The Crow: Stairway to Heaven

A year after being murdered by a gang, Eric Draven comes back from the grave. He can't figure out if he's alive, or dead, and doesn't know why he has returned. Meanwhile, he is haunted by the memories of his murdered fiance, Shelly.

Draven finds the man who ordered his and Shelly's murders, but as he uncovers the truth is he strong enough to battle an evil that seems to have the same supernatural powers he possesses as The Crow? Draven's battle with the gang of contract killers has left his old club, The Blackout, in shambles. The badly beaten gang boss and club manager is in the hospital under psychiatric care, babbling incoherently about the dead returning from the grave. The rest of his gang is also under arrest but Draven is no closer to knowing who ordered his death. While at The Blackout, Draven hears the song he sang for Shelly on the night they died being played by his old band. Although never written down, the song is now owned by the band's new recording company, Reyes International, which also has an interest in the club. Draven thinks this is the key to the murders, and while at the company's corporate offices he runs into the head of the recording company, Mace Reyes, who appears to be an invalid, and

In the Land of the Dead, Shelly meets a young woman, Elise Franklin (Ingrid Kavelaars), whose fiance has been framed for her murder. Draven, meanwhile is about to be evicted from the loft he and Shelly shared when she communicates the injustice to him. The loft is obviously a link-point between their two worlds and must be saved at all costs. Detective Albrecht, who has formed an uneasy alliance with Draven, advises him to ""get a life and pay the rent,"" so when India Reyes (Julie Dreyfus) offers him a job at the Blackout Club, he agrees. Draven sets out to find justice for Gil Hedges (Peter Fleming) and expose the real murderer, the dead woman's father, John T. Franklin (Donnelly Rhodes). After Draven establishes Hedges' innocence, Elise is freed to move on to the Light and asks Shelly to join her. Shelly, however, isn't ready to leave -- she is waiting for Draven.

Detective Albrecht investigates a series of violent home invasions that look more like parties than robberies. He asks Draven to keep his ears peeled at the Blackout for any talk that could lead to a clue. Sarah turns out to hold the real key, however, through her friend, Kyle Barber. Kyle is deeply involved with a nihilistic cult of disenfranchised kids who are being manipulated by a charismatic, sociopathic leader, Shane Gant (J.R. Bourne). He uses the coming Millennium as a powerful control mechanism, urging his followers to believe in nothing but himself. Draven, a man who also has good reason to believe in nothing, is forced to put aside his own alienation. By exposing the leader, he manages to set free the followers, giving them hope in their otherwise hopeless lives.

A day at the carnival with Sarah brings Draven closer to Shelly when he meets a teenage trance-medium who may be unwittingly involved in murder. A day at the Carnival brings back painful memories for Draven of one of his first dates with Shelley. At the fair, he and Sarah stumble across a young trance-medium whose handlers claim he can channel dead spirits. Jesse (Brendan Fletcher), a sad, exploited teenager, actually has the powers he claims. He connects with Shelly who has a message for Draven -- that he must continue to ""set things right"" as a way of finally clearing the slate to allow the two of them to be together. Draven thinks he has found the means of reaching Shelly always, but the contact is short lived. Jesse is being exploited by his handler Doc (Gerard Plunkett), who uses him as a meal ticket to identify ""marks"" in the audience for robberies. When one of those robberies results in murder, Detective Albrecht turns his attention to Jesse, who seems to have predicted the kill

A released prisoner, hell bent on vengeance, captures his nemesis Detective Albrecht, not realizing he has also kidnapped The Crow. For seven long years Drew Kessler (Christopher Syher), a killer without a conscience, has been a model prisoner. Privately, however, Kessler has been creating a fully detailed revenge fantasy against the man who pursued him relentlessly and put him behind bars -- Daryl Albrecht. Based on a controversial plea-bargain for manslaughter, Kessler is released for good behavior. He immediately puts his vivid nightmare into effect, taking Albrecht to an abandoned industrial island, where the hunter will now become the hunted. The one thing he has not bargained for is that Eric Draven has followed them there and is willing to put what little life he has on the line for Albrecht.

Draven is furious when he discovers that a young woman has assumed Shelly's identity. He tracks her down but during their confrontation realizes that she has taken the alias to escape from the Mob, which has already killed her husband. Draven's intervention unwittingly exposes her to her pursuers, forcing him to save her from becoming their latest victim. Along the way, both Draven and the woman, Antonia Scanlin, are able to find that rare friend of the opposite sex who can understand how deeply in love they were with their dead partners. Draven cannot yet move on to re-unite with Shelly, but he can help Antonia to her heart's desire.

