Hellboy Takes On Cabin In The Woods Horror In New Trailer For The Crooked Man

As Marvel Studios was unveiling sneak peaks at mega-budget movies like "Captain America: Brave New World" and "The Fantastic Four: First Steps," a trailer for a very different kind of superhero movie landed at San Diego Comic-Con 2024. "Hellboy: The Crooked Man" is a low-budget take on Big Red, co-written by the character's creator, Mike Mignola, with his fellow "Hellboy" comics writer Christopher Golden and director Brian Taylor. The film introduces Jack Kesy ("Deadpool 2") as a new iteration of Hellboy, who becomes embroiled in a classic cabin in the woods horror story out in the Appalachian Mountains.

When the first teaser trailer for "Hellboy: The Crooked Man" dropped a few weeks ago, reactions were mixed. While some criticized it for looking cheap, others (myself included) were intrigued to see Hellboy dropped squarely into the middle of an all-out horror movie, as opposed to a fantasy action movie with a few horror elements. Horror is a genre where a low budget can actually be part of the charm rather than a drawback. Just look at the granddaddy of cabin-in-the-woods horror: Sam Raimi's "The Evil Dead," which was made for $375,000 and captured some of its most famous shots by having two crew members run around the forest with a camera on a bit of wood.

The new trailer for "Hellboy: The Crooked Man" has its own blend of crudeness and creativity that threatens us to spill over into greatness. Maybe I'm just a sucker for Kesy's one-liner, "Come on snake, let's rattle." Maybe it's the freaky thing that happens with the raccoon. But after this, I'm planting my flag in the Cautiously Optimistic camp.

Jack Kesy is less well-known than Ron Perlman or David Harbour were when they donned the sawed-off horns for their respective Hellboy movies, but that lack of baggage can be a good thing when it comes to carving out a unique character. And while the CGI in "Hellboy: The Crooked Man" looks a bit ropey in places, this is a really excellent make-up and prosthetics job that succeeds at making Hellboy look otherworldly without looking like a Halloween costume. 

Speaking at Comic-Con (via The Hollywood Reporter), Kesy said this is a less "caricature-y" take on the character and that the story itself is "grimy," "dirty," and "dark." Director Brian Taylor revealed that in Kesy's audition for the role, the first thing he did was light up a rolled cigarette and then eat it. That's one way to get a casting director's attention!

Kesy's co-star, Jefferson White, described "The Crooked Man" as a period piece (it's set in the late 1950s) that's very "focused" and "intimate," and leans on the Southern Gothic genre. "Down to its very bones, it feels handmade in the way that the comics do." 

"Hellboy: The Crooked Man" is expected to release later in 2024, but doesn't have an official release date just yet.