History YMMV / TheCrow

** James O'Barr. All the pain, self-hatred and survivors guilt Eric displays is taken from his own experiences with his fiancee dying. Even worse, he became extremely close with Brandon Lee, only to have him taken away too.

* TheWoobie: Eric and Shelley. Hot ''damn''.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Until comic sequels and the movies confirmed Eric's supernatural nature, many readers thought that Eric was not supernatural, instead having survived the incident with the gang and insane from survivor's guilt. His masochistic tendencies and flashbacks throughout the original series give credence that this might have been the original intent.
** How the hell? In the comic we see him being shot in the head in the bar scene. Funboy even comments on this. Then later he takes couple of dozens of shots at close range to his chest, then teleports away.

* KarmicDeath: [[spoiler: Myca, who's fond of using stolen eyeballs in rituals, has her eyes pecked out by the crow when she tries to take its power.]]
* HeelRealization: T-Bird, [[CompleteMonster an unrepentant rapist and murderer]] throughout the film, is visibly shaken and on the verge of tears after recognizing Eric Draven, a man he had killed.

* CompleteMonster: Top Dollar and his henchmen. Three of them rape and beat to death a harmless girl and also have her boyfriend (Eric) shot and thrown out the window. But Top Dollar is the one who ordered it, and that makes him ''even worse'' than them.

* DesignatedVillain: Gideon, whose only crimes are being an opportunist (it's not as if ''he'' killed all those newlyweds off of whom countless criminals pawned wedding rings) and trying to stop a weirdo with a painted face from intruding on his property late at night. But that doesn't stop Eric from vindictively torching his pawn shop with gasoline. (It's even worse in the comic, where Eric [[spoiler:cold-bloodedly shoots Gideon dead with his own Walther handgun]].)

* SugarWiki/{{Heartwarming Moment|s}}: "I hate cats."

* CompleteMonster: Top Dollar and his henchmen. Three of them have raped and beat to death a harmless girl and also has her boyfriend (Eric) shot and throw away the window. But Top Dollar has ordered it and that makes him ''even worse'' than them.

* AdaptationDisplacement - Though not for hardcore comics fans.
* AlternateCharacterInterpretation - Until comic sequels and the movies confirmed Eric's supernatural nature, many readers thought that Eric was not supernatural, instead having survived the incident with the gang and insane from survivor's guilt. His masochistic tendencies and flashbacks throughout the original series give credence that this might have been the original intent.

** The comic version of Funboy is inhuman. "Dude, half her head's gone." "I ain't interested in her ''head'', man ..." Oddly, Funboy is the only villian in the comic who doesn't get brutally murdered by Eric, and is instead allowed to die by a self-inflicted heroin overdose. Though just before he dies Funboy seems to realize what a waste of space he is, and while he admits he feels no guilt about his deeds, he knows that he ''should.''
* CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming: "I hate cats."
* CrowningMusicOfAwesome:
** Both Graeme Revell's score, which won awards, and the soundtrack, which featured notable bands as MyLifeWithTheThrillKillKult, TheCure, a JoyDivision cover by NineInchNails, among others. Mostly James O'Barr's favorite bands at the time he created the comic and whose songs were frequently referenced and used thematically in the comic.
** Yes, for a graphic novel. Trust Obey released a soundtrack entitled "Fear and Bullets: Music to Acompany the Crow Comic Book" and is specifically made to play while you read.
* DesignatedVillain - Gideon, whose only crimes are being an opportunist (it's not as if ''he'' killed all those newlyweds off of whom countless criminals pawned wedding rings) and trying to stop a weirdo with a painted face from intruding on his property late at night. But that doesn't stop Eric from vindictively torching his pawn shop with gasoline. (It's even worse in the comic, where Eric [[spoiler:cold-bloodedly shoots Gideon dead with his own Walther handgun]].)
* FunnyAneurysmMoment - The movie is about a guy who returned to life after being shot dead, starring a guy who was accidentally shot dead during filming. Not that this is funny, but Eric's occasional flippancy about being dead and people intending to kill him definitely qualify for this. One particularly jarring line, "Take your shot, Funboy - you got me dead bang" is spoken to the character whose actor pulled the trigger.

* SpecialEffectsFailure

* {{Sequelitis}} - In both media.

* TearJerker - From the beginning to the end.

* CompleteMonster: Top Dollar and his henchmen. Three of them have raped and beat to death and harmless girl and also has her boyfriend (Eric) shot and throw away the window. But Top Dollar has ordered it and that makes him ''even worse'' than them.

** Michael Wincott's hair extensions to give him those long, flowing locks are, well, [[{{Understatement}} pretty obvious]] ...in more than a couple of scenes.

--->For Eric and Eliza.

** The comic version of Funboy is inhuman. "Dude, half her head's gone." "I ain't interested in her ''head'', man ..." Oddly, Funboy is the only villian in the comic who doesn't get brutally murdered by Eric, and is instead allowed to die by a self-inflicted heroin overdose. Granted, Eric didn't leave him any other choice.

** The comic version of Funboy is a inhuman. "Dude, half her head's gone." "I ain't interested in her ''head'', man ..." Oddly, Funboy is the only villian in the comic who doesn't get brutally murdered by Eric, and is instead allowed to die by a self-inflicted heroin overdose. Granted, Eric didn't leave him any other choice.

* CompleteMonster: Top Dollar and his henchmen. Three of them have raped and beat to death and harmless girl and also has his boyfriend (Eric) shot and throw away the window. But Top Dollar has ordered it and that makes him ''even worse'' than them.

* CrowningMusicOfAwesome: Yes, for a graphic novel. Trust Obey released a soundtrack entitled "Fear and Bullets: Music to Acompany the Crow Comic Book" and is specifically made to play while you read.

** Eric's farewell to Sara in the comic...actually, pretty much any scene with Sara in the comic.