The Crow: City of Angels (1996)

The original Crow had some style, no substance and Brandon Lee. This sequel has an overload of style, negative substance and a harlequin-faced vacuum (Vincent Perez). Exactly the same story is played out as niceguy mechanic Perez is slaughtered by baddies and comes back as a white-faced killer zombie angel with a totemic bird sidekick. Hordes of grotesque villains (including a ravaged Iggy Pop) are beautifully killed, their corpses posed in pretty-pretty MTV crow tableaux. The fact that it's so well made merely makes its emptiness and nastiness all the worse. That said, it makes excellent visual wallpaper for sadists and has a solid pop soundtrack.
KIM NEWMAN

First Published In: Empire (issue unknown).

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