HELLBOY: THE CROOKED MAN Trailer Looks Weird (Not in a Good Way)

Mike Mignola’s Hellboy and its myriad spinoffs are up there as my favourite comics of all time. The combo of Gothic, cosmic, and monster horror with a serving to of gallows humor works for me so, a lot. Guillermo del Toro famously made a few Hellboy films with Ron Perlman. Whereas good in their very own GDT approach, neither of them (particularly the second) really felt like a correct adaptation of the supply materials. The 2019 Neil Marshall Hellboy film with David Harbour tailored the supply materials straight, however the film itself was very, very dangerous. Now we get Hellboy: The Crooked Man and…nicely, simply have a look. Then we’ll discuss.

First some context. The Crooked Man was a three-issue arc from Mignola and artist Richard Corben from 2008. It detailed certainly one of Hellboy’s earlier missions for the Bureau of Paranormal Analysis and Protection. In 1958 Appalachia, Hellboy encounters some witches and witch-adjacent folks and finally cross paths with the titular Crooked Man, a hanged battle profiteer from the 18th Century who has returned from Hell to behave because the area’s resident Satan. He’s fairly terrifying, particularly as Corben illustrates him.

Hellboy: The Crooked Man seems to be a really devoted (and small) adaptation of that specific story. On its face it is a good factor. One of many main points with the 2019 film is that it tailored approach, approach, approach too many tales, not least of which The Wild Hunt, the longest and most epic story within the Mignola canon. Specializing in a one-off journey and maximizing the horror is a reasonably good thought.

Nonetheless, simply it, you’ll be able to see the very low finances. You might have seen the film comes our approach from Ketchup Leisure. KETCHUP ENTERTAINMENT. Brian Taylor (of Crank franchise fame) is directing, with himself, Mignola, and Mignola’s Baltimore collaborator Christopher Golden on screenplay duties. Jack Kesy (who very briefly performed Black Tom Cassidy in Deadpool 2) portrays Hellboy and he simply sort of seems unfinished. If Harbour was TOO made up, Kesy seems like an honest newbie cosplay try.

So who is aware of! It might be good. It actually appears centered extra on the precise horror. Which is the correct course to go following the darkish fantasy mishmash of the final film. However I’m not satisfied after this wack first look. I might adore it if in the future any live-action outing correctly snags the tone of the comics. Whether or not Hellboy: The Crooked Man can do this should wait till it comes out later this 12 months.

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. He hosts the weekly popular culture deep-dive podcast Laser Focus. Yow will discover his movie and TV critiques right here. Observe him on Instagram and Letterboxd.