Ron Perlman as Hellboy is one of the most perfect casting choices ever. Also, it took four hours every day to put all the makeup and props on Ron Perlman. He did it without complaining for two whole movies and again years later for a kid in the "Make A Wish" Foundation. Talk about dedication.
He's the only actor I've seen act in films of three languages- Cronos (Spanish), the City of Lost Children (French) & English (Police Academy 7: Mission to Moscow) Not just a pretty face.
I agree 100%. As much as I like David Harbour, he just didn't fit the role as well as Pearlman. And the newer one with Jack Kesy doesn't even come close.
I can't remember the exact reason why it didn't happen, but Del Toro and Perlman were completely on board with doing the third one, I assume they wanted something and the studio wanted something else.
@@Dusk.EighthLegion Cost... when he told them how much it would cost to make the 3rd film, they declined because unfortunately these films were not that successful financially.
@@GeraldH-ln4dv In this case it was warranted sadly. He wanted like 200~250 million or something like that even though both previous movies did not make that kind of money. I would have loved to see this trilogy finished but I can't blame them for not wanting to finance a film that would almost certainly lose them money.
The pancake thing is actually a callback to the comics. There was a two-page adventure with child Hellboy when he first tastes pancakes (given to him by his father), and all the demons of hell are looking on in panic, knowing (somehow) that the moment he tastes pancakes, he'll never want to go back to hell. They howl in defeat when he finally eats one. It's indicative of the weird, somewhat dark humor of the comics.
If I recall correctly, that story was inspired by an offhand comment Mike Mignola made a few years earlier, when someone asked him if he'd ever write a "young Hellboy" story. He replied that he didn't have much interest in doing so, but if he did it'd probably just be a short story about Hellboy eating pancakes or something.
Hellboy is an 'other comic', Dark Horse Comics. They also did Sin City, The Mask, Umbrella Academy, 300, and more The movie is good, Ron Pearlman is great in the role and Del Toro's style suits its gothic grit I like the Golden Army sequel - it has its flaws but it also has some great scenes
Kronen was a very disturbed man. He disliked having lips and eyelids, so he had them surgically removed. He also tinkered with his own body and eventually became a clockwork cyborg. His heart has been replaced by a wind-up mechanism, and over time his blood has turned to dust.
What I love about Guillermo and Doug’s partnership in his films is Doug is game for whatever Guillermo wants to do with character design. Abe in Hellboy, the Pale Man in Pan’s Labyrinth, and the Amphibian Man in The Shape of Water are some of the best practical monsters/creatures thanks to Doug’s physicality as a performer.
It's a unique, and for the audience, highly rewarding partnership. Like Kurt Russel and John Carpenter, Scorsese and Deniro...sometimes there is a perfect alignment between Artists.
I got to work a convention with Doug Jones about 11 years ago. He is the absolute sweetest guy. He's the kind of guest that will walk around the convention, talking with attendees, on his free time.
Man... Guillermo del Toro's Hellboy movies are something special. They're so damn good. Guillermo just knew how to make it work and so did the cast and crew. Both movies are some of the most fun comic book movies ever made. The casting of Ron Perlman as Hellboy is just... Perfect. Just perfect. I just have to say this though: I honestly believe that Guillermo del Toro is possibly the only director that could do a Cthulhu movie justice. I've always thought that
I remember a few years ago, he was in the early stages of making a movie adaptation of "At the Mountains of Madness" by H.P. Lovecraft (maybe my favourite Lovecraft story), but he shelved it when another movie was going to come out that would be very similar and even have a nearly identical twist at the end. That movie was Prometheus, which I actually enjoyed, but is definitely not the movie I would have preferred if it had been up to me.
Karl Ruprect Kroenen (The assassin) to this day still amazes me and creeps me out at the same time. The way they made him in the movie was dope. Think you're really gonna enjoy the second one too!
Abe Sapien was played by the legend that is Doug Jones, but David Hyde Pierce did the voice. Which was weird, since they actually sound extremely similar (DHP himself said he didn't understand why he'd been hired for the job). They used Jones' original voice in the sequel, and the difference is barely noitceable.
David Hyde Pierce -did- voice Abe, but after seeing the performance of Doug Jones in the makeup and such he actually chose to remain uncredited for the voice work. In Hellboy 2, Doug Jones does the voice as well.
For some odd reason they had David Hyde Pierce dub Abe. It was Doug Jones, Del Toro's go-to creature actor in the suit. Fortunately, Jones did get to voice Abe in the sequel.
David didn't quite understand it either, which is why he refused to be credited in the movie, saying that even though he provided the voice, the performance was entirely Doug.
@@brom00You have to realize that sometimes, prosthetics can make it hard to understand the actor. I don't know if that was the case for David and Doug, but don't go forward in life demonizing voice acting.
