Wonkette Movie Night: Hellboy (2004)
'My uncle used to say that we like people for their qualities but we love them for their defects.'
We go from watching Superman last week to Hellboy this week. There are some things that make Superman different from Hellboy but they also share some deep connections — starting with their origins in a comic book. Published by Dark Horse Comics and created by Mike Mignola, Hellboy made his first appearance in 1993. The character has since spawned several live action films as well as animated movies, and three video games. And just like Superman the first movie was the best.
Both have come to Earth from places beyond our knowledge and they both arrive naked, as toddlers. Superman is adopted by an old farmer and his wife. Hellboy is rescued from Nazis by a professor and American soldiers during WWII. They both grow into adulthood with incredible strength and a desire to fight evil and any Nazis that may come along with that. This is where they diverge, because Superman can hide behind the horn-rimmed glasses while Hellboy has actual horns. The dude from Krypton wears a red cape, the guy from Hell IS red. One smokes cigars and the other does anti-smoking PSAs.
Superman has a dog and Hellboy is a cat person. It has been suggested by some fans that Hellboy loves cats because one of the first things that he sees is a cat figurine after being dragged through the portal and landing in the ruins of a church. Or it could just be that cats are amazing.
Hellboy works for the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense taking care of the things that go bump in the night while we remain blissfully unaware that those things exist. But he yearns for more contact, he wants to be less “Hell” and more “boy” so he cuts off his horns and tries to hide his tail. But he is going to have to be who he really is in order to protect those he loves; the evil of the past will cause him to confront where he really came from. Hellboy shows that our origins don’t always define us and reminds us that we are at our best when we let ourselves be who we truly are.
Hellboy is available with subscription on HBO Max, Hulu and Sling. $3.99 in the usual places.
Hellboy stars Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, Doug Jones, John Hurt, Rupert Evans, Karel Roden, Jeffrey Tambor, and Bridget Hodson. Directed by Guillermo del Toro.
To make requests and see the movie lists and schedules go to WonkMovie.
The animated short is The Roast Of Weed from CollegeHumor.
Our next Movie Night selection is Suspicion, available for $3.99 in the usual places. Free on the Internet Archive.
𝐁𝐎𝐍𝐔𝐒 𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐕𝐈𝐀:
In 2012, Ron Perlman once again endured the four-hour make-up routine required to transform him into Hellboy. Not for a sequel, or other acting job, but to fulfill the Make-A-Wish request of a six-year-old boy named Zachary who had leukemia. Creature effects house Spectral Motion applied Perlman's Hellboy make-up (and later, made up Zachary as Hellboy as well), and then Zachary got to spend the day hanging out with "Hellboy".
You know it's a good movie when there's a melting Nazi involved