| | | Give Evil Hell.
Features: Widescreen, Aspect Ratio 1.85:1, Dolby Digital (5.1), French, Dubbed & Subtitled, English
From visionary writer/director Guillermo del Toro (Blade II, The Devil's Backbone) comes Hellboy, a supernatural action adventure based on Mike Mignola's popular Dark Horse Comics series of the same name. Born in the flames of hell and brought to Earth as an infant to perpetrate evil, Hellboy (Ron Perlman) was rescued from sinister forces by the benevolent Dr. Broom (John Hurt), who raised him to be a hero. In Dr. Broom's secret Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense, Hellboy creates an unlikely family consisting of the telepathic "Mer-Man" Abe Sapien (Doug Jones) and Liz Sherman (Selma Blair), the woman he loves who can control fire. Hidden from the very society that they protect, they stand as the key line of defense against an evil madman who seeks to reclaim Hellboy to the dark side and use his powers to destroy mankind.
"Surprisingly smart, graphically faithful live-action adaptation of the Mike Mignola series..." Ann Hornaday, The Washington Post
"Guillermo del Toro is in a class with Peter Jackson as a fan-boy who gets it...[he is] a brilliant filmmaker..." David Edelstein, Slate
"Played by Ron Perlman, he's the most magnetic action hero I've come across in a long while." J.R. Jones, Chicago Reader
"Bursting the bonds of its genre, Hellboy fills the screen with gorgeous imagery, vertiginous action and a surprising depth of feeling." Joe Morgenstern, The Wall Street Journal
"...on fire with scares and laughs and del Toro's visionary dazzle. It's the tenderness that comes as an unexpected bonus." Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
Editor's Note
Based on the comic book series by Mike Mignola, Guillermo del Toro's gleefully eccentric film follows the supernatural adventures of Hellboy (Ron Perlman), a cigar-chomping, horn-filing demonic hero enlisted by an occult scholar (John Hurt) to fight evil in the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense. Along with the fire-throwing Liz Sherman (Selma Blair) and the amphibious psychic Abe Sapien (Doug Jones, with the voice of David Hyde Pierce), Hellboy is joined by new recruit John Myers (Rupert Evans), a squeaky-clean FBI agent assigned to keep the big red devil's exploits in check. Things get out of hand, however, when a vicious monster is unleashed by the villainous Rasputin (Karl Roden), leading to events that may set off an apocalyptic nightmare for humanity.Echoing Peter Jackson's passion for THE LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy, HELLBOY is a labor of love from del Toro, a longtime fan of the comic and its creator. The director's enthusiasm shows, since HELLBOY is a wondrously strange slice of pulpy adventure, mixed with horror and humor, and enhanced by stunning visual effects. In the title role (and lots of red makeup), Perlman is pitch-perfect, giving the good-natured misfit a powerful--yet surprisingly sensitive--presence. Blair, Evans, Hurt, and other actors are similarly well cast, rounding out an ensemble intent on retaining the movie's dark yet superbly entertaining tone.
| Features | Audio Commentary With Director Guillermo Del Toro | | Audio: English PCM 5.1 Surround Sound, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound | | Audio: French Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound | | Audio: German PCM 5.1 Surround Sound, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound | | Deleted Scenes With Optional Director's Audio Commentary | | Documentary: Hellboy - The Seeds Of Creation | | Dubbed: French, German | | Featurettes: VFX How-To's, Make-Up & Lighting Tests, & Scott McCloud's Guide To Understanding Comics | | Interactive Menus | | Scene Selection | | Subtitles: English, French, Korean, Arabic, Dutch, Hungarian, Czech, Polish, Greek, Turkish, Slovenian, Bulgarian, Croatian, Romanian | | This Is A Blu-Ray DVD Made For Blue-Laser Format Players Which Produce Higher Quality Picture & Sound | | VFX How-To's |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: Sony Pictures |
| Release Date: 6/5/2007 |
| Original Release Date: 2004 | | Catalog ID: 19172 | | UPC: 00043396191723 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Video: Color |
Aspect Ratio | | Widescreen 1.85:1 |
| Cast & Crew | Jeffrey Tambor | | John Hurt | | Ron Perlman | | Selma Blair | | Guillermo del Toro - Director | | Guillermo del Toro - Screenplay | | Guillermo Navarro - Cinematographer | | Lawrence Gordon - Producer | | Marco Beltrami - Original Music By | | Marco Bittner Rosser, et. al. - Art Director | | Mike Mignola - Based On Comic Books By | | Patrick J. Palmer - Executive Producer | | Peter Amundson - Editor | | Stephen Scott - Production Designer |
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| | Professional Reviews | Entertainment Weekly
"HELLBOY is engaging." 04/09/2004 p.56New York Times
"Mr. del Toro lets loose with an all-American, vaudevillian rambunctiousness that makes the movie daffy, loose and lovable." 04/02/2004 p.E8 Los Angeles Times
"There's no shortage of slick special effects and rampaging monsters here. Yet what catches the eye and captures the imagination is the lovingly hand-crafted feel of the design..." 04/02/2004 p.C1 USA Today
"Guillermo del Toro has crafted a fiery action picture destined to please comics fans..." 04/09/2004 p.10E Chicago Sun-Times
"It's vibrating with energy, and you can sense the zeal and joy in its making." 04/02/2004 p.37 Box Office
"[A]n engaging supernatural action film....It's easy to be captivated by del Toro's style and the film's overall panache." 05/01/2004 p.29 Sight and Sound
"The bad guys have great looks....HELLBOY succeeds because it brings the visuals from the page to life with a beating red heart." 09/01/2004 p.50-1 Premiere
"Perlman nails Hellboy's blue-collar ethos....[With] visual artistry and sly wit..." 07/01/2004 p.115-16 Uncut
"Perlman is outstanding....Over-the-top fun..." 10/01/2004 p.144 ReelViews 8 of 10
Hellboy is director Guillermo del Toro's second venture behind the cameras for a comic-book themed motion picture. However, although the hyper-stylized setting and kinetic action sequences share a kinship with those in Blade 2, Hellboy showcases a lighter tone with a hero who doesn't take himself as seriously. In fact, while Hellboy doesn't quite cross the line into open comedy, it comes close. The film bears more of a resemblance to Ghostbusters and Men in Black (with a little of The Mummy thrown in for good measure) than to a traditional superhero motion picture. This isn't Batman or Superman...My sense is that most comic book aficionados, regardless of whether or not they are familiar with Mike Mignola's Dark Horse series, will enjoy what Hellboy has to offer. It's a throwback to the '80s, with a strong hero (15 years ago, this role would have been perfect for Schwarzenegger), well-crafted action sequences, and an undemanding storyline. - James Berardinelli
Chicago Sun-Times 9 of 10
"Hellboy" is one of those rare movies that's not only based on a comic book, but also feels like a comic book. It's vibrating with energy, and you can sense the zeal and joy in its making. Of course it's constructed of nonstop special effects, bizarre makeup and a preposterous story line, but it carries that baggage lightly; unlike some CGI movies that lumber from one set piece to another, this one skips lightheartedly through the action...And in Ron Perlman, it has found an actor who is not just playing a superhero, but enjoying it; although he no doubt had to endure hours in makeup every day, he chomps his cigar, twitches his tail and battles his demons with something approaching glee. You can see an actor in the process of making an impossible character really work...The movie, based on comics by Mike Mignola and directed by the Mexican-born horror master Guillermo del Toro ("Cronos," "Blade II"), opens with a scene involving Nazis, those most durable of comic book villains. - Roger Ebert
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