I love Mike Mignola's work. George, "Pam Cakes" is a running joke, that's what baby Hell Boy called pancakes the first time he had them. Simone, this is Mike's own universe published by Dark Horse Comics. Same publisher of Sin City. In the mid- late 90s many of the aging out 80s Marvel/DC talent began publishing their own creations at Dark Horse so they could keep all of the rights to their work. Unlike Len Wein who only ever got a one time check of 25K for Wolverine. Art Adams (mid 80s X-Men artist) did his own book as well, "Monkey Man."
Mignola also was behind a lot of the art direction of Disney's "Atlantis: The Lost Empire"; you can really see his hand in the architecture and technology of the Atlanteans!
8:46 That is Doug Jones as the body of Abe Sapien. He did the voice as well, but the studio didn't like it. So, they replaced his voice with a voiceover from David Hyde Pierce. They didn't tell Doug Jones. When David Hyde Pierce found out, he refused to do any press for the film and he demanded they take his name out of the credits out of respect for Doug Jones' performance.
So a funny thing- Jeffery Tambor was cast in this film, and because he was in the area when they were filming Eurotrip, he was availible for a cameo in that film!
This movie "duology" (With "Golden Army") has some of THE BEST practical effects of all time! I know there's a LITTLE bit of CGI in there. But where it COULD be done practically in-camera - it WAS. I think the only part of Hellboy himself to occasionally be CGI enhanced was his tail. And even that only occasionally. (The bit with him stealing the beer early in the film was a practical effect). The rest is all practical prosthetics and mask appliances - same for Abe Sapien. And if you watch Hellboy II: The Golden Army - pay close attention to the "Troll Market" sequence about midway through the movie! You can watch THAT sequence over and over and over again and STILL keep noticing things you didn't pick up on before! It's mostly one giant set! With dozens of extras in some WILD costumes populating the streets! (with some extra "internal" sets that are seamlessly linked via genius cut shots)
I get why they have the BPRD/Hellboy being a covert organization/character as it justifies explaining common in-universe knowledge. But I like how in the comics they're/he's just a government entity that you call up to deal with a problem, like the fire department or animal control. It really plays into HB being a blue-collar guy just trying to do his job.
For Kroenen, the supplemental material from the DVD mentions how he was an opera prodigy as a child until puberty deepened his voice, and he even served briefly as commandant of Auschwitz.
It's not as good as the first one or Golden Army. The production quality is quite a bit lower, it's kind of like a SciFi Channel TV flick. If you can enjoy those, go for it, but it's definitely one of those movies you watch cuz you like watching low budget tacky monster movies.
Guillermo Del Toro is unmatched in the space of creature design, he really nails things in a way I haven't seen from anyone else. He's worked on so many good things. Pan's Labyrinth has some of my favorite creatures in any movie, Pacific Rim's Jaegers and Kaiju hit just right, and the Strigoi in The Strain are one of the gnarliest and creepiest vampires that exist. I'm never going to forgive Konami for cancelling Silent Hills. A Kojima horror game with Del Toro working on enemy creature designs? We were robbed.
Fun fact for you Chainsaw Man fans: Karl Ruprecht Kroenen design in this movie was the inspiration for Katana Man. Edit: (Specifically his nazi trench coat appearance at the beginning)
@szandorkane6372 it's more so in looks. Katana man is visually inspired by kroenen(in the beginning with the trench coat) They look damn near identical especially with the arm blades.
I didn’t know a whole lot about Hellboy before I watched this movie, but I liked it so much, that I immediately went out and started reading as many of the comics as I could get.
I never knew about Hellboy before i started hearing about this movie way back when. Such a cool character and no actor could pull it off like Ron Perlman.
It makes me smile knowing that when Guillermo del Toro turned down The Prisoner of Azkaban, the producers gave it to another Mexican director: Alfonso Cuaron,.
There are many things I love about this movie. But one of my FAVORITE things is that the holy artifacts don't hurt Hellboy unless he's actually being evil.
I always hated that I couldn’t understand what Sebastian was yelling in The Neverending Story (his mother’s name)! But I was able to look it up eventually - and her name was Moonchild.
10:25 David Hyde Pierce is always fun to watch/hear. I love the episode of The Simpsons when he and Kelsey Grammer team up as Cecil and Bob Terwilliger, and the Frasier references abound. 🙂 Bart leaps on Cecil's back and covers his eyes: "Guess who!" Cecil: "Maris?"
Ron Perlman is one of those actors with a lot of experience in prosthetics. The "Beauty and the Beast" TV show of the 1980s, "The Island of Dr. Moreau" from 1996, several other makeup-heavy roles. He's always a trooper; he loves to play different characters. And he's joined in this cast by the reigning King of Creature Costumes: Doug Jones! Jones played Abe Sapien- though his voice was dubbed in by David Hyde Pierce, as Simone correctly heard. I guess the producers thought Pierce sounded more intellectual, or something? In the second film, Doug got to voice himself. All of the makeup and Creature effects in these films is so stellar. From design to execution, they're practical and real and amazing. The CG effects are minimal, just adding to the believability of the magic.
"No Becky, you don't get it. Okay well like, yes, he's a NAZI, but he only had a desk job. He's not like, a "Nazi" Nazi. Just meet him. You're going to LOVE him!"
