Phil hosts the Cult Movie Screening of THE CROW at the Camera 3 Downtown San Jose-February 14, 2013

Hello again everybody and welcome to the 2013 season of the Cult Movie series at the Camera 3 in Downtown San Jose! Now for those of you who are late to the game, let me explain this cool series. In 2011 the Camera Cinemas started up the Cult Movie series (which for years had been called the Midnight Movie series). They would show one cult film twice a month (Thursday nights at 9:30 and Saturday nights at midnight) from February through November. Tonight was the new season of the series and we screened the 1994 cult film THE CROW, starring the late Brandon Lee, the son of Martial Arts legend Bruce Lee. Once again yours truly was back as the host for tonight's screening. Prizes were donated by Streetlight Records and by Time Tunnel Toys, both located here in San Jose. There were also yummy donuts to eat, courtesy of Psycho Donuts located in the lobby.

Theatrical Movie Poster (1994)

Based on the comic book series by James O'Bar, the film is about a young rock musician named Eric Draven (Lee), who along with his fiancée Shelly Webster (Sofia Shinas) are murdered by a vicious gang consisting of knife thrower Tin-tin (Laurence Mason), drugetic Funboy (Michael Massee), car buff T-Bird (David Patrick Kelly), and the unsophisticated Skank (Angel David). One year, Eric is resurrected and with the help of a crow, he extracts revenge that caused the death of him and Shelly. However when crime lord Top Dollar (Michael Wincott) learns about Eric, he along with his sister Myca (Bai Ling) and his right-hand man Grange (Tony Todd) learn the legend of the crow and the secret to the vigilante's invincibility. Aiding Eric are his friends, 13 year-old Sarah (Rochelle Davis) and Sergeant Albrecht (Ernie Hudson).

The film was directed by Alex Proyas (DARK CITY, GARAGE DAYS, and I, ROBOT) written by David J. Schow and John Shirley. Right from the start of production, a series of horroble events took place. During the first day of shooting in Wilmington, North Carolina, a carpenter suffered severe burns after his crane hit live power lines. On subsequent days, a grip truck caught fire, a disgruntled sculptor crashed his car through the studio's plaster shop, and a crew member accidentally drove a screwdriver through his hand. The media dubbed it, "The Curse of the Crow." However, no one could have predicted of what came next.

On March 31, 1993, at EUE Screen Gems Studios in Wilmington, North Carolina, Brandon Lee suffered an accidental gunshot wound on the set of the film. He was taken to New Hanover Regional Medical Center in Wilmington, where he died about 12 hours later, at 1:04 p.m. There were only eight days left of shooting to be completed. Sofia Shinas, who had witnessed the accident, did not want to continue and went home to Los Angeles. The rest of the cast stayed to finish the film. Michael Massee was so upset over his involvement in the death of Lee that he stopped acting for an entire year. He has never seen the film to this day.

Linda Lee Cadwell, the widow of Bruce Lee and mother of Brandon Lee, filed a negligence case against producer Edward R. Pressman, actor Michael Massee and 12 other defendants over the death of her son on-set. She settled out of court to the tune of $3 million. The footage of his death was subsequently developed and used as evidence in the investigation into his death. As part of the lawsuit settlement, the footage was later destroyed.

The film was released by Mirmax Films on May 11, 1994. it opened at #1 with $11,774,332 in its opening weekend. The film went on to gross $50,693,129 in the states and then $94,000,000 worldwide. THE CROW would be remembered as Brandon Lee's greatest role as well as his last performance.

This was a fun night and a great intro to the new season of the Cult Movie Series. Now like I said, the Camera 3 will be showing one cult classic film every month from now till November. Next month we'll be screening the children's adventure classic THE GOONIES so make plans to attend that screening! To view their upcoming schedule, visit the Camera Cinemas website at www.cameracinemas.com.

Thanks for reading, and enjoy the show!