Ryan Rotten Contributing Sources:

Stories like this make me angry. One of those "what could've been" tales that make you wish things were different in the Hollywood system.

Creature-Corner caught up with Rob Zombie yesterday to discuss his directorial debut "House of 1000 Corpses." As usual, we got sidetracked a bit and talked about his long extinguished sequel to "The Crow" - a project he admittedly backed out of.

Set in the future, his script, entitled "The Crow 2037," followed a young boy murdered with his mother on Halloween by a dark priest. A year later, the spirit of the crow resurrects the kid to seek vengeance. But the boy forgets why he must seek revenge and continues to live his life. Twenty seven years later, the boy is now a man serving as a bounty hunter. When he gets a massive memory recall, he sets out on a path of rage to the priest who killed him.

When asked if there are any horror icons/cult figures he'd love to work with in the future, Zombie reminisced about what could have, should have been:

"When I was working on 'The Crow,' the one person who I had at the top of my casting list was Christopher Lee." Zombie revealed to the Corner. "Of course now he's had this incredible rebirth with 'Lord of the Rings' and 'Star Wars,' but at the time you never saw him anywhere. You know, I flew to London, had dinner up at his house to talk about it. It looked like it was going to happen."

But it didn't happen. Now we're stuck with mindless retreads of the same old "Crow" formula (thanks to Dimension, no less). One doesn't need that much horror knowledge to imagine that Zombie had Christopher Lee in mind for the film's role of the "dark priest."

The "Corpses" director also disclosed why his "Crow" project never took flight...you'll be able to read all about that tomorrow.

To read more about this aborted Crow film, click here for our Crow: 2037 / World of Gods and Monsters section, where you can scour historical news and even read its script.

As previously reported here at ABaHB, Dark Horizons has finally picked up on the news that Luke Goss is off Wicked Prayer, he is said to be joining Michelle Yeoh's "The Masked Crusader". For all on Wicked Prayer and the very latest, check our Crow 4 section!

xXCrowXx sends this report along:

'I was able to go to the Inwood Crow showing in Dallas this last saturday. They did show the crow that night,but it was free of charge because of them not having that one reel. It was really an awesome experience to see it for the first time on big screen, even though 18 minutes of it was not there.'

Aaron Blain had contacted us a month ago saying he had been able to convince his local theater to show The Crow this past weekend during midnight showings. Well, seems things didn't go as planed. Read Aaron's report below:

The company that sent the movie to Inwood sent two of the same reels and left one out. So we got to see Fun Boy and Gideon die twice. The reel they left out was of Tin Tin Dying along with the introduction of Top Dollar and Gideon's being destroyed. After T-Bird was killed they stopped the movie and refunded our money. I talked to the guy in charge and asked him if they were going to get it back and he said yes. So again I wait till they bring it back.

Thanks to Aaron for his report. Those fans in the Dallas/Ft Worth area, keep checking back with us for word from Aaron when the rescheduled showing will take place.

Take care.....come what may.

Odd on eBay

Rich Johnston's Lyring in the Gutters column of comic gossip on CBR has this:

CROW ROAD

Comicon Pulse, Warren Ellis and other picked up on a certain eBay listing by James O'Barr's ex-wife, selling off her marriage proposal. It included the comment, "Won't go on about how saying 'yes' was probably not the smartest thing I ever did in my life...Anyway, you get the original letter, the envelope it came in, and all these little pieces of paper he got from a Doritos package that he threw in for whatever reason! An interesting little item for those Crow fans who thought they had everything!"

But another item she's selling is a birthday card to her from James, to which she adds "As you can tell, James and my mother never did get along - okay, truth be told, they hated each other. A whimisical collectible!" "Whimisical" indeed.