The comic books are fantastic, Mike Mignola has a unique art style and he builds a fantastic occult universe with evil wizards, ancient gods, madmen, nazis, and everything in between. To answer Simone's question, Hellboy is its own universe distinct from DC and Marvel. It was released by Dark Horse Comics.
Where this fits in among the "universes" is the Dark Horse comics. Most Dark Horse comics don't share a universe, with the exception of the Alien and Predator comics and the Buffy and Angel comics. The publisher started as a film tie-in comic studio and have in recent years branched out to do comics for games and youtube shows, like EVE Online, Ninja Gaiden, Plants vs. Zombies and Critical Role. They also published the Star Wars comics until Disney bought both Lucasfilms and Marvel and consolidated the comics under Marvel's publishing branch. Then they had a bunch of comics they published for outside authors, that later became films. Hellboy, obviously, but also 300, 47 Ronin and Aliens vs. Predator. Hellboy shares a universe with a few other original comics, but it is mostly that some characters from those comics are in Hellboy. For example, there are more Abe Sapien titles than Hellboy titles.
My Tabletop RPG group plays a Wednesday night game called "Weird Wars" which is very much in the spirit of Hellboy. We play a squad of Canadian soldiers, 1 Scottish sniper among them (that's me!) that have gone over with the British, during WW2, stumbled upon the supernatural forces of the Nazi occult divisions, and been recruited by the secretive new occult organization that intended to capture this research and turn it against the Nazi's.
This review brings back some very warm memories. It would have been easy to mess this adaptation up but the casting and director, the set designs were all on point. And when I heard that Ron Pearlman was cast as Hellboy it was just serendipity. Also I had the biggest crush and still do for Selma Blair.
I am so happy you watched this, but I would HIGHLY recommend watching the director's cut at some point, even on your own. Also, the director's cut comes with a commentary with the main cast and it is hands down one of the greatest film commentaries I have ever heard. Ron Pearlman is absolutely hilarious in it.
The sequel is indeed superior in every way, and you will see much more of that amazing creature design. By the way, Doug Jones plays the Faun in Pan’s Labyrinth (also directed by Guillermo del Toro), and you can see many similarities in creature design, though the sequel is where that creativity is truly unleashed. As far as the comic is concerned, it was published by Dark Horse Comics, and it is its own universe. The other big titles from that publisher include Sin City, 300, The Mask, Umbrella Academy, and X - you can see a common dark theme here. The publisher also has several comic adaptions of popular film and TV franchises, like Star Wars, Alien, The Terminator, Buffy: The Vampire Slayer (and Angel), and the first Critical Role comics (I believe they are self-publishing now).
strange I think the Golden Army was utterly worse in almost every way(I will give it credit for the effects and designs and that's it). I seem to be the only one who feels like this, though.
Another Ron Perlman movie with some similar elements: City of Lost Children. Lots of steampunk and crazy elements, Perlman as a bumbling baffoon type, mystery and comedy.
George , Iwould really recommend the delux box set for this film. The behind the scenes special effects and make up is in great detail. For years this has been my favorite behind the scenes info of any filmaker or film i know of.
The comics are really, really good. Just finished the final omnibus 'n I wish there were more. Recommended reading, for sure. Doug Jones shows up in the esoteric film, John Dies at the End (2012) without FX prosthesis 'n it's one of my favourite scenes in the film. Dude's great. Guillermo del Toro's work is truly high art... I hope we get more from him on the channel. Cheers.
DOUG JONES = Abe Sapien & Pan from Pan´s Labyrinth & Silver Surfer & Creature from Shape of Water & Saru from Star Trek & Cochise in Falling Skies + ... more
Oh yay you reacted to one of my absolute favourites! I always loved the visual style, humour and also the sadness in this movie, also Hellboys love for cats, lol. You definitely need to see the second one, it’s just as good as this one. Only thing I’m still salty about conserning these movies is they never did the third one.
3:44 - DARK HORSE COMICS - Hellboy first appeared in San Diego Comic-Con Comics #2 (August 1993), and has since appeared in various miniseries, one-shots, intercompany crossovers, and adapted into four live-action films: Hellboy (2004) and its sequel The Golden Army (2008), a 2019 reboot film, and The Crooked Man (2024). The character also appeared in two straight-to-DVD animated films. Widely discovered through Dark Horse Comics.
The second one doesn’t stick out in my memory the same way this one is just engraved there, but I remember liking it so it’ll be fun to rewatch it with you
The physical performance of Abe Sapian is done by Doug Johnes. He does a lot of roles where he is in large costumes (like the fawn in Labyrinth) because of his tall and slim physique. He is so underrated!
The text in the beginning is from ''Des Vermis Mysteriis''. This is one of the books, that H.P. Lovecraft invented for his storys. It appears in many of them. Hence the tentacles...
![PASULOL รามเกียรติ์ ตอนที่ 4 นนทกพบรัก [Ramakien Ep.4: Nonthok in love]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/tMUQgmZzf_A/mqdefault.jpg)
Ron Perlman as Hellboy is one of the most perfect casting choices ever.
