Dark cinema claims its inheiritance from the darkness which gave film noir its very name. Drawing heavily on contemporary music and visual arts, dark cinema is the most expressive and metaphorical descendants of noir, frequently trading the veracity of reality for the poetry and mythic impact of the supernatural and morbidly fantastic. The eponymous darkness refers not only to the strong visual emphasis on shadow and night, but to the grim examination these films make of morality and hope. The masked heroes of dark cinema are the villains of more mainstream fare, and how happy an ending is often depends entirely on how twisted you are.

  Arguably the best, or at least most archetypal work of Dark Cinema today is [So and so's] The Crow. Based on the art of comic book writer [ so and so], The Crow is a story of lost love, vengeance, and the perils of morality. It follows the story of Eric Draven, guitarist and fiancee. On the night before they were to be married his intended is brutally raped by a gang of street toughs and he is killed in his attempt to stop them. His love soon dies from injuries received. One year later Eric rises from the dead. Confused, in pain, he eventually realizes that he has been brought back to avenge the death of his love and destruction of his life by killing those responsible. Imbued with the powers of death and watched over bya mysterious crow, Draven goes on to do just that. It's a deliberately dark theme. While many heroes may end up slaying the villain when push comes to shove, or declare they are seeking vengeance only to discover otherwise, this film makes no such concession to our sensibilities. As the Crow, Eric Draven exists solely to kill his murderers. Even more of outsider than his costume would indicate, his undeath prevents Eric from interactng in a 'real' way with the world, caring for friends or getting over the pain. There are also hints of an earlier version of the script, in which The Crow retained his supernatural powers only when pursuing vengeance, and could only be harmed when he attempted to do something selflessly good. [ ] explores this theme with delicious thouroughness, contrastng the darkness of The Crow with the darkness of the world, Eric Draven's discomfort with undeniable relish for his inhumanities, and morality against the primal sense of what we feel to be right.