Image 1 - Image 2 - Image 3 - Image 4

Crow 1 and 2 still photographer Robert Zuckerman has been a very busy man of late. He completed the BAD BOYS 2 shoot this past December (where he was able to work in Florida and Puerto Rico) and completed T3 prior to that (look for calendars, trading cards & other merchandise using Robert's photos to be available soon). Robert commented that Michael Bay, director of BAD BOYS 2 is "a director of great energy and this carries through into his films. "

After returning to L.A. after the BAD BOYS 2 shoot, he went straight to work on a new film. Robert says the film is "a great, lower budget independent film, with a great cast, including Debra Winger, Ray Romano, Zooey Deschanel, Kelly Preston, Hank Azaria, Piper Laurie, Rip Torn, Glenne Hedley and others. It's an ensemble comedy about a dysfunctional family at their grandfather's funeral."

One of the great things that has come from his work on this new indie film is that one of its producer is closely aligned with Christopher Reeve and his organization and has offered to put Robert in touch with him (Reeve) in regard to his sister Patti's condition. She continues to struggle with her disease and we ask that all fans please keep the Zuckerman family in your thoughts and prayers. Some good news, they are about to get a new wheel chair for her that will help her to sit up straight. She continues to struggle with breathing and swallowing and we just ask that you keep them in your prayers.

Don't forget to keep visiting Robert's site Wonderhall which was established to help Patti. You will find updates on her condition as well as information on how to purchase Robert's famous "Cathedral" picture of Brandon Lee, taken during one of the last photo sessions before Brandon's death. All proceeds from the picture sale go towards Patti's care. There are also updates on some of his side-projects as well, so please give the site a look.

Take care.....come what may.

The following is a report posted on Darkhorizons today, followed by a commentary from us here at ABaHB

The Crow: Wicked Prayer: So what can we expect to see in this next installment? 'Matt' has the answer with this short but sweet plot synopsis: "Luc Crash (Luke Goss), is the charismatic gang leader of a ragtag band of Satanist bikers named after the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse. Luc murders Jimmy Cuervo (Edward Furlong) and his girlfriend Lily as part of a ritual to become an immortal demon, but Luc finds that Jimmy has been transformed into the avenging spirit known at The Crow, intent on stopping Luc before he can become the Lord of the Flies". Thanks to 'I'm Looking Over, My Dead Dog Clover'.

ABaHB Commentary:

As we reported the other day, there have been, and continue to be, inaccurate reports on certain elements of Crow 4, aka Wicked Prayer, posted on the web. Today's report on Darkhorizons highlights two of those inaccuracies. The first inaccurate element is that the gang featured in Crow 4 will be a biker gang. That is totally inaccurate information. The gang in Crow 4 IS NOT a biker gang. The other piece of inaccurate news reported in the update today on Dark Horizons is the casting of Luc Crash. We can say with 99.9% certainty (nothing is ever 100% until production starts) that Luke Goss is not now, nor has he ever been attached to The Crow 4. Perhaps someone within the production was overheard talking about him or something a long that nature, but he is currently not in any talks with the production and there is no plan for him to be brought on board. Does not mean he is totally out of the picture? No, but as I said, he has not at this time been cast in the part, nor has he been in talks for this part, and there is no plan to cast him. As with any production, until the cameras roll, there is always that .1% of a chance that anything could happen, but as of today, this information is inaccurate.

It appears this information is a recycle of news that was reported close to a month ago and has spread to sites such as the Internet Movie Data Base (which also inaccurately lists the gang as a biker gang).

Please keep checking in with ABaHB for more information as it pertains to these internet reports.

Take care.....come what may.

A lot of information has come out since the first of the year. As always, we here at ABaHB have collected this information into our Crow 4 section so you can see what the latest word is as well as what has been reported previously. We caution you to take all of this information with a grain of salt. Until cameras role, reported information on the net can and will change.

Casting

There was a report that Luke Goss was in talks with Pressman. Since that report was placed on Dark Horizons, his involvement does not look like it will happen, if he ever even did talk to Pressman. So don't be surprised NOT to see his name attached. All other casting reports have not been confirmed, though the frequency of the Ed Furlong reports would make it appear he is the one taking on the lead. But as always, things could change like the wind.