Top Dollar, aka Jason Danko (John Pypher-Ferguson), has an evil plan -- to die at the hands of The Crow and gain evil immortality. He breaks out of the prison asylum, killing a guard in the process, and sets out to goad Draven into a deadly confrontation. Meanwhile, Draven meets The Skull Cowboy (Kadeem Hardison) who has come to help him through the portal into the Land of the Dead and the longed for reunion with Shelly. As the cat-and-mouse game between Draven and Top Dollar intensifies, Sarah, Darla and India are drawn into danger. Despite Skull Cowboy's intervention and repeated warnings to Draven not to give way to Top Dollar's pressure, Draven loses his self-control after one of his few friends is murdered. Top Dollar and The Crow then face off in a climactic battle, but the stakes are high: Eric Draven could forever lose his opportunity to reconnect with Shelly, and The Crow could unleash an evil force as deadly as himself.

The loft portal has vanished and despite his frantic efforts, Eric Draven can't connect with Shelly. Desperate to help him snap out of his profound depression, Sarah suggests he go to a psychiatrist for hypnosis. Under Dr. John Dorsett's (Don Most) care, Draven regresses into a former traumatic life, as a Native American called Blackfeather. Draven's alter ego had just as troubled a past as the present incarnation. Although he found his soulmate in a missionary's daughter who defied the wishes of her controlling, bigoted father to be with him, Blackfeather was murdered. He then returned to rescue Rebecca Morgan (who bears an uncanny resemblance to Shelly Webster) from the men who killed him and then threatened her. To Sarah, sitting in on the session, it seems like Draven is out of his mind; however, a Native American Masters' student, Jane Cogo, confirms that the dialect Draven is speaking is genuine. Draven can't come out of hypnosis, however, and Blackfeather seems stuck in the now

Still trying to reconnect with Shelly, Draven visits her gravesite only to stumble upon the ghost of a young boy who (apparently) only he can see. The six-year old ghost, Casey Thompson (Jared Zabel) is lonely, and worried about his stunt motorcyclist father, Jake Thompson (John Hawkes), whom he believes will die soon. Jake, ""the World's Greatest Daredevil"" plans to jump 300 feet, over 30 cars, as part of a pay-for-view television event set up by shady promoter Royal Boyd (Jason Shombing). When contacted by Draven, Jake refuses to believe that his son is desperately trying to send him a message. When Jake's stunt mechanic dies in a freak bike explosion, Draven feels compelled to intervene, despite the fact that Detective Albrecht and his uncomfortably inquisitive new partner Jessica Capshaw (Christina Cox) have been assigned the case. Draven finally persuades Jake to let him do the jump instead, since he cannot die, and they exchange talismans, but things go wrong when Draven is kidnap

Desperate to open the loft portal and re-connect with Shelly, Draven dabbles in magic, unleashing a terrible force that even he may be incapable of overcoming. Desperately lonely, Draven attempts to re-open the loft portal door using ancient incantations. He believes he is successful when the door energizes. However, what emerges is not his beloved Shelly but the beast-like, evil force of executed serial killer Richard Lee Wilbanks (Lawrence S. Smilgys) who has been waiting for an opportunity to return and wreak vengeance on everyone who saw him die. He easily overpowers Draven, who loses his regenerative powers in the devastating fight. When several of those who were present at Wilbanks' execution are violently kidnapped, Detective Albrecht and his new partner, Capshaw, are assigned to the case. Draven confesses to Albrecht that it was he who unleashed this terrible force and when Cordelia, who was an Assistant D.A. at Wilbanks' trial, is also kidnapped, the rift between the two men s

Shea's abusive mobster husband turns up and Draven tries to help her but in doing so exposes himself to the Police Internal Affairs Department who are already investigating Albrecht. Strange tales have been coming out of Port Columbia's criminal underbelly and Lieutenant Morgan Fine (Tim Kelleher) from Internal Affairs is sent in to investigate. He is suspicious of Albrecht's secretive work habits, mysterious sources, and sudden rise in arrest success rates, so he leans on Jessica to determine if her partner is a dirty cop. Meanwhile, the Blackout is running smoothly with Shea (Gaetana Korbin) as the new manager but when her mobster husband, Frank Moran (Kavan Smith), turns up, having bought the place, it is obvious that he is determined to get his wife back, by force if necessary. Draven turns to Albrecht for background on Moran and when he learns that the man is corrupt and ruthless with judges and cops on his payroll, he realizes the only way to protect Shea is to put Moran behind b

Eric has hit rock bottom. After four months caged in jail he is finally on trial for the murder of Shelly but is helpless to defend himself against the charges. His court-appointed lawyer, James Pearl (Jaimz Woolvett), won't believe the truth and is only sticking with the case because he believes it will jumpstart his career. Sarah is desperate to help but her mother refuses to let her take the stand. Even when Darla does relent, Sarah's testimony, far from helping, further damns Eric. Albrecht has his own problems. He is still under suspension, Cordelia has moved out and won't even speak with him and his ambivalence about what really is the truth makes it hard for him to defend Eric on the stand. As the evidence mounts, Eric is painted as a jealous lover who had his girlfriend brutally murdered then staged his own death. When Funboy takes the stand, claiming that Draven hired him then tried to blackmail him for the murder, Eric can't stand the lies and lunges for the thug, further dam