Also, it took four hours every day to put all the makeup and props on Ron Perlman. He did it without complaining for two whole movies and again years later for a kid in the "Make A Wish" Foundation. Talk about dedication.
He's the only actor I've seen act in films of three languages- Cronos (Spanish), the City of Lost Children (French) & English (Police Academy 7: Mission to Moscow) Not just a pretty face.
I agree 100%. As much as I like David Harbour, he just didn't fit the role as well as Pearlman. And the newer one with Jack Kesy doesn't even come close.
There are a lot of reasons to respect Perlman, he's a good dude for sure
@@BobbyBlueshoes-l1c And every language known to man, and then some, In The Name of the Rose.
Ron is ALWAYS a win!
It's an absolute travesty that Guillermo Del Toro never got to finish out his planned Hellboy trilogy.
I can't remember the exact reason why it didn't happen, but Del Toro and Perlman were completely on board with doing the third one, I assume they wanted something and the studio wanted something else.
Between this and "At the Mountains of Madness" I feel like Del Toro is gonna be remembered as a director whose best films were never made.
@@Dusk.EighthLegion Cost... when he told them how much it would cost to make the 3rd film, they declined because unfortunately these films were not that successful financially.
@@Replicaate True. The industry just doesn't want to drop the big bucks for his productions. A real shame.
@@GeraldH-ln4dv In this case it was warranted sadly. He wanted like 200~250 million or something like that even though both previous movies did not make that kind of money. I would have loved to see this trilogy finished but I can't blame them for not wanting to finance a film that would almost certainly lose them money.
The pancake thing is actually a callback to the comics. There was a two-page adventure with child Hellboy when he first tastes pancakes (given to him by his father), and all the demons of hell are looking on in panic, knowing (somehow) that the moment he tastes pancakes, he'll never want to go back to hell. They howl in defeat when he finally eats one. It's indicative of the weird, somewhat dark humor of the comics.
@@Crazyivan777 pancakes, mankind weapon against demons also waffles
This is one of my favorite bits in any comic ever. I have plans to get the frame of little HB reacting to his first pamcakes as a tattoo
If I recall correctly, that story was inspired by an offhand comment Mike Mignola made a few years earlier, when someone asked him if he'd ever write a "young Hellboy" story. He replied that he didn't have much interest in doing so, but if he did it'd probably just be a short story about Hellboy eating pancakes or something.
@@theenderdestruction2362 Waffles are for telekinetic children.
@@theenderdestruction2362nah man.. waffles are for quantum specters…
Hellboy 2 is a must watch. Also, congratulations on 180,000 subscribers!
humming a certain song now :)
I don't think hellboy 2 was as good as this one, but the creature design is so damn cool in 2
@@Jexorz86Yeah, there's a weaker story but the world design is one of the best things I've seen. Hell, just the market alone carries it pretty far.
@@aerthreepwood8021 The market, the throneroom, the fae twins... That movie is gorgeous.
@@CyberBeep_kenshi I seen they posted this on my way home from work and it instantly popped in my head lol
Hellboy is an 'other comic', Dark Horse Comics. They also did Sin City, The Mask, Umbrella Academy, 300, and more
The movie is good, Ron Pearlman is great in the role and Del Toro's style suits its gothic grit
I like the Golden Army sequel - it has its flaws but it also has some great scenes
As a teen I worked in a comic store and Dark Horse were my favorite comics.
Dark Horse did the only great sequel work to Alien/Aliens
I have had a bad feeling for years that Prince Nuada from Golden Army is the closest we'll ever get to a live action Elric of Melnibone.
@@hellomark1 For real. The original/first AvP arc holds a special place in my heart.
They publish the English translation of Berserk as well.
"It's pure aesthetics." So, George is really going to like #2.
George is a small brained man
Faerie courts and troll markets
Not to mention, the "bad guy" and his race of people are awesome, plus the death-creature is fantastic!
I reeeeeally hope y'all watch the second one as well. It's amazing.
And better than the first one. The villain is simply PHENOMENAL. 😮
One of few movies where the second one is better than the first.
Sounds like the Alien/Aliens or Terminator/T2 'issue'. Both great but just different enough.
I really didn't like the 3rd one made with a different actor playing HellBoy but number 2 with Ron is outstanding.
And then stop there. That's all. No more Hellboy movies. 🫥
Kronen was a very disturbed man. He disliked having lips and eyelids, so he had them surgically removed. He also tinkered with his own body and eventually became a clockwork cyborg. His heart has been replaced by a wind-up mechanism, and over time his blood has turned to dust.
But he looks very cool, and as we all know, that’s what really counts.
A very twisted individual.
A Golem, essentially! A Homunculus.
Not quite, because he did originally start out as a physically normal human. But I can see the similarities!
What I love about Guillermo and Doug’s partnership in his films is Doug is game for whatever Guillermo wants to do with character design. Abe in Hellboy, the Pale Man in Pan’s Labyrinth, and the Amphibian Man in The Shape of Water are some of the best practical monsters/creatures thanks to Doug’s physicality as a performer.
