As we have entered “spooky season”, I find myself once again looking for chilling stories (but nothing too scary for us chickens). Because I’ve always been a fan, I find myself turning to the latest Hellboy movie. The gruff, bruiser, quasi-anti-heroes are great characters to use as protagonists for exciting, action-fantasy stories (see also Marvel’s Wolverine). I particularly loved the second Hellboy movie, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, but have been a bit disappointed with other attempts to adapt the graphic novel franchise to film. Along comes The Crooked Man, and I see that it’s more of a traditional horror film, with the classic hellish tropes like witches, devils and zombies, rather than the more Lovecraftian eldritch monsters and otherworldly creatures found in other Hellboy stories — perfect for the season. Unfortunately, the movie is hard to find (turns out, it never showed up in North American cinemas, instead going straight to streaming, which can’t be a good sign, right?) I enjoyed it, and was not really scared (to me that’s good, but maybe for a horror movie that’s actually not so good), but I doubt I would have felt satisfied if I’d paid full price (rather than rental pricing) to watch it.

I read the graphic novel on which this film was based, right before watching the movie as well. Knowing what was to come may have taken some of the scare away, but that suits me just fine. For better or worse, this is a pretty faithful adaptation. Set in the 1950s, Hellboy (a cigar-smoking, gun-toting, bright-red half-demon working for an agency that manages supernatural/paranormal threats) and his partner, a newbie field agent named Bobby Jo, are transporting a demonic spider across the US when they end up stopping in Appalachia to chase said spider once it escapes. (This premise, and even Agent Bobby Jo herself, are additions made by the film.) Once they stumble upon a tiny backwoods village (and even calling it that’s being generous), they are pulled into an incident involving a witch, a man returning home after being away for decades, and a malevolent local devil known as The Crooked Man. The story is classic American horror story, with its struggle of Christian folklore versus the dark, soul-taking forces of backwoods witchcraft and deviltry. Story was predictably by-the-numbers, and they even tried to add some (again, not in the book) sub-story of Hellboy trying to save his own mother’s soul to make it feel less so.

One of the big complaints everyone has about this film is that it feels cheap. Some compare it to a fan flick. I agree that is fair criticism. It does feel pretty cheap (especially compared to past big budget Hellboy adaptations). There are very few actual sets (and the ones they have are all dingy, dimly-lit old buildings), and very few special effects (with what we get being run-of-the-mill and unconvincing). However, the story is much more modest than other Hellboy stories, so maybe it doesn’t really require as much cinematic flash. It did a pretty good job of capturing that muddy, bone-chilling and damp feeling that often comes with these kinds of stories. But if you’re going for that aesthetic, you’d be much better off watching the super-creepy 2015 film, Witch, featuring a new-to-cinemas Anya Taylor-Joy. (Personally, I never want to watch Witch again it’s so atmospheric!) Another issue is that the camera work is too prone to moving around and being either too close, or shooting at odd angles — seemingly to hide low production values. This bothered me a bit more as an indication of bad direction and cinematography. Plus, it was disorienting and didn’t help me to feel very immersed in the movie. The overall feel of the movie was of a big-budget action-horror slumming it in the indie film milieu (minus the art house aesthetic) without quite reaching the campiness-level of a B-movie.

I don’t have much to say about the acting in this movie either, as the scenes didn’t seem to require much subtlety or strong performance. I did like one of the protagonist characters, Tom Ferrell, played by Jefferson White (who I’d never seen before). He seemed to embody that weariness and earnestness of a character who may have sold his soul to the devil but is now willing to pay it back to save others from said devil. The Hellboy actor (Jack Kesy) is new to the franchise as well, but though he looked familiar (sans makeup), even after looking him up in IMDB, I’m not sure where I recognize him from. He didn’t really need to do much acting (nor much action) to play Hellboy this time round, so I guess he gets a passing grade.

In the end, I didn’t love the movie, nor did I hate it (as many Hellboy fans seem to do). However, I don’t know what this movie says about the future of the franchise. I think it was probably a “bonus”, since the David Harbour reboot a few years ago didn’t seem to do much to keep things going well (I blame Hellboy’s ridiculous hair in that movie). I don’t think anyone expected another instalment and then all of the sudden here one is! Sadly it is no Spider-verse movie to surprise us by taking the franchise into fresh new directions, either. If you’ve got nothing better to watch, and you like some mild creepiness for the season, by all means check this movie out. Otherwise, this is likely the last, sadly-skippable, fading breath of the Hellboy franchise. (3 out of 5)