David Harbour describes Hellboy as a literal bloodbath

Last Updated on July 21, 2021

The recently released trailer for director Neil Marshall's HELLBOY reboot didn't make the film appear to be quite as dark as it has been hyped up to be. David Harbour, who plays the title character, had said this take on HELLBOY would be a "dark and scary" monster movie, and Hellboy comic book creator Mike Mignola said it would be downplaying the superhero element in favor of doing more of a horror movie. Set to Billy Idol's "Mony Mony", the trailer made the new HELLBOY appear to be a fun fantasy adventure, and an extension of Guillermo del Toro's HELLBOY and HELLBOY II: THE GOLDEN ARMY… two films this was supposed to be "very different" from. I suppose it's safer to sell it as more of the same.

Speaking with Empire in their new Ultimate 2019 Preview issue, Harbour again made the film sound like the darker, more violent, R-rated reboot everything other than the trailer has indicated it will be. He said the film takes the time "to deal with the fact that Hellboy is a killer" and "a weapon":

There’s really a sense that you’re actually killing things, even if they are giants or monsters. You’re chopping their heads off, you’re bathing in their blood and you’re feeling the complex feelings of actually cutting the heart out of another thing."

The main villain Hellboy will be taking on in the film is called the "Blood Queen", so it would make sense to have a good amount of blood splashing around in there.

Milla Jovovich plays Nimue, the Blood Queen. Also in the cast are Ian McShane as Hellboy's mentor Professor Broom; Daniel Dae Kim as Major Ben Daimio, who can turn into a jaguar; Sasha Lane as Alice Monaghan, "who retains a connection to the magical world after being kidnapped by fairies as a child"; Penelope Mitchell as the elder witch Ganeida, Sophie Okonedo as the seer Lady Hatton, Alistair Petrie as Lord Adam Glaren of the supernatural mystery investigating Osiris Club, Brian Gleeson as the wizard Merlin, and (maybe) Thomas Haden Church as Lobster Johnson.

Written by Mignola, Andrew Cosby, Christopher Golden, and Aron Coleite, the new HELLBOY is about 

Hellboy, along with his team of paranormal researchers, trying to save the world from a medieval sorceress who wants to destroy humankind. 

We'll know for sure how different this take on HELLBOY is from Guillermo del Toro's when it reaches theatres on April 12, 2019.