It's a unique, and for the audience, highly rewarding partnership. Like Kurt Russel and John Carpenter, Scorsese and Deniro...sometimes there is a perfect alignment between Artists.
Doug a a freaking legend
I got to work a convention with Doug Jones about 11 years ago. He is the absolute sweetest guy. He's the kind of guest that will walk around the convention, talking with attendees, on his free time.
Fuck the Pale Man. The only scene in a movie that fucks me up a bit.
Okay, maybe the bug scene in King Kong.
He also played the faun in Pan's labyrinth. And he was in Mimic
"Hey, you, on the other side - let her go. Because for her I will cross over, and then you'll be sorry."
George repeatedly talking about the amazing prosthetic and make up.
Me: It's Guillermo Del Torro!!!
When your kids meal is is made digitally, it can be a treat to get real food. :P
The 2nd was even more incredible as far as creature designs and world building...
Prosthetics and makeup are only as good as the artistic designs.
I'm like, guy, immerse a little bit for you!
Man... Guillermo del Toro's Hellboy movies are something special. They're so damn good. Guillermo just knew how to make it work and so did the cast and crew. Both movies are some of the most fun comic book movies ever made. The casting of Ron Perlman as Hellboy is just... Perfect. Just perfect.
I just have to say this though: I honestly believe that Guillermo del Toro is possibly the only director that could do a Cthulhu movie justice. I've always thought that
I remember a few years ago, he was in the early stages of making a movie adaptation of "At the Mountains of Madness" by H.P. Lovecraft (maybe my favourite Lovecraft story), but he shelved it when another movie was going to come out that would be very similar and even have a nearly identical twist at the end.
That movie was Prometheus, which I actually enjoyed, but is definitely not the movie I would have preferred if it had been up to me.
Karl Ruprect Kroenen (The assassin) to this day still amazes me and creeps me out at the same time. The way they made him in the movie was dope. Think you're really gonna enjoy the second one too!
Couldn't agree more. Him and the prince from the second film are some the coolest supervillains ever imo.
Abe Sapien was played by the legend that is Doug Jones, but David Hyde Pierce did the voice. Which was weird, since they actually sound extremely similar (DHP himself said he didn't understand why he'd been hired for the job). They used Jones' original voice in the sequel, and the difference is barely noitceable.
wow I honestly never would have guessed - i thought it was the same voice
Ahh, yes... the obligatory comment....
probably because they wanted more star power in the credits? ironically Pierce declined credit after being so impressed with Jones
I can’t wait for you guys to do “Hellboy 2: The Golden Army”
Awesome that yall are watching this.
Yall need to watch the second one too. Many consider it superior
Completely agree! One of the best bad guys in movies.
David Hyde Pierce -did- voice Abe, but after seeing the performance of Doug Jones in the makeup and such he actually chose to remain uncredited for the voice work. In Hellboy 2, Doug Jones does the voice as well.
For some odd reason they had David Hyde Pierce dub Abe. It was Doug Jones, Del Toro's go-to creature actor in the suit. Fortunately, Jones did get to voice Abe in the sequel.
I love David Hyde Pierce's voice. I hate that he didn't return for sequel.
@@warre1 Doug Jones was just fine.
David didn't quite understand it either, which is why he refused to be credited in the movie, saying that even though he provided the voice, the performance was entirely Doug.
At least they used his voice in the sequel. He was also overdubbed when he played Silver Surfer. Laurence Fishburne did the voice.
@@brom00You have to realize that sometimes, prosthetics can make it hard to understand the actor. I don't know if that was the case for David and Doug, but don't go forward in life demonizing voice acting.
3:33 I believe Hellboy is a dark horse comic. Not owned by Dc or marvel.
Yep, a Dark Horse o.g.
And what about Spawn where Is he from?
@@BlackWolf728
Image Comics.
Simone quietly trying (and failing) to keep it together after "Me Likely Bouncy x3" was adorable.
That was the name that finally broke Simone...! 😄
I love Mike Mignola's work. George, "Pam Cakes" is a running joke, that's what baby Hell Boy called pancakes the first time he had them. Simone, this is Mike's own universe published by Dark Horse Comics. Same publisher of Sin City. In the mid- late 90s many of the aging out 80s Marvel/DC talent began publishing their own creations at Dark Horse so they could keep all of the rights to their work. Unlike Len Wein who only ever got a one time check of 25K for Wolverine. Art Adams (mid 80s X-Men artist) did his own book as well, "Monkey Man."
Mike Mignola is an outstanding artist.
Mignola also was behind a lot of the art direction of Disney's "Atlantis: The Lost Empire"; you can really see his hand in the architecture and technology of the Atlanteans!
@@Replicaate Oh I've never seen it. I'm only familiar with his comic work. I'll check it out, thanks!
Good to know.
8:46 That is Doug Jones as the body of Abe Sapien. He did the voice as well, but the studio didn't like it. So, they replaced his voice with a voiceover from David Hyde Pierce. They didn't tell Doug Jones. When David Hyde Pierce found out, he refused to do any press for the film and he demanded they take his name out of the credits out of respect for Doug Jones' performance.
