The Crow Movie Curse Explained

1994's "The Crow" was a touchstone moment for goths everywhere, one that helped drive a subculture mainstream. The movie's aesthetic had all the elements of cool: black, more black, doom, some gloom, dark and dirty rain-soaked sets, ragged clothes, music ala Trent Reznor, a comic book pedigree, and to top it off: A brooding supernatural vigilante antihero who rises from the dead and sees through the eyes of crows. In other words: Is there a better choice for a cursed film?

No doubt the lore and visuals of "The Crow" helped define and perpetuate the tale of the film's jinx. But lest we forget, film curses are somewhat of a common belief. Lightning struck planes carrying crew members of 1976's "The Omen," prompting film advisor Robert Munger to claim that Satan didn't want the movie made. "Poltergeist" child actress Heather O'Rourke died a tragic, early death in 1988 at the age of 12. Accidents plagued the set of 1973's "The Exorcist," while death and disease struck the crew of 1968's "Rosemary's Baby."

The curse of "The Crow," however, stands out because of the death of its promising young lead, 28-year-old Brandon Lee, son of famed martial artist Bruce Lee. Brandon died when a prop gun fired a hastily-made dummy bullet (or fragment of one) and struck him at close range. During production a crew member got electrocuted, a truck caught fire, a sculptor drove his truck into the set, and more. Plus, the film's reboot has stayed stuck in development hell for years.  

"The Crow" curse starts with legendary martial artist Bruce Lee. In a cruel turn of fate for someone so obviously fit, Bruce died in 1973 at the age of 32 under strange circumstances still being questioned to this day. The typical story is that he took some headache medicine that somehow caused his brain to swell. But as recently as 2022, a study in the Clinical Kidney Journal speculated that hyponatraemia — an excess of water — from a host of factors killed Bruce. And of course, there's the foul play and/or curse angle.

This is why when Bruce Lee's son Brandon died from a freak accident on the set of "The Crow" — at an age even younger than his father, no less — talk of a curse quickly ignited. Brandon's death understandably colored the film's release and even added to its success. Film-goers were watching a dead man on the screen act in the role of a dead person resurrected as an avenging spirit to right his own death. It was as though the film plot and reality intertwined in an uncanny, bizarre way. The curse angle couldn't have fit better.

On the night that Brandon died, a makeshift dummy bullet (a real round with the gunpowder removed) from a prop gun pierced his abdomen and stopped in his spine, as The Guardian recounts. He died of blood loss, internal injuries, and heart failure at a hospital on March 31, 1993. "The Crow" hit theaters a little over a year later on May 10, 1994.

Arguably, "The Crow" curse began way back in 1978 when 18-year-old artist James O'Barr lost his fiancé Beverly to a drunk driver. He told the Dallas Observer he had "wrapped my whole existence" around her. "Suddenly, there was nothing in my future but nothingness and I was angry and furious," he continued. O'Barr took these feelings, added further inspiration from a story about a couple in Detroit killed because of a $20 engagement ring, and added to them the aesthetic of the punk bands he loved, like The Stooges and Joy Division. Thus "The Crow" was born as a "a love letter to my girlfriend who died," News-Herald quotes O'Barr. 

O'Barr's project was only ever meant as a personal, cleansing, creative exercise. But, his artwork caught the attention of Detroit comic book store owner and founder of Caliber Press, Gary Reed. Come 1989 and "The Crow" hit the presses on a four-issue mini series. It caught on so wildly that the four-issue compilation sold 1.5 million copies, the highest sales of all time for an independent, black-and-white comic.

"The Crow" stemmed from O'Barr's real anguish, and it showed. As News-Herald quotes him, he "open[ed] a vein and let it flow onto the paper." It was though a pact was formed, birthed from tragedy and birthing tragedy. And so "The Crow" — like its namesake animal — proved a harbinger of death and despair from then on. 

Now we come to the day-to-day cursed production on the set of "The Crow." As early as April 2, 1993 — mere days after Brandon Lee died — Entertainment Weekly was talking about the film's curse. "Some movies just don't want to get made," they began, and then commenced recounting the litany of freakish and dangerous happenings surrounding the making of the film. On the first day of shooting, for instance, a carpenter got electrocuted. "In five years, he'll be as normal as he'll get," doctors said. After that the film's publicist, Jason D. Scott, got into a car accident, and then a truck on the set caught fire for some unknown reason. Then one of the film's sculptors "went berserk" and smashed his car into the studio lot, and after that a worker on set pierced his hand with a screwdriver when he slipped. Later, part of the set got obliterated in a storm.

However — and to disappoint all the curse fans out there — folks will remember that the set of "The Crow" was very messy, very dark (they shot at night), and very wet. It was also apparently very cold. As Entertainment Weekly quotes, executive producer Robert L. Rosen said that they were "lucky" because things could have gone much worse. Nonetheless, it's doubtful that anyone who knew Brandon Lee or those hurt during production considered anyone "lucky," or anything but cursed.

Character actor mainstay Michael Massee is the one who fired the lethal prop gun at Brandon Lee during the making of "The Crow." It took a truly freakish set of circumstances to get to the point where a fragment of a makeshift dummy bullet got stuck inside the prop gun when Masse, playing his character Funboy, shot it on set. The Telegraph says that the gun had been used two weeks earlier for a different scene and featured real bullets with their gunpowder removed. Production crew was pressed for time and opted with this less-than-safe option instead of standard dummy rounds. Somehow, a lead bullet tip got stuck inside and stayed there until Masse fired. In a horrific twist, Masse was apparently an excellent shot. Otherwise, Lee might not have died. And so "The Crow" curse also took Masse.

In a 2005 Extra interview, Masse recalled having to come to terms with accidentally killing someone, and finding a way to move on. He said that he didn't open up to anyone about the incident, but handled the matter personally with Lee's fiancé and mother. In fact, this was the only time he spoke to anyone in the media about Lee's death. In the interview he said Lee's death is a "part of the fabric" of his life and a very "personal matter" that's basically nobody's business. He also said that he took to being 100% sure about safety procedures in following films. Sadly, Masse died in 2016 at the age of 64.

Finally, "The Crow" franchise itself seems like it's been cursed since Brandon Lee died. There were a few follow-ups to "The Crow," including "The Crow: City of Angels" (1996), ""The Crow: Salvation" (2000), "The Crow: Wicked Prayer" (2005), and even a single-season TV show, "The Crow: Stairway to Heaven" (1998-1999). They were all universally panned. It seemed as though no one was fated to play Crow — aka, Eric Draven — except Brandon Lee. Lee's performance and death all but enshrined "The Crow" and its self-named character, and gave it a lightning-in-a-bottle status that couldn't be replicated. 

But, attempts persisted. As early as 2008, special effects artist Stephen Norrington from 1998's "Blade" stepped in to make a "hard-edged and mysterious, almost documentary-style" version of "The Crow," per Variety. By 2010, Relativity Media tapped screenwriter Nick Cave to do script rewrites and Mark Wahlberg to play Crow. The whole thing fell through, and everyone — Norrington, Cave, and Wahlberg — bailed. Then came an endless, year-by-year, absurdly byzantine litany of actors, writers, directors, etc., cycling through the project. Possible Crows during this time included Bradley Cooper, Channing Tatum, Tom Hiddleston, Alexander Skarsgård, and Jason Momoa.

Finally, the younger Skarsgård, Bill, stepped into the main role. His performances as Pennywise the Clown in 2017 and 2019's "It" reboot movies indicate that he's perfect for the job. Hopefully, he and the upcoming "The Crow" can break the curse when the film premieres on August 23, 2024.