Hellboy: The Crooked Man review – A further fall from grace

2024 has gifted the world some excellent films, like rousing all-round-satisfying blockbuster Dune: Part Two. That said, the year has also produced some real stinkers, misguided and supremely underwhelming efforts like Borderlands, The Crow remake, and, most recently, Joker: Folie à Deux. Sadly, joining the latter group is comic adaptation Hellboy: The Crooked Man.

For the record, Hellboy: The Crooked Man is the fourth live-action film to be based on Mike Mignola and Dark Horse’s popular comic series – a moody-looking mix of supernatural action, horror, police procedural and pulp sensibilities. It’s also the second film franchise reboot, following 2019’s disastrous attempted revival (and Razzie Award nominee) starring David Harbour and Milla Jovovich. This, of course, followed Guillermo del Toro’s well-received duology, sporting Ron Perlman in the title role and all the production design bells and whistles that come with A-tier financing.

At some point, though, the Hellboy film series has evidently fallen from grace, and despite clearly having its heart in the right place, Hellboy: The Crooked Man fails to course correct.

To be fair, Hellboy: The Crooked Man starts with real promise. With creator Mignola more involved in the project, co-writing the screenplay, which is in fact based on one of his comic arcs, The Crooked Man feels like a Hellboy comic brought to life. At least to start.

Set in the 1950s, the film’s plot sees Hellboy (Jack Kesy) and researcher Bobbie Jo Song (Adeline Rudolph) stranded in the Appalachian mountains en route back to Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense (BPRD) headquarters. Sensing powerful dark forces at work in this remote area, the pair encounter recent returnee Tom Ferrell (Jefferson White), a man whose adolescent dabblings in witchcraft has left his community at the mercy of The Crooked Man, a soul-stealing servant of the Devil, and his underlings. Committed to eliminating such threats, Hellboy and Bobbie Jo join Tom in facing the evil once and for all.

It’s quickly apparent that Hellboy: The Crooked Man is all-in on the supernatural horror front, setting it apart from its franchise predecessors. At least in its first third, it’s more about unnerving atmosphere than action, which, given the film’s obvious low budget indie nature, is a smart move from Crank and Ghost Rider 2 director Brian Taylor. Early on, The Crooked Man delivers a body transformation scene that can turn stomachs with a visceralness achieved with practical effects. Then there’s the film’s distinctly comic book use of chapter breaks and segues into spell casting explanations.

Meanwhile, continuing the trend of unconventional casting choices for Hellboy himself, Jack Kesy offers a fresh take on “Big Red,” portraying the half-human half-devil as a more serious figure much earlier in his career. Hellboy will unblinkingly go toe-to-toe with occult forces here but he does it with considerably less swagger and quips than predecessor Perlman. Put another way, Kesy’s chain-smoking Hellboy comes with surprising insecurities, which are a key plot point of the film.

Sadly, it’s about an hour in that Hellboy: The Crooked Man loses that very plot, or, rather, sacrifices its distinct identity for a finale that can be found in any bargain bin horror movie. Instead, it becomes overwrought, pairing every single frightening moment with shrieking violins. The film starts to feel very tedious as a result, and it’s only 99 minutes long. Not helping matters is the fact that the accents are often so strong as to be incomprehensible.

By the time the credits roll, chances are you’ll feel grateful that it’s over. Ultimately, Hellboy: The Crooked Man feels like a squandered opportunity, especially given a solid set-up that is forgotten in favour of a payoff that is far less flavoursome and fun.

Hellboy: The Crooked Man debuted in South African cinemas on 27 September. Initially scheduled for a big screen release in the US, the film ultimately went straight to VOD there one week later.