Hellboy: The Crooked Man is a 2024 fantasy horror film in which the titular character has to face off against a rural devil.
Directed by Brian Taylor (Mom and Dad; Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance; Gamer; Crank: High Voltage; Crank) from a screenplay co-written with Christopher Golden and Mike Mignola based on the latter’s Dark Horse comic book. Produced by Jeffrey Greenstein, Yariv Lerner, Mike Richardson, Sam Schulte, Robert Van Norden, Les Weldon and Jonathan Yunger.
The Campbell Grobman Films-Dark Horse Comics-Dark Horse Entertainment-Millennium Media-Nu Boyana-Telepool co-production stars Jack Kesy, Jefferson White, Leah McNamara, Joseph Marcell, Adeline Rudolph, Nathan Cooper, Hannah Margetson, Martin Bassindale and Carola Colombo.
Plot:
In the 1950s, amidst the shadowy, mist-covered mountains of rural Appalachia, Hellboy and a rookie BPRD agent find themselves stranded in an isolated community teetering on the edge of despair. This seemingly forgotten village is plagued by witches, their malevolent presence casting a sinister pall over the residents. At the heart of this dark dominion is The Crooked Man, a local devil whose eerie and sinister influence holds the community in a grip of terror. As Hellboy delves deeper into this nightmarish realm, he uncovers a chilling and deeply personal connection to The Crooked Man, a link that reaches back into the darkest corners of his past…
Reviews:
“Hellboy: The Crooked Man misses its mark and its periodic successes aren’t enough to justify this disappointing experience. Seasoned Hellboy fans will feel robbed of a substantial story and curious genre fans will be left wondering what they just watched. There’s not enough going on here beyond a few exciting scenes and committed performances to elevate this above any other modern folk horror film.” ★★½ Bloody Disgusting
“Action isn’t big here, with most of the feature laying low, forcing Taylor to cook up scary business with witches and demons, keeping the offering quite dark to hide production limitations. He’s trying to make a haunted house experience with the effort, but Hellboy: The Crooked Man isn’t very active to begin with, missing a sense of threat and especially personality when it comes to the askew heroism of the main character and his scrapes with the unreal.” ★★ Blu-ray.com
“Presumably the reduced budget partly explains the emphasis on cheaply rendered folk-horror elements; there’s lots of wire-work here that puts the women in flowing dresses as they levitate eerily, but the cinematography looks like it was shot on hellaciously cheap cameras. Then again, no amount of budget could make up for the sputtering mess of a script, or the dead-on-the-inside expressions of the cast…” ★★ The Guardian
“Story-wise, a delve into Hellboy’s dark inception provides so unexpected and angst-ridden backstory that adds another shade of red to the classic character. And although the romantic subplot feels played out Kesy and Rudolph have a decent chemistry. Although not the best Hellboy movie, The Crooked Man is far from the worst and the decision to amp up the horror and turn down the hero is a wise one.” ★★★ Love Horror
Teaser trailer:
Full trailer:
Release date:
October 8, 2024
Cast and characters:
Jack Kesy … Hellboy; Jefferson White … Tom Ferrell; Leah McNamara … Effie Kolb; Joseph Marcell … Reverend Watts; Adeline Rudolph … Bobbie Jo Song; Nathan Cooper … Farmhand; Hannah Margetson … Cora Fisher; Martin Bassindale … The Crooked Man; Carola Colombo … Sarah
Country of origin:
USA
Filming locations:
Bulgaria
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