It's astonishing just how good Hellboy: The Crooked Man turned out to be given its almost non-existent marketing campaign and incredibly tight budget. I’ll be honest, I was fully expecting a disaster going into it, but I was so pleasantly surprised by it! In fact, for a while there, I thought it might become my favorite Hellboy film to date. The opening half is an intimate, atmospheric, slow-burn of a horror movie, and I was hooked immediately. Unfortunately, while the film starts strong, it loses some steam in the second half before ultimately managing to win me back in the end.

Let’s get the negatives out of the way first. After such a moody and personal start, the back half slips into familiar comic book movie territory with over-the-top, overly-long action sequences. Now, there’s nothing inherently wrong with that - I enjoy a good fight scene as much as anybody else! - but here, the action felt a bit excessive, and with the constraints of a small budget, the bad CGI really sticks out like a sore thumb. Indeed, some of the visual effects were downright distracting and laughably bad, which pulled me out of the story at times despite how good all of the practical effects and makeup jobs were. In addition, the transitions between scenes were often clunky, and those unnecessary “chapter cards” made me question why they were even included; they were a stylistic choice that just didn't work.

All of that said, there’s a lot to love here. First and foremost, as I mentioned above, this is a horror film, and it really leans into that aspect beautifully. The Appalachian Mountains setting is pitch-perfect for the eerie, gothic tone that director Brian Taylor works so hard to cultivate. This world feels dark and lived-in, filled with old witch lore that's appropriately creepy and fascinating. I'm thrilled that they didn't shy away from the darker, more supernatural elements of the Hellboy lore as it's really what makes it such a distinct property! Luckily, the mood established here is appropriately oppressive in the best possible way, and the decision to set the story in the 1950s, rather than the present day, gives the film an extra layer of authenticity and charm. It feels like a story ripped from another era, in all the right ways. Even though I’ve never read Mike Mignola’s original comic that this film is based on, The Crooked Man has made me want to pick it up and see how closely it follows the source material. If the film is anything to go by, I imagine the story is one of the more unique and creepy arcs in Hellboy's canon. 

Then, there’s Jack Kesy as Hellboy himself. Honestly, he nails it. We’ve had three different actors portray the character now—Ron Perlman, David Harbour, and Kesy—and not one of them has dropped the ball. Kesy brings his own flavor to the role while still maintaining that iconic Hellboy feel. His performance is gruff, witty, and tough, just as it should be, and by the end, I found myself fully buying into him as "Big Red". The rest of the cast is solid too, with Adeline Rudolph and Jefferson White turning in particularly strong performances that ground the more fantastical elements of the story.

At the end of the day, Hellboy: The Crooked Man may not quite reach the heights of Guillermo del Toro’s two entries in the series (and yes, I’m still holding out hope we get a third film and final film in that planned trilogy someday), but it’s certainly on par with Neil Marshall’s 2019 reboot, if not better in many respects. It’s a damn shame this movie was relegated to streaming in the United States and didn't get a wide release internationally, for despite its small budget, it won't turn a profit and thus will never get a sequel, which it absolutely deserves. Nevertheless, I highly recommend you check this out if you're a fan of the character, comic book films, or gothic horror. Like me, you might just find yourself pleasantly surprised by how good it actually is.