I love the character of Hellboy, both the cinematic and the source material brought to life in the Mike Mignola’s comic books. However, this time out, thanks to budget constraints, which directly impacted actors, effects, camera et. al. what fans are given feels like a fan-film and not a studio one.

Set in the early days of Hellboy’s career in 1959, Big Red is brought to life by Jack Kesy, who doesn’t quite feel like Hellboy should. He’s joined on his mission by a rookie, Bobbie Jo (Adeline Rudolph). They are escorting a demonic spider back to the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Development when something in the Appalachian mountains rouses it, and escapes!

What they find is an unnerving community of witches who all serve The Crooked Man (Martin Bassindale) who has come to collect souls for the devil.

While the film embraces the horror aspects of the comic, the effects and shooting of the film are hobbled by a very basic budget. Being as cost-effective as the can, shooting in Bulgaria, the film still doesn’t look as good as it could, and some of the performances are downright horrible.

Having said that, I once again commend the artists at work here, they are out there doing, we’re simply watching their efforts. Having said that, it’s not great, and Kesy doesn’t quite have Hellboy down. You could argue that it is because the character is younger than we’ve ever encountered, but it just doesn’t feel like the character we know on screen.

Some moments look great, and would work, but for the performances. It feels like it wants to be faithful to the comics, but doesn’t have the money to do it. If Taylor had the budget, this could have been a really good, and scary Hellboy entry, instead, we are left with what could have been.

I also like that Mike Mignola had his hand in the script for the film. So we know that the character and the story is kind of what Mignola had in mind, which once again is bothersome, because it doesn’t have the budget to realize the vision.

Like I said, there are some solid moments, but it just isn’t as good as it could have been. There are glimmers of real potential here, but it just falls flat because of poor performances, and not enough oomph.

But that won’t affect my affection for the characters and the world Mignola created. I’ve enjoyed each iteration, and watching this one, you’re just reminded that if properly financed, we could be enjoying a series or movies on a regular basis.

There are so many BPRD stories to tell, it’s just too bad that they can’t find their way back to the screen.