40/40
Dark as the devil’s ass
Narrative
Hellboy and a rookie B.P.R.D. agent in the 1950s are sent to Appalachia, where they discover a remote community dominated by witches and led by the sinister local demon, the Crooked Man. It is said to have a budget of $20 million, the smallest of all four adaptations. Reverend Watts: It’s dark down there.
Hellboy felt right at home in Del Toro’s hands, which spawned a second film, The Golden Army , in 2008
Referenced in Friday Night Tights: Little Mermaid, The Flash, RoP attacking fans, Indy Spoilers – FNT 251 with Paul Chato (2023). Knees Shakin Written by Don Alexander Performed by Don Terry Courtesy of Resnik Music Group By arrangement with Mutiny Recordings. Our introduction to Hellboy, and arguably most of the general public, was the 2004 film directed by Guillermo Del Toro, which gave the comic book franchise its push into the mainstream. While both were well-received and modest box office successes, a third Hellboy film with Ron Pearlman (as Hellboy) and Del Toro never came to fruition — instead, a reboot was released in 2019 starring David Harbor as the titular half-demon hero.
The reboot eventually bombed at the box office and was met with generally negative reviews, leaving the franchise dormant
To be fair, despite a fine performance from Harbour, we weren’t fans of the action-packed and gratuitously violent reboot — mostly due to the comparative superiority of Del Toro’s first two versions, which also handled Hellboy and his ilk beautifully, with themes of otherness and self-acceptance proving more appealing than doubling down on the action and gore. Now, 5 years later, in its fourth live-action iteration, this Hellboy film is, first and foremost, the only one with Mike Mignola, the creator himself, having direct writing credits for the screenplay. It is also the most faithful adaptation of the chosen source material, “The Crooked Man.” It also has the smallest budget of all the live-action films and the shortest running time, at just 1 hour and 36 minutes. As a Hellboy fan, this was a very enjoyable watch, especially its stripped-down, claustrophobic feel that stands out against a plethora of brilliant, explosive blockbusters – these included the previous three Hellboy films.
We appreciated the rest of the film’s focus on practical effects
However, with an understandably smaller budget, the creature special effects could use a bit more polish. Jack Kesy, who plays Hellboy, at least for this variant and theme, really embodies the character well. The rest is portrayed as it is in the comics, and that mostly comes down to how people like the source material – which is great for us, but may leave a lot to be desired for the general viewer. Perhaps if this were the first Hellboy film, then perhaps there would be some room for more praise and less negative comparisons to, ultimately, still Del Toro’s best films.
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We would argue, however, that it stands above the overall experience of the 2019 reboot, and stands alone as a slow-burn horror piece where you can feel less scared knowing you have “Anung Un Rama, Son of the Fallen” on your side . The final season of “What We Do in the Shadows” is one of the biggest TV and streaming premieres of this month.