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Hellboy: The Crooked Man

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This article is about the film adaptation of the comic. For the collection containing the miniseries, see Hellboy: The Crooked Man and Others.

Hellboy: The Crooked Man is a 2024 American superhero horror film, based on the Dark Horse Comics character Hellboy created by Mike Mignola. Produced by Millennium Media, Dark Horse Entertainment, Nu Boyana Film Studios, and Campbell Grobman Films, it is the second reboot of the Hellboy film series and is the fourth live-action entry in the franchise. It is directed by Brian Taylor from a script he wrote with Mignola and Christopher Golden, adapting The Crooked Man limited series written by Mignola. The film stars Jack Kesy as Hellboy, alongside Jefferson White and Adeline Rudolph. Filming began in March 2023, in Bulgaria, and was completed in May.

Hellboy: The Crooked Man
UK theatrical release poster
Directed byBrian Taylor
Screenplay by
Based onHellboy
by Mike Mignola
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyIvan Vatsov
Edited byRyan Denmark
Music bySven Faulconer
Production
companies
Distributed byKetchup Entertainment
Release dates
  • June 20, 2024 (2024-06-20) (Belgium)
  • October 8, 2024 (2024-10-08) (United States)
Running time
99 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$20 million[2]
Box office$1.3 million[3][4]

Hellboy: The Crooked Man was released in Belgium on June 20, 2024, and was released direct-to-VOD in the United States by Ketchup Entertainment on October 8, 2024. The film received mixed reviews from critics and has grossed $1.3 million in international markets.

Premise

Hellboy and Bobbie Jo Song, a rookie Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense agent, are stranded in rural Appalachia following a train crash as they are transporting a shapeshifting spider which escapes.

Seeking to recapture the creature, as well as finding a telephone to call for backup, the pair venture downhill. They soon meet ex-soldier Tom Ferrell, who offers to help them. During their travels, Tom recounts to them of his encounter with Jeremiah Witkins, a thief who was executed for his crimes before becoming a supernatural entity known as "The Crooked Man".

Cast

  • Jack Kesy as Hellboy:
    A powerful yet gentle-natured and heroic demon raised by humans, who works for the government organization Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense (B.P.R.D.). He is frequently dispatched to handle missions or assignments involving paranormal entities and phenomenon.[5]
  • Martin Bassindale as Jeremiah Witkins / The Crooked Man, a supernatural entity haunting the Appalachian Mountains.
  • Jefferson White as Tom Ferrell, an ex-soldier who encountered The Crooked Man during his childhood.[6]
  • Adeline Rudolph as Bobbie Jo Song, a rookie B.P.R.D. agent and Hellboy's partner. Song is an original character not seen in the comics.[6]
  • Joseph Marcell as Reverend Nathaniel Armstrong Watts, a religious pastor.
  • Leah McNamara as Effie Kolb, an acolyte of The Crooked Man.
  • Hannah Margetson as Cora Fisher

Production

In February 2023, Millennium Media announced plans for a new live-action reboot titled Hellboy: The Crooked Man, the first in a potential series of films. Production was scheduled to begin in April 2023 in Bulgaria with Brian Taylor directing from a script by comics creator Mike Mignola and frequent collaborator Christopher Golden, based on the 2008 comic miniseries of the same name. The film is to be co-produced between Nu Boyana Film Studios and Campbell Grobman Films and is presented by Millennium Media in association with Dark Horse Entertainment.[7]

Taylor expressed his intentions to "reset" the film series and depict a younger and wandering version of Hellboy with a folk horror influence similar to the comics; Taylor also confirmed that the film would be R-rated in order to embrace the "dark and scary and violent and adult" elements of the comics.[8] The following month, Jack Kesy was announced to portray Hellboy,[5] and Jefferson White and Adeline Rudolph were cast as Tom Ferrell and Bobbie Jo Song.[6] In September, Ketchup Entertainment announced that it would distribute the film, as well as Joseph Marcell, Leah McNamara, Hannah Margetson, and Martin Bassindale were cast in undisclosed roles.[9]

Principal photography began in March 2023, in Bulgaria,[7] and wrapped on May 15.[10] In February 2024, Millennium Media president Jonathan Yunger stated that, after a practical special effect for a film's demon character proved disappointing, he used generative artificial intelligence to make numerous replacement creature designs, which were passed on to visual effects. A Motion Picture Association article reported that this occurred on the film Hellboy: The Crooked Man;[11] however, in May 2024, the film's director Brian Taylor said that Yunger had been misquoted, and had been referring to the earlier film The Offering.[12]

Taylor said that for Hellboy: The Crooked Man, no AI tools were used in pre-production or elsewhere, and that the characters of both Hellboy and the Crooked Man were created and shot practically, with no CGI enhancements.[13][14]

Release

Hellboy: The Crooked Man had a limited theatrical release in international markets, beginning in Belgium on June 20, 2024,[4] and the United Kingdom on September 27.[15] It was released direct-to-VOD in the United States by Ketchup Entertainment on October 8, 2024.[2][9]

Reception

Box office

Hellboy: The Crooked Man has grossed $1.3 million from international markets.[3][4]

