Honourable Mention: Hellboy

This is the 2019 reboot of Hellboy, directed by Neil Marshall, and staring David Harbour as the eponymous hero. Now, we’ve looked at a Hellboy product before in the form of Hellboy Animated: Blood and Iron.

The film starts in Mexico with Hellboy searching out Esteban Ruiz (Mario de la Rosa) a missing Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense (BRPD) agent who disappeared after being sent to investigate a nest of vampires.

Hellboy enters a place hosting a Luchador match and, on being called out, recognises the masked wrestler Camazotz as Ruiz. He is challenged to a match and – in the finest Santo tradition – as the match goes on, we realise that Camazotz* is a vampire; revealing his strength at first, then fangs and eventually turning into a manbat. Eventually Hellboy throws him onto a ring post, staking him. Ruiz utters a prophecy before dying that will, of course, be relevant to the film moving forwards.

bat form

So, a fleeting visitation – as for the film itself. It was alright but lacked the charm of the original Del Toro directed vehicle. The filmmakers went for high gore and bad language (possibly to distinguish themselves from the earlier vehicle, or maybe because Deadpool did R rated with class and they wanted to emulate its success) and it didn’t gel – the language, for instance, felt forced and detracted from, rather than added to, the experience. There is an over-reliance on CGI but, you know what, it had big boots to fill and forgetting the earlier films it was ok.

The imdb page is here.
*Camazotz being a Mayan bat god.