The action in Mike Mignola’s original Hellboy comics was typically more about being stylish than being graphic, which Guillermo del Toro’s adaptation leaned on with its fantastical aesthetic, but Neil Marshall’s new Hellboy movie is going to cut the shit and just drape itself in all the gore you’d expect a monster-hunting demon baby to regularly encounter. The movie is going for an R-rating, and Marshall recently told Empire that he’s embracing the freedom that the R-rating grants him by going “more violent and more bloody.” He says he’s not “making it with handcuffs on,” so he can go all out and—in theory—create the ultimate Hellboy movie.
We previously heard that the new Hellboy would be more of a horror film than the previous versions, with Empire even implying that David Harbour’s take on Hellboy himself will lack some of the chumminess that Ron Perlman brought to the role. Violence is great and all, but hopefully Marshall doesn’t miss the fact that Mignola’s Hellboy comics are often pretty silly. After all, arguably the greatest moment in any Hellboy comic is when kid Hellboy eats pancakes for the first time, and there was very little blood in that story.
Anyway, Empire also has a new image of Harbour’s Hellboy, but you’ll have to click that link to see it.
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How did I not know this was directed by Neil Marshall until just now?
Make the ultimate Hellboy… by making it less like the comics, and chase that grim-dark edgelord crowd..God, Hollywood spin-speak is so goddamned stupid. You just made me less interested, asshats.
While I understand your take on the issue, I love Neil Marshall and I know he can throw in some wacky moments. If you’ve seen Dog Soldiers, it’s full of those.
There is a moment in Dog Soldiers that is one of my favorite in any horror movie. A soldier realizes he is trapped in a vehicle with a werewolf and is a goner for sure. His response: he punches it in the faceI am really looking forward to his take on Hellboy
My favorite is the guy whacking the arm through the mail slot with the hammer and yelling, “fuck off fido!”
The Amazing Hell-boy.
The Hellboy comics have many moments of levity and warmth, but on the whole are much grimmer, darker, and more fatalistic than the movies. Hellboy’s not a lovable lug with a schoolboy crush as in the films, he’s a doomed figure facing a tragic fate with bravado, determination and heavy doses of sarcasm. Hellboy, the BPRD and indeed the entire planet suffer horribly before barely eking out a temporary victory over growing forces of evil. The story gets to Walking Dead levels of grimness and gore.
Yes but Mignola’s art helped leaven the grimness with its tremendous stylisation. It’s gothic, not grindhouse.
From the look of Marshall’s resume — Hannibal, Westworld, Game of Thrones, Dog Soldiers — he is as capable of storytelling through tone and visual style as he is with monsters and gore. I’m not worried Marshall will go too grind house.
His work’s not really to my taste so I guess I can only respond to what he’s reported as saying and what I hear is “let’s take a chainsaw to some faces”.
But will it have a gun-wielding chimp?
A chimp with a gun is always the sign of quality!
You must be a big fan – perhaps the only big fan – of the 1986 apesrtavaganza Link.
It goddamn better
Mark my words:Hellboy vs Mary Poppins – Coming Spring of 2021Mark them!
Delete this before Alan Moore reads it
Poppins magic is old magic. Hellboy would be wise not to underestimate Poppins.
This all just sounds so incredibly… banal. Like, “Let’s reduce this unique character into just one of the genres that inspired him and ignore everything else, oh and throw some extra Grimdark in there for good measure just to put the whole entire stamp of mediocrity all over this project.” And chasing the fickle horror crowd is just Bad Idea Jeans all the way down.
hopefully Marshall doesn’t miss the fact that Mignola’s Hellboy comics are often pretty silly.
I think we got enough Hellboy silliness from GDT’s version, but the fact Marshall cast a character actor known for playing everyman schlubs to portray a demon and future lord of hell suggests he understands that there is humor in the role.
Pam-cakes! I liked how the first Hellboy snuck that reference in. It was a cute story.
I will take advantage of the anonymity of the internet to say I AM SO FREAKING EXCITED ABOUT THIS.
I’m trying to get excited about this. I really am.
I know Mignola’s been talking it up in a big way, and I like Marshall’s stuff in general.
But the fact that so much of the sales pitch just keeps coming back to ‘Darker and more violent’ as their baseline leaves me…very cautious.
If you didn’t think GDT’s version was up to snuff, that’s fine, but at least tell me you’ve got more loaded in the chamber than just an R-rating and the gore to go with it. Give me something else to be excited for.