Hellboy: The Crooked Man
Loosely based on the three-issue comic of the same name, Hellboy: The Crooked Man was a critical and box office flop attempting to steer into more horror aspects of the Hellboy comics without the humor or charm of the Guillermo del Toro and Ron Perlman films. The choice allows for the film to go with a lower budget and more of a indie horror movie feel, but ultimately comes off more confused than creepy and more cheap than cost-effective.
In what could just as easily be titled Hellboy: Deliverance, the film drops Hellboy (Jack Kesy) off in the Appalachian Mountains. The movie adds a character in B.P.R.D. researcher Bobbie Jo Song (Adeline Rudolph) and a sequence of the two tracking an evil spider thing that escaped into the backwoods rather than have Hellboy arriving on his own to investigate odd occurrences in the area. Bobbie Jo splits Hellboy's focus at times while also offering another character to wander off into danger as needed.
In the backwater country, the pair run into returning local Tom Ferrell (Jefferson White) who conveniently offers himself as guide and plot summarizer introducing them to witches (Leah McNamara and Hannah Margetson) and a malevolent character known as The Crooked Man (Martin Bassindale) who our heroes will eventually need to confront.
The film is marginally better than the failed 2019 attempted reboot starring David Harbour. Setting events, as in the comic, in 1958 Virginia rather than the present allows the film to explore more of Hellboy's past (as the various comics have done for decades) which, although far from great, is a welcome change. That said, Harbour had a bit more physical size on him where Kesy too often feels like a skinny kid dressing up as Hellboy. And, sadly, both lack Perlman's wit and charm which is desperately needed in this dreary rendition from director Brian Taylor.
Using a script co-written by Hellboy creator Mike Magnolia, adapting his own comic story, Hellboy: The Crooked Man does feel like an adventure from the Hellboy comics. It doesn't, however, feel like a very cinematic or enjoyable one. The basic horror trappings are a mixed bag with the spider at the start of the film being more interesting than any of the locals we meet later. Rudolph feels shoehorned in as Bobbie Jo and ultimately under-utilized and unnecessary to the tale. But more than anything the film isn't much fun which can be laid at the feet of the script, the film's cheap look and effects, and choice of new leading man who seems oddly chosen and ill-prepared for the role.
- Title: Hellboy: The Crooked Man
- IMDb: link
