Once upon a time, Guillermo del Toro, a self-professed fan of the Hellboy comics, meticulously crafted two Hellboy films starring the incomparable Ron Perlman in the titular role. Those movies were a labour of love, blending dark fantasy, quirky humour, and quintessential del Toro visuals. But alas, this week, the Hellboy film storming on Netflix is the worst of the lot.
The franchise took an R-rated nosedive after del Toro’s departure, leaving fans scratching their heads and wondering where it all went wrong. Neil Marshall’s 2019 Hellboy is not deserving of the 17 per cent rating it currently has on Rotten Tomatoes, but it is the black sheep of the franchise for many reasons.
Marshall himself ended up renouncing the film. Speaking on the YouTube channel, The Critical Drinker, Marshall laughed about how Hellboy was “the worst professional experience” of his life. “It was just God awful. It’s not a film that I would consider to be part of my canon,” Marshall went on.
But Marshall did not stop there. “The script was shit. The decision to make the film was a mistake.” He explained he had signed up for it because it was pitched to him as a horror version of Hellboy. Once he came onboard, he realised what a grave mistake he had made, “And then I quickly found out that A: the script was terrible. B: it was never going to get better before we shot it, despite many attempts. You can’t polish a turd, no matter how much you try. And I would have all creative control taken away from me to extreme levels. There’s nothing of me in that movie.”
Neil Marshall has directed two of the best episodes on the HBO show Game of Thrones. The meticulously made and visually awe-inducing ‘Blackwater’ and ‘The Watchers on the Wall’. The second one earned him a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series.
Hellboy is currently storming its way through Netflix’s top ten list of films globally. With 7.5 million views and counting, this cinematic misfire has managed to capture the attention of audiences in as many as ten countries throughout the Americas.
Hellboy cast David Harbour as the titular demon. Joined by the likes of Milla Jovovich, Ian McShane, and Daniel Dae Kim, the film certainly didn’t lack star power. But if the script is nothing more than a cash grab, there is very little the actors can do to salvage the game.