So a funny thing- Jeffery Tambor was cast in this film, and because he was in the area when they were filming Eurotrip, he was availible for a cameo in that film!
30:30 My favorite line of the movie. "You should be running."
David hyde pierce as the narrator of the mating habits of the earth bound human is something yall will love
This movie "duology" (With "Golden Army") has some of THE BEST practical effects of all time! I know there's a LITTLE bit of CGI in there. But where it COULD be done practically in-camera - it WAS. I think the only part of Hellboy himself to occasionally be CGI enhanced was his tail. And even that only occasionally. (The bit with him stealing the beer early in the film was a practical effect). The rest is all practical prosthetics and mask appliances - same for Abe Sapien.
And if you watch Hellboy II: The Golden Army - pay close attention to the "Troll Market" sequence about midway through the movie! You can watch THAT sequence over and over and over again and STILL keep noticing things you didn't pick up on before! It's mostly one giant set! With dozens of extras in some WILD costumes populating the streets! (with some extra "internal" sets that are seamlessly linked via genius cut shots)
I get why they have the BPRD/Hellboy being a covert organization/character as it justifies explaining common in-universe knowledge. But I like how in the comics they're/he's just a government entity that you call up to deal with a problem, like the fire department or animal control. It really plays into HB being a blue-collar guy just trying to do his job.
Mike Mignola's Hellboy comics are Top Tier.
I love his work. His Fafhrd & the Grey Mouser covers for the White Wolf reprints of Fritz Leiber’s seminal books are so freaking cool.
George. I know you don't read comics, but as a mythology guy - read Hellboy comics!
Yes, for several reasons, not the least of which is Mike Mignola’s interesting, distinct art style.
"Oh no the nazi" Simone quote of the year. Gonna try and remember that one lol.
"I just wish he wasn't a Nazi" is a good one too.
Was clearly referencing the bit in Game Night: “Oh no. He died”
For Kroenen, the supplemental material from the DVD mentions how he was an opera prodigy as a child until puberty deepened his voice, and he even served briefly as commandant of Auschwitz.
31:33 The name Bastian gave the child empress in the never-ending story was “Moon child”.
was the audio intentionally bad to obscure the name?
Hellboy golden army is fun, I havent seen the reboot with David Harbour
Don’t it’s sadly not as good but the monsters look cool af tho
You are not alone. Not many watched the movie.
I like the reboot
It's not as good as the first one or Golden Army. The production quality is quite a bit lower, it's kind of like a SciFi Channel TV flick. If you can enjoy those, go for it, but it's definitely one of those movies you watch cuz you like watching low budget tacky monster movies.
The reboot is way overhated
The Amazing Screw-on Head is a 20 minute animation of a Mike Mignola comic.
David Hyde Pierce did the voice of Emperor Zombie in it
Ron Pearlman and Linda Hamilton from The Terminator stared in a Beauty and the Beast TV show series in 1987
With a bunch of episodes written by G.R.R. Martin.
@@bjornh4664 Nice
❤🔥LOVE Beauty & the Beast tv show!
The name in Neverending Story was Moonchild. It got lost because of ADR dubbing and sound mixing issues, but the captions show what he says.
Seems like a point worth fixing; or did they intentionally obscure the name?
Guillermo Del Toro is unmatched in the space of creature design, he really nails things in a way I haven't seen from anyone else. He's worked on so many good things. Pan's Labyrinth has some of my favorite creatures in any movie, Pacific Rim's Jaegers and Kaiju hit just right, and the Strigoi in The Strain are one of the gnarliest and creepiest vampires that exist. I'm never going to forgive Konami for cancelling Silent Hills. A Kojima horror game with Del Toro working on enemy creature designs? We were robbed.
I grew up watching both Hellboy movies and I will NEVER get over the fact that they didn't make a 3rd movie😢
37:31 - "they both said at the same time Ron Pearlman". Then they both say "that's amazing" at the same time.
That's amazing.
For me the movie's plot really drags on but the aesthetic of the characters, monsters, props and everything is SO DAMN COOL!
Fun fact for you Chainsaw Man fans:
Karl Ruprecht Kroenen design in this movie was the inspiration for Katana Man.
Edit: (Specifically his nazi trench coat appearance at the beginning)
That seems far-fetched? Aside from having blades on each arm, they don't really have much in common..
@@szandorkane6372
Just design-wise from his nazi attire.
Yeah I just don't see it
@szandorkane6372 it's more so in looks. Katana man is visually inspired by kroenen(in the beginning with the trench coat) They look damn near identical especially with the arm blades.
10:27, Simone knows great comedy. 😁😂
These two are the best. Doesn’t matter what movie they watch, I always watch their reactions. They never skip a beat.
In regards to David Hyde pierce, he voiced side show bob's brother.
