This was the report that Frank the webmaster of The Crow's Loft wrote shortly after The Crow: Salvation test run in Spokane, WA.

Friday September 15, 2000

On Wednesday I was allowed to attend a press screening of The Crow: Salvation with the local media here.

The Crow: Salvation definitely puts the crow right back on track. The Crow: Salvation has an excellent plot filled with twists and turns. The soundtrack and score for this film goes perfectly with this film. The Crow: Salvation is nothing at all like first two, and the mystery angle, instead of the straight on revenge like the first two was a nice change.

This movie doesn't start out like the first two, we meet the the main character before his death. The make up this time was burnt on at the time of his death instead of put on like the first two. As with any crow movie there is funny one-liners, action, explosions, and nudity. No wonder why the movie is rated R. Eric Mabius did an excellent job portraying The Crow. Fred Ward did an excellent job as the main bad guy, he could have been Top Dollar in the first one and it would have been great. Kristen Dunst impressed me, I was surprised she did this well, she did an excellent job of being emotional and confused. For those who never seen any of the crow movies or whatever, should be able to pick on this movie and like it easily. The local media here accepted it well and clapped at the end. Definitely worth seeing and I can't wait to see it again.

At 4 pm we set up the booth for CrowFans.com in front of the ticket office on the third floor of the River Park Square. Eric Mabius showed around 6:30 pm and did an interview the local ABC station KXLY. I also met with Jeff Most and Greg Woertz, producers of The Crow, they were nice and receptive, and I definitely had a nice time talking to them.

Attendance to the film was disappointing. Two reasons for the low attendance was the Spokane County Fair, and the fact that the cheap bastards at MIRAMAX PUT ZERO DOLLARS BEHIND THIS FILM. They bought a little dinky ad in the newspaper, most people found out from web and word of mouth. THERE WAS ZERO TRAILERS ON TV. MIRAMAX sent the film up here to die, so they could make it look like they tried. So to be quite honest don't be surprised if this goes Direct-To-Video. However I encourage all crow fans to start contacting Miramax with letters and phone calls, remember to be polite and explain why you want to see The Crow: Salvation in theatres and how wrong it is for them not to have promoted it in Spokane on TV.

Saturday September 16, 2000

Saturday, we had a few more items for our booth since we got a nice package from TheComicShop and The Crow Fan Club, they sent us Crow bird pins and some O'Barr drawing stickers. We had soundtracks, scores, posters, and autographed James O'Barr lithos courtesy of KOCH Records. We ran a contest for people to enter and win stuff. I also had a few items on display such as The Crow: City of Angels resurrection cola, and The Crow: The Story Behind The Film book. A TV monitor was set up showing The Crow: Stairway To Heaven, and a computer set up displaying CrowFans.com and The Crow's Loft.

Eric Mabius showed up for the autograph signing 15 minutes late, he doesn't know his way around Spokane too well. Not like there is anything in Spokane to get lost about. Eric had to do a quick interview with KAYU the local FOX station. The autograph signing lasted about 90 minutes. I got three movie posters, two scores, two soundtracks, and a few glossy pics signed. Jeff Most and I talked a little bit during the autograph session, the second season for The Crow: Stairway To Heaven is a very strong possibility. At the 10:15 showing Eric introduced himself to the crowd and they clapped for him, there was no Q&A session due to the lack of time, had he done one he wouldn't have gotten out of there probably 12:30, or 1 am.

Some interesting moments at the booth, my friend Joel got mistaken for Eric Mabius three or four times. Amy got mistaken for Bobbie Phillips the female crow (Talon) twice. I got asked for an autograph. One fan tried to have Eric pull his finger, and tried to get to him to go his church. Eric I admire your patience with him.

Special thanks goes out to Eric Mabius for coming up here. Laura his publicist for helping arrange Eric to come here, and to come do an autograph session. Jeff Most and Greg Woertz for being supportive of the booth. Sarah, Joel, Eli, Amy, and Sarah Jo for manning the booth when I was not around, thanks for your help. Thanks to the AMC staff and Craig the marketing director for giving me the chance to set up a booth and help you promote the Spokane screenings.

The Crow: Salvation
A World Premiere

How does Spokane find itself in the position of hosting the world premiere for the third installment in the popular Crow series? In this case, Spokane will be a test market for the film, which may or may not go straight to video. This Friday, The Crow: Salvation opens in an exclusive engagement at the River Park Square AMC Theatres. Not only that, but the film's star Eric Mabius (pictured above) will be in attendance.

The Sarah Lawrence College graduate and veteran of such indie favorites as Welcome To The Dollhouse researched his new role thoroughly.

"The character is an amalgam of mythologies," says Mabius. "The moniker relates to the animal itself in a mythological sense, how it helps these people finish their unfinished business or seek their vengeance."

So what was it like to work on a film connected to both the tragedy that inspired the series --- the death of created James O'Barr's fiancee --- and the accident that claimed the life of Brandon Lee on the set of The Crow?

"Playing someone who comes back to life, this entire story that millions of people have seen, all of this stuff comes from one man's personal tragedy," says Mabius. "That was a beacon to me while working on this film, how something that comes from despair, something like that can provide catharsis."

And as for taking on a mantle originally worn by Lee?

"The director said to me,'You just need to relax.' He reminded me that the action in the first film played to Brandon's strengths. That was his forte," says Mabius. "But this film plays to my strengths, it's much more of a character-driven piece. It's one of the ironies really, that Brandon was just starting to blossom as an actor."

--- Sheri Boggs - The Inlander