CAST: Mark Dacascos, Marc Gomes, Katie Stuart, Julie Dreyfus,
Sabine Karseni
SCR: Bryce Zabel, who developed the TV series
DIR: Kari Skogland
STUDIO: PolyGram Home Entertainment

This appears to be the pilot episode for the USA Network series THE CROW, based on the popular James O'Barr comic book series that first inspired a 1994 Brandon Lee film, which became notorious for the fact that Lee (son of marital arts star Bruce Lee) was accidentally shot to death on the set while making the film.

The Lee film proved to be a cult favorite (thanks largely to the stylish direction of Alex Proyas) and was followed in 1997 by a caw-tastrophic sequel THE CROW: THE CITY OF ANGELS, starring Vincent Perez of Queen Margot.

For this standard TV retread, Mark Dacascos portrays the tragic anti-hero Eric Draven, a rock musician who is murdered, along with his fiancee, by sadistic gangsters. A crow becomes the symbol of Draven's return from the dead and leads him back to the dark city where he was murdered, and where he is to fulfill a prophecy of vengeance.

Average TV-production values provide only a hint of the dark, gloomy world in which O'Barr intended his story to be set, and the acting is competent but nothing special, and this tale requires something special if it is to work. In the revised script by series developer Bryce Zabel, Marc Gomes is a driven detective working on the case of Draven's murder and Katie Stuart is durable as a friend of Draven's.

Dacasco, a limited actor at best, has all the cards stacked in his favor as angry Draven--bullets can't kill him and he quickly recovers from body blows sustained in a succession of karate battles--so there isn't a lot to worry about except the health of the all the evil characters that dominate this tale. Kari Skogland, who also directed CHILDREN OF THE CORN 666: ISAAC'S RETURN, makes it all seem ordinary when it needs to be extraordinary. Oh well, that's TV shooting schedules for you.

--reviewed by JOHN STANLEY

Evaluation: C