Sideshow Cecil
@@moviesbye9294there’s also a bit where Bob puts his hands over Cecil’s eyes from behind and says “guess who?”..Cecil replies “Maris?”……..perfect
I didn’t know a whole lot about Hellboy before I watched this movie, but I liked it so much, that I immediately went out and started reading as many of the comics as I could get.
I never knew about Hellboy before i started hearing about this movie way back when. Such a cool character and no actor could pull it off like Ron Perlman.
The character design in Hellboy 2 is awesome
It makes me smile knowing that when Guillermo del Toro turned down The Prisoner of Azkaban, the producers gave it to another Mexican director: Alfonso Cuaron,.
“I wish I could do something about this” always makes me a little teary in the eyes.
There are many things I love about this movie. But one of my FAVORITE things is that the holy artifacts don't hurt Hellboy unless he's actually being evil.
Then, you would love the short comic story "The Nature of the Beast"
That line with Hellboy and Liz was so beautiful, it always gives me goosebumps :')
If you want to see more of the creatures that inhabit this universe, then absolutely watch Hellboy 2!
I always hated that I couldn’t understand what Sebastian was yelling in The Neverending Story (his mother’s name)! But I was able to look it up eventually - and her name was Moonchild.
31:35 They actually show the name of Bastian’s mom in the subtitles if you watch neverending story. It’s Moonchild.
"You should be running...."
Gives me chills every single time!
10:25 David Hyde Pierce is always fun to watch/hear.
I love the episode of The Simpsons when he and Kelsey Grammer team up as Cecil and Bob Terwilliger, and the Frasier references abound. 🙂
Bart leaps on Cecil's back and covers his eyes: "Guess who!"
Cecil: "Maris?"
Hellboy is part of dark horse comic.
Ron Perlman is one of those actors with a lot of experience in prosthetics. The "Beauty and the Beast" TV show of the 1980s, "The Island of Dr. Moreau" from 1996, several other makeup-heavy roles. He's always a trooper; he loves to play different characters. And he's joined in this cast by the reigning King of Creature Costumes: Doug Jones! Jones played Abe Sapien- though his voice was dubbed in by David Hyde Pierce, as Simone correctly heard. I guess the producers thought Pierce sounded more intellectual, or something? In the second film, Doug got to voice himself. All of the makeup and Creature effects in these films is so stellar. From design to execution, they're practical and real and amazing. The CG effects are minimal, just adding to the believability of the magic.
Girls drawn to toxic realtionships "He's a cool guy I just wish he wasn't a nazi"
"No Becky, you don't get it. Okay well like, yes, he's a NAZI, but he only had a desk job. He's not like, a "Nazi" Nazi. Just meet him. You're going to LOVE him!"
Yeah to be fair i always find him super cool too, being a nazi excluded
I can understand her feeling that way.
Cringe bud
@@idiot_city5444 saying cringe is cringe
The comic books are fantastic, Mike Mignola has a unique art style and he builds a fantastic occult universe with evil wizards, ancient gods, madmen, nazis, and everything in between. To answer Simone's question, Hellboy is its own universe distinct from DC and Marvel. It was released by Dark Horse Comics.
Where this fits in among the "universes" is the Dark Horse comics. Most Dark Horse comics don't share a universe, with the exception of the Alien and Predator comics and the Buffy and Angel comics.
The publisher started as a film tie-in comic studio and have in recent years branched out to do comics for games and youtube shows, like EVE Online, Ninja Gaiden, Plants vs. Zombies and Critical Role. They also published the Star Wars comics until Disney bought both Lucasfilms and Marvel and consolidated the comics under Marvel's publishing branch.
Then they had a bunch of comics they published for outside authors, that later became films. Hellboy, obviously, but also 300, 47 Ronin and Aliens vs. Predator.
Hellboy shares a universe with a few other original comics, but it is mostly that some characters from those comics are in Hellboy. For example, there are more Abe Sapien titles than Hellboy titles.
Simone as sharp as ever with immediately recognizing David Hyde Pierce's voice.
im a simple human, I see Simone and George posting a hellboy reaction, I instantly click
The movie captures both the tone and aesthetics of comic quite well.
But there is so much more to it than you can put into a movie.
Mike Mignola is an amazing artist. His working directly on this movie can be seen in the amazing character designs.
My Tabletop RPG group plays a Wednesday night game called "Weird Wars" which is very much in the spirit of Hellboy. We play a squad of Canadian soldiers, 1 Scottish sniper among them (that's me!) that have gone over with the British, during WW2, stumbled upon the supernatural forces of the Nazi occult divisions, and been recruited by the secretive new occult organization that intended to capture this research and turn it against the Nazi's.
Ah, a fan of Pinnacle! They deserve the attention that Wizards of the Coast gets.
"The Shape of Water"
you might check this out too, Abe Sapian gets his own movie.
This review brings back some very warm memories. It would have been easy to mess this adaptation up but the casting and director, the set designs were all on point. And when I heard that Ron Pearlman was cast as Hellboy it was just serendipity. Also I had the biggest crush and still do for Selma Blair.