Critical response

The film received mixed reviews from critics.[16] On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 43% of 23 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 4.8/10.[17] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 42 out of 100, based on 4 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[18]

Joel Harley of Starburst gave the film a positive review, stating "what The Crooked Man lacks in blockbuster bombast, this ambitious comic book adaptation makes up for with gothic chills and bloody action straight out of an Evil Dead film."[19] Jamie Graham of GamesRadar+ gave the film 3 stars out of 5, writing "The Crooked Man is at its best in a flavoursome first half that serves up crepuscular, shallow-focus photography and backwoods dialect as tangy and prickly as wild gooseberries. But as it wears on, the film descends into a couple of extended set-piece battles. Some sore-thumb CGI amid largely practical effects, and the odd gimmicky edit, are further impediments."[20]

References

  1. ^ "Hellboy: The Crooked Man (15)". British Board of Film Classification. August 22, 2024. Retrieved August 23, 2024.
  2. ^ a b Lammers, Tim (October 7, 2024). "'Hellboy: The Crooked Man' Debuts On Digital Streaming This Week". Forbes. Retrieved October 7, 2024.
  3. ^ a b "Hellboy: The Crooked Man (2024)". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved October 4, 2024.
  4. ^ a b c "Hellboy: The Crooked Man (2024)". The Numbers. Nash Information Services, LLC. Retrieved October 3, 2024.
  5. ^ a b Wiseman, Andreas (March 2, 2023). "'Deadpool 2' Star Jack Kesy Cast As Hellboy In Reboot 'The Crooked Man'". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on March 2, 2023. Retrieved March 2, 2023.
  6. ^ a b c Wiseman, Andreas (March 3, 2023). "'Hellboy' Reboot 'The Crooked Man' Adds 'Yellowstone' Star Jefferson White & 'Resident Evil's Adeline Rudolph". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on March 3, 2023. Retrieved March 3, 2023.
  7. ^ a b Wiseman, Andreas (February 18, 2023). "'Hellboy: The Crooked Man' Plot & Production Details Revealed By Millennium; Reboot To Be A "Departure" & First In New Series — EFM". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on February 18, 2023. Retrieved February 18, 2023.
  8. ^ O'Rourke, Ryan (February 20, 2023). "'Hellboy: The Crooked Man' Will Be an R-Rated Folk Horror Movie [Exclusive]". Collider. Archived from the original on March 2, 2023. Retrieved March 3, 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  9. ^ a b Kroll, Justin (September 11, 2023). "Ketchup Entertainment Lands Rights To New 'Hellboy' Reboot 'The Crooked Man' Starring Jack Kesy". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on September 11, 2023. Retrieved September 11, 2023.
  10. ^ Barnhardt, Adam (May 15, 2023). "New Hellboy Reboot Wraps Filming". ComicBook.com. Archived from the original on May 15, 2023. Retrieved May 15, 2023.
  11. ^ Edelbaum, Susannah (March 1, 2024). "Lights, Camera, Action (Plan): A Focus on the Filmmakers of Tomorrow at Berlinale". Motion Picture Association. Archived from the original on March 3, 2024. Retrieved May 1, 2024.
  12. ^ Taylor, Brian [@theunrealBT] (May 1, 2024). "he was misquoted, my man. the comment was referring to a different film, THE OFFERING. rest assured there is zero AI used on HBTCM and our gloriously practical hellboy looks phenomenal. probably the article was written by AI..." (Tweet). Retrieved May 1, 2024 – via Twitter.
  13. ^ Taylor, Brian [@theunrealBT] (May 1, 2024). "to be clear: there is exactly *ZERO* AI used on hellboy: the crooked man. both characters - hellboy and the crooked man - were created and shot 100% gloriously practical, as the movie gods intended, with no cgi enhancement... and look AMAZING" (Tweet). Archived from the original on May 1, 2024. Retrieved May 1, 2024 – via Twitter.
  14. ^ Taylor, Brian [@theunrealBT] (May 1, 2024). "to everyone still on this: no, there was ZERO AI used in preproduction either. not a fan. all concept art/character design for HBTCM courtesy the incredible source material of @artofmmignola and the late great richard corben" (Tweet). Archived from the original on May 1, 2024. Retrieved May 1, 2024 – via Twitter.
  15. ^ Cavanaugh, Patrick (August 28, 2024). "New Hellboy: The Crooked Man Poster Released". Comicbook.com. Archived from the original on August 28, 2024. Retrieved August 28, 2024.
  16. ^ Wilding, Josh (September 12, 2024). "Hellboy: The Crooked Man First Reviews Are A Mixed Bag But Probably Not What You Were Expecting". Comic Book Movie. Retrieved September 17, 2024.
  17. ^ "Hellboy: The Crooked Man (2024)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved October 10, 2024.
  18. ^ "Hellboy: The Crooked Man". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved October 10, 2024.
  19. ^ Harley, Joel (September 12, 2024). "Hellboy: The Crooked Man". Starburst. Archived from the original on September 14, 2024. Retrieved September 15, 2024.
  20. ^ Graham, Jamie (September 12, 2024). "Hellboy: The Crooked Man review – "The closest big-screen version yet to the comics"". GamesRadar+. Retrieved September 16, 2024.
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