Story/Premise

There is a report that has the gang set as a biker gang (this is listed in IMDB as well). This report we know for certain is wrong. There is no biker gang in Crow 4. There is no mention of a motorcycle in the whole story for that matter. The rest of the story elements reported on IMDB & Dark Horizons are consistent with what we understand as being the premise. But again, this could change tomorrow, so hang tight. As you can see from the story reports, it is not anything like the book Wicked Prayer. I would not be surprised if the name of the movie changes before it goes into production. That is just me thinking out loud, but given all of the changes that have taken place, don't be surprised if that does happen.

Start Date

April 21st has been reported as the start date by information sent in to Dark Horizons. This is not the first start date reported that didn't come to be, so we shall see if this latest one pans out.

Music

The music side of things is moving along. Soundtrack artists/songs have and continue to be secured as well as a composer for the score. No specific names have been given as to the artists and composer as of yet. But to know that the music is just about set is encouraging that the film is getting closer to going into production mode. The main part of the music deal, which label will distribute it, is still not secured. Once that happens, perhaps we will at least get some official news on the artists and songs involved on the soundtrack.

That is about it for a wrap up of the information reported to date. We will continue to offer these insights to the information we post here from other sources. So keep checking ABaHB news and our Crow 4 section for up to date information.

Take care…..come what may

Mike has sent along word that Wizard magazine has put in a little blurb about The Crow 4, hopefully it'll generate some interest!

Mark Dacascos had the best opening for a film he is starring in this past weekend with "Cradle 2 Grave". Hopefully this means he will get more exposure and more mainstream roles. Carla from the Mark Dacascos Yahoo list has passed along information on his latest starring project, "Instinct To Kill". This will be coming out direct to Video/DVD on April 8th. It has been available overseas since last year, so we are late in getting it here in the states. Be sure to check this out, along with C2G.

Thanks Carla for the information.

Take care.....come what may

Keen eyed Crow Fan Tom sends along a link to a statue which is easily the most impressive bit of Crow Merchandise for some time. Based upon James O'Barr's original designs, the character of Eric is given worthy portrayal. Retailing for 49.99, the figure is due on April 1st. Click here and search for 'The Crow' to place your order.

Cleaning House

Nothing really to do with The Crow, but if there are any Lady Death fans out there, we're selling some goods to help things run a little smoother. Up for grabs is a fully signed Lady Death poster, so if you're interested, click over.

Darkhorizons is running this report on Alex Proyas' latest flick:

I, Robot: FilmJerk has details on the storyline of the Alex Proyas-adaptation of the great Isaac Asimov story. Here's just a taste: "This motion picture (most recently revised by Akiva Goldsman, dated January 31, 2003) will concentrate on Detective Del Spooner, who, with the aid of psychologist, Dr. Susan Calvin, will investigate the death of Dr. Miles Hogenmiller, a brilliant scientist who worked at US Robotics. Initially labeled a suicide, Spooner has other ideas, convinced that a robot may have taken the doctor's life. Isolated and eccentric, Dr. Hogenmiller appears as a hologram of himself, summoning Spooner to his side after his death. He was working on a very special project when his life was cut short. He had created something quite extraordinary - a robot with a living brain, code named "Sonny." Spooner goes to Hogenmiller's boss, Dr. Lance Robertson, with his suspicions. Incensed that Spooner wants to charge one of his robots with murder, Dr. Robertson maintains Dr. Hogenmiller took his own life. Terribly weary, Robertson knows full well that the future of his company would be snuffed out should the press get wind of the idea that a robot would, under any circumstances, kill a human being". Thanks to 'Edward'.

And Cinescape shines a light upon digital casting in the film. Click here to have a look.

Our thanks to Spiral Clock.

Take care......come what may

Aaron Blain from Ft Worth, Tx, tells us that after a persistent effort on his part, he was able to convince the Inwood Theater in Dallas, TX to have a midnight showing of THE CROW. Go to the Inwood site and page down about half-way and you will see the listing. The showing will be on March 21st and 22nd. So any Crow fans in the Dallas/Ft Worth area, you need to flock on down to the Inwood Theater and catch The Crow in all of its glory.

Huge thanks to Aaron for passing this information on to us.

Take care.....come what may.