I am so happy you watched this, but I would HIGHLY recommend watching the director's cut at some point, even on your own. Also, the director's cut comes with a commentary with the main cast and it is hands down one of the greatest film commentaries I have ever heard. Ron Pearlman is absolutely hilarious in it.
There's something about Mignola's aesthetic, as well as del Toro's sensibilities I love.
The sequel is indeed superior in every way, and you will see much more of that amazing creature design. By the way, Doug Jones plays the Faun in Pan’s Labyrinth (also directed by Guillermo del Toro), and you can see many similarities in creature design, though the sequel is where that creativity is truly unleashed.
As far as the comic is concerned, it was published by Dark Horse Comics, and it is its own universe. The other big titles from that publisher include Sin City, 300, The Mask, Umbrella Academy, and X - you can see a common dark theme here. The publisher also has several comic adaptions of popular film and TV franchises, like Star Wars, Alien, The Terminator, Buffy: The Vampire Slayer (and Angel), and the first Critical Role comics (I believe they are self-publishing now).
I don't think it was superior in EVERY way - the visuals were as good or better, but the plot wasn't as good and the villain was annoying.
strange I think the Golden Army was utterly worse in almost every way(I will give it credit for the effects and designs and that's it). I seem to be the only one who feels like this, though.
Oh man Hellboy, you guys really made my night , can't wait for the sequel reaction
24:42 it's funny that simone feels that way about Kroenen cause as a kid watching this movie I was scared to look at him without his suit on 😂
Mike Mignola’s design work on the Dark Horse comics really shows thru on these movies.
A note about Doug Jones - he was one of The Gentlemen in the 'Hush' episode of Buffy.
Backyard Mist Maker is my favorite TH-cam channel. Great reaction to a great movie. Love anything Simone does. ❤️
Another Ron Perlman movie with some similar elements: City of Lost Children. Lots of steampunk and crazy elements, Perlman as a bumbling baffoon type, mystery and comedy.
37:12 Doug Jones also did Abe's voice in Hellboy II and they kept it that time.
Holy shit, I just realized. That's the spear of destiny from Constantine! Like the same prop. That sets these two movies in the same shared universe!
And keeping in line with the fire theme, Ron Perlman also voices Fire Lord Sozin in ATLA
Not one word from Simone about Hellboy's love of cats?
Dang.🐱🐈🐱🐈🐱🐈🐱🐈🐱
Even though these aren't my favorite movies. I adore the creature designs, lore and overall look of these movies.
Hellboy II The Golden Army is amazing too
George , Iwould really recommend the delux box set for this film. The behind the scenes special effects and make up is in great detail. For years this has been my favorite behind the scenes info of any filmaker or film i know of.
Great movie, great casting, great lore. So unique. Love this series. At least, the one with Pearlman. I hope you watch Hellboy 2 sooner than later.
The comics are really, really good. Just finished the final omnibus 'n I wish there were more. Recommended reading, for sure.
Doug Jones shows up in the esoteric film, John Dies at the End (2012) without FX prosthesis 'n it's one of my favourite scenes in the film. Dude's great.
Guillermo del Toro's work is truly high art... I hope we get more from him on the channel. Cheers.
DOUG JONES = Abe Sapien & Pan from Pan´s Labyrinth & Silver Surfer & Creature from Shape of Water & Saru from Star Trek & Cochise in Falling Skies + ... more
Already looking forward to your Hellboy 2 reaction.
Oh yay you reacted to one of my absolute favourites! I always loved the visual style, humour and also the sadness in this movie, also Hellboys love for cats, lol. You definitely need to see the second one, it’s just as good as this one. Only thing I’m still salty about conserning these movies is they never did the third one.
3:44 - DARK HORSE COMICS - Hellboy first appeared in San Diego Comic-Con Comics #2 (August 1993), and has since appeared in various miniseries, one-shots, intercompany crossovers, and adapted into four live-action films: Hellboy (2004) and its sequel The Golden Army (2008), a 2019 reboot film, and The Crooked Man (2024). The character also appeared in two straight-to-DVD animated films. Widely discovered through Dark Horse Comics.
The second one doesn’t stick out in my memory the same way this one is just engraved there, but I remember liking it so it’ll be fun to rewatch it with you
Just watched enemy at the gates recently makes so much sense why he was Hellboy
Yeah, please do the sequel. I dunno about it being better, but still very enjoyable.
The physical performance of Abe Sapian is done by Doug Johnes. He does a lot of roles where he is in large costumes (like the fawn in Labyrinth) because of his tall and slim physique. He is so underrated!
Grew up watching it and love this one and the second one
Y’all are going to LOVE the visuals of Hellboy 2!!
Guillermo Del Toro's movies always look so frickin awesome!
Thanks for this one!
Keep crushing it!
The text in the beginning is from ''Des Vermis Mysteriis''. This is one of the books, that H.P. Lovecraft invented for his storys. It appears in many of them.
Hence the tentacles...
The funny thing about Jeffrey Tambor being this movie is that he plays an extremely similar character in the Muppet movie Muppets From Space
Glad to see y’all reacting to this. Hope you decide to do the sequel!