Fans Don't Seem Impressed With the First Look at Bill Skarsgård in 'The Crow' Remake

Rebooting a beloved pop culture franchise always runs the risk of alienating audiences, and director Rupert Sanders had his work cut out for him when he decided to undertake a remake of The Crow. Despite three unremarkable sequels that followed, the 1994 film was hugely popular at the time, due largely to the sensitive, brooding performance of lead actor Brandon Lee, who was killed by a prop gun as filming neared completion.

In the 2024 film, also based on the comic book series, Bill Skarsgård stars as Eric Draven—or, the titular Crow—a murdered musician who is resurrected to avenge the deaths of himself and his fiancée (FKA Twigs). Whereas Lee's Draven was understated in head-to-toe black with pale, ghostly makeup, Skarsgård's version has, uh, face tattoos, as a first-look from Vanity Fair revealed on Wednesday.

Suffice to say, the comments were less than kind. One user remarked that while they like Skarsgård, the film looks like a hard pass: "He's a 'goth rocker?' Looking like Machine Gun Kelly? NAH. That looks like someone had no idea what a goth rocker would look like."

"They could have set it in the '80s," added another user. "Making Eric Draven a mumblecore TikTok rapper is cringe."

Elsewhere on the internet, the discourse continued to spread like wildfire, with many making unflattering comparisons to Jared Leto's Joker in 2016's widely-panned Suicide Squad.

Another user pointed out that the 1994 original had a very specific aesthetic, and suggested that the look of the reboot could have been improved if "actual goths" had been put to work on the film.

Burt while there was certainly no shortage of negativity, other fans came out of the woodwork to appreciate the original film's star Lee, son of martial artist Bruce Lee; as well as the soundtrack, for that matter.

Pending any 11th hour Sonic the Hedgehog-style tweaks to the character design, The Crow is scheduled to be released in the United States on June 7, 2024; just over 30 years after the original premiered.