The film industry hasn’t been that kind to Hellboy as of late. Things started out well when Mike Mignola‘s titular paranormal investigator made the jump from page to screen in Guillermo del Toro‘s sublime 2004 effort, and that success continued with a bigger, better sequel in 2008 (Hellboy II: The Golden Army). Yet despite the success of those two films, the character’s film fortunes have drastically diminished in the years since. Hellboy III was cancelled, the series was rebooted and the end result was the utterly abysmal Hellboy (2019), an absolute mess of a film that even a well-cast David Harbour couldn’t save. You’d think that no greater indignity could be afforded to this once beloved franchise, but then along comes Hellboy: The Crooked Man to prove that there’s a lot more yet to be visited upon Big Red’s big screen career.

To be fair, its intentions are good, even if the execution isn’t. Taking its name and plot from a popular Hellboy limited series, this low-budget, folk horror tinged tale is a lot closer to Mike Mignola‘s original comics then previous adaptations, shirking the big, epic blockbuster feel of both del Toro and Marshall’s efforts and doubling down on the horror at every opportunity. Unfortunately the story itself is bloated and muddled, and ultimately proves to be too unwieldy and over-complicated for what should have simply been ‘Hellboy fights a demon and some witches in the woods’.

Director Brian Taylor is no stranger to adapting demonic comic book heroes for the big screen, having previously helmed 2011’s Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, and to his credit, Taylor leans into the folk horror trappings with gusto, delivering a film that is dark, brooding and full of neat visual flourishes that occasionally liven things up. Unfortunately, the frantic, choppy editing and the noisy, intrusive score only serves to kill the moody atmosphere stone-cold dead here.

It doesn’t help that the cast and characters are so lacklustre either. Jack Kesy mumbles his way through most, if not all, of his dialogue as Hellboy and does very little to embody the character physically, aside from puff on multiple cigarettes or stand around looking stoic. The other cast-members do their best with rather limited, one-note characters, but there’s some very ropey accents and even ropier dialogue here that doesn’t do anyone any favours.

Hellboy: The Crooked Man may not be as bad as 2019’s awful reboot, but it’s not the shot of adrenaline this tortured franchise needed either. Dull and lifeless for the most part, this low-budget adaptation is serviceable enough to perhaps entertain a few die-hard Hellboy fans, but lacks the well-chiseled chops to resurrect the series to the heights it once previously occupied.

Special Features

The disc serves up a large smattering of dry EPK interviews, which feature basic promotional Q&A with cast-members Jack Kesy (8 mins), Adeline Rudolph (7 mins), Hannah Margetson (6 mins), Jefferson White (14 mins), Joseph Marcell (20 mins), Martin Bassindale (13 mins) and Leah McNamara (8 mins), as well as Director Brian Taylor (15 mins), Producer Jonathan Yunger (13 mins) and Production Designer Orlin Grozdanov (7 mins).

There’s also some B-Roll footage (24 mins), which offers a raw behind the scenes insight into the shooting of the movie, including a number of key stunts and effects sequences.

The 4K UHD collector’s edition also throws in a limited edition O-Ring case, poster and art cards for those who like that sort of thing.

Hellboy: The Crooked Man is available to own on 4K UHD, Blu-ray, DVD and Digital from 9 December: https://amzn.to/3B2dUNJ