Hellboy: The Crooked Man is now available on Digital HD.

It’s safe to say that most Hellboy fans probably had their expectations firmly in check with Hellboy: The Crooked Man. Between the fact that it carries a far lower budget than its predecessors and that it’s skipping a theatrical release and going direct to video-on-demand, it’s easy to assume the worst from the fourth live-action Hellboy movie. That’s what makes this reboot/prequel such a welcome surprise. Despite its undeniably cheap trappings, it’s a surprisingly enjoyable take on a classic comic book storyline.

Directed by Brian Taylor (of Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance fame), The Crooked Man has the distinction of being the most faithful Hellboy movie to date (the two animated films from the mid-’00s aside). It’s a direct adaptation of Mike Mignola and Richard Corben’s 2008 miniseries of the same name, in which Hellboy (Jack Kesy) is drawn into the Appalachian backcountry in search of the titular demonic foe (Martin Bassindale) in 1959 – in fact, Mignola scripted the film alongside his frequent writing partner Christopher Golden and the director. The result is a fairly close translation of the comic, albeit one that embellishes the source material a bit in order to pad out the 99-minute running time and give Hellboy himself a more clearly defined character arc.

For the most part, these changes work to the film’s benefit. The Crooked Man comic is a bit too spartan a tale to make a proper feature, so the added allusions to Hellboy’s origins and dark nature help put some meat on its bones. The same goes for the addition of Bobbie Jo Song (Adeline Rudolph), a new creation of Mignola, Golden, and Taylor’s screenplay. Jo’s tense dynamic with her fellow Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense agent Hellboy is a lot of fun, even if in some ways Rudolph’s appearance and performance feel a bit anachronistic. From the way her hair is styled to her distinctly modern-sounding dialogue, Jo looks and sounds like the product of a more contemporary era. As the saying goes, hers is a face that has definitely seen an iPhone.

Kesy, for his part, delivers exactly what you’d want out of a comics-accurate Hellboy. He’s stoic and brooding, with just enough of a tender side to remind us of the character’s tragic nature. It’s a film that gives Kesy plenty of room to brood, smoke cigarettes, and crack wise, which are all necessary ingredients in a proper Hellboy adaptation. It’s also clear that the majority of the meager budget was spent on his makeup, allowing this Hellboy to hold his own visually alongside the ones played by Ron Perlman and David Harbour.

Leah McNamara’s villainous witch Effie Kolb is another highlight among the cast, with McNamara never wasting an opportunity to chew all the scenery she can get her teeth around. Unfortunately, The Crooked Man himself proves to be a rather bland villain, lacking the creepy, unsettling vibe the comic establishes so well. He mostly looks like a bad imitation of Warwick Davis’ character from the Leprechaun movies.

That speaks to a larger problem:- the budget, or lack thereof. There’s no getting around the fact that Hellboy: The Crooked Man was made on the cheap. The CGI is rudimentary. The cinematography is bland. Its worst sin is in failing to take advantage of the Appalachian setting. There’s both a beauty and an oppressiveness to this area in real life that fails to come across on screen. That could be because The Crooked Man was filmed in Bulgaria, but considering what a film like The Blair Witch Project can achieve with indistinctive forest locations and a shoestring budget, it’s disappointing that The Crooked Man doesn’t mine more horror out of its isolated, dimly lit environments.

Still, it manages to provide a lean, mean supernatural adventure in the vein of the Evil Dead movies. The plot moves briskly along and wraps up before it manages to wear out its welcome. All three lead characters are given small but satisfying arcs. What Hellboy: The Crooked Man lacks in fear factor it mostly makes up for in fun. Frankly, it could have been much, much worse.

Azrael, 2024.

Directed by E.L. Katz.
Starring Samara Weaving, Vic Carmen Sonne, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, Johhan Rosenberg, Eero Milonoff, Sebastian Bull Sarning, Rea Lest, Phong Giang, Katariina Unt, Sonia Roszczuk, Valentin Tzin, Vincent Willestrand, Karen Bengo, Peter Christoffersen, Felix Leech, and Lucie Jan.

SYNOPSIS:

In a world where no one speaks, a devout female-led community hunts down a young woman who has escaped imprisonment. Recaptured, Azrael is due to be sacrificed to an ancient evil in the wilderness, but fights for her own survival.

In a post-apocalyptic world where its remaining scavengers have given up using their voices, Azrael has no dialogue (aside from one miscellaneous stranger offering assistance while speaking a foreign language.) As such, one would be forgiven for not knowing who Azrael even is until the ending credits roll. It could simply be the film’s star, Samara Weaving, or perhaps it is a universal name for the flesh-eating demons running around the woods, or maybe it is the name of the unborn baby demon that a cult seems to be bringing into existence.

To even bother dissecting the plot practically feels like a fool’s errand. Coming from director E.L. Katz and The Guest writer Simon Barrett, it’s also not much of a surprise that Azrael is more concerned with tension, cat-and-mouse games, and violent standoffs bursting with gore and spewing geysers of blood. Samara Weaving’s Azrael (I can answer that question for you) appears to be making the most of this rough existence, smitten with Nathan Stewart-Jarrett’s Kenan, handing over a makeshift keepsake of sentimental, potentially romantic value.

Those relatively happy times are quickly upended as a band of misfit lunatics decide to separate and subdue them, explicitly planning to use Azrael as a sacrifice for the demons. Unsurprisingly, Samara Weaving is making the most of limited material and giving it her all physically, whether constrained and trying to break free, fleeing danger, or fighting back. There are seemingly religious phrases flashed across the screen in an ominous dark red between chapters, with one of them mentioning that suffering leads to endurance, which leads to hope. That’s essentially the arc of the character here.

There is also no denying that the filmmakers have crafted a series of suspenseful sequences that are unafraid to get graphic with throats ripped out, heads decapitated, and blood spraying in every direction. Sometimes, it feels as if the film is overcompensating with gore to make up for little is here narratively, but the practical effects on display are nonetheless gnarly to absorb. Samara Weaving also has an expressive face that sells the character’s evolution from hiding to storming the encampment, guns in hand. She is tasked with doing everything from climbing trees to engaging in brutal hand-to-hand battles, smartly using claustrophobic environments.

The issue here is most likely obvious, but there is nothing to care about or invest in from a character or emotional standpoint. Even the romantic love interest aspect seems like an afterthought. Reveals that there are still people speaking and living a normal life away from this madness go nowhere. Azrael also has a shockingly abrupt ending, struggling to reach the 80-minute mark without credits. Some movies come across as half-formed, and then there are movies like this that have nothing going on and feel made up on the fly, only concerned with moving from one action for a set piece to the next. Samara Weaving is talented, and the filmmakers understand how to convey danger and generate thrills, but they are severely handicapped by an unfortunate gimmicky concept that does no favors for telling an actual story.

Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★

Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd, or email me at MetalGearSolid719@gmail.com

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