It’s STACK‘s Friday Flick time, where each week we’ll recommend a slice of classic movie viewing that’s sure to get your weekend off to a great start. This week, it’s Hellboy.
Conjured during a Nazi experiment to unleash “the Seven Gods of Chaos” upon the world, Hellboy (Ron Perlman) is adopted by a kindly FBI paranormal researcher (John Hurt) and joins fishman Abe Sapien (Doug Jones) and firestarter Liz Sherman (Selma Blair) in the fight against a resurrected Rasputin and his clockwork Nazi zombie, who have returned to finish what they started in WW2.
Bringing Dark Horse Comics’ red-skinned, blue collar demon hero to the screen was a passion project for the great Guillermo del Toro. Working in collaboration with Hellboy creator Mike Mignola, del Toro’s take is a wild mix of Men in Black and H.P. Lovecraft. As well as delivering a great comic book/superhero movie at a time when the genre was still a novelty, del Toro also inadvertently delivered a great Lovecraft movie in terms of the rich mythology and occult lore inspired by the writer’s famous Cthulu Mythos. And if you’re in the mood for a double feature, sequel Hellboy II: The Golden Army is even better!
Four reasons why Hellboy rocks:
1. Ron Perlman, bringing gruff indifference, charisma and vulnerability to the affable, cigar-chomping Hellboy.
2. Reanimated Nazi scientist Kroenen – one of the coolest villains ever to grace a comic book movie.
3. Jeffrey Tambor as antagonistic FBI director Tom Manning, providing some wonderful comic relief.
4. The rocky romance between Hellboy and Liz.
Check out STACK‘s previous Friday Flick recommendations here.
