Hellboy: The Crooked Man 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.5

Hellboy: The Crooked Man 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Still dark as the devil's asshole.

Reviewed by Randy Miller III January 15, 2025

Released a week before the relatively barebones (and A/V compromised) US Blu-ray from Ketchup Entertainment, this much more deluxe region-free 4K/Blu-ray combo pack of Brian Taylor's Hellboy: The Crooked Man comes to us from the UK-based label Icon Film Distribution. A true upgrade in every department (except for the main feature, of course), it includes 2160p/SDR video, lossless 5.1 audio, a decent assortment of exclusive extras, and even a few printed goodies, thus scoring an easy win over its paltry domestic competition and clearly the version to get for fans.

For my thoughts on the main feature, please see my recent review of the US Blu-ray linked above. I did of course give The Crooked Man a second watch for this follow-up and, while I may have warmed up to it slightly more than the first go-around, it wasn't quite enough to change my overall 2.5/5 film rating. Maybe third time's the charm?

Hellboy: The Crooked Man 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

NOTE: These screenshots are sourced from the included region-free Blu-ray.

As usual, you can consider my recent review of the US Blu-ray as a baseline for what this 4K release has to offer, and maybe even more so since Icon Film Distribution's UHD is a 2K upscale that doesn't include HDR enhancement. That usually doesn't translate to a substantially better image for digitally-shot material like this (native 4K or otherwise), as color representation and black levels aren't really affected to a noticeable degree. Fine detail is of course tightened, as are textures, but the real benefit here is encoding: I clearly noticed intermittent signs of crush and gradient banding during my run-through of the US Blu-ray and noted as such in my earlier review. That's not the case here... which isn't surprising since this dual-layered 4K disc (BD66) enjoys more than twice the real estate of its single-layered US Blu-ray (BD25) counterpart, both of which are essentially movie-only discs. As such, the bit rate is typically at least double and it's authored with the more efficient HEVC codec, so what we get here is about as "lossless" as we'll likely get on home video. That said, the curious lack of HDR is a disappointment, as I think The Crooked Man could've taken advantage of high dynamic range to further bolster a few of its dark and underlit scenes... so for what it's worth, the 4K picture is proportionally as good as the Blu-ray; certainly fine enough, but with some room for improvement.

Speaking of this included Blu-ray, visually it seems to be more or less in line with the US release linked above; though authored on a dual-layered (50GB disc) this time around, it also shares real estate with about two hours' worth of HD extras. In any case, I sincerely doubt that anyone's buying this combo pack for the Blu-ray.

Hellboy: The Crooked Man 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Perhaps a more tangible improvement can be found with Icon's (apparently exclusive) DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio track, which is a noticeable step up from the domestic Blu-ray's lossy Dolby Digital (640 Kbps) 5.1 mix. Fidelity and overall presence are decently improved all around, but perhaps more notable is better overall dynamic range: I mentioned in my review of the US Blu-ray that it was clearly boosted by 5-10dB and required volume adjustment to get it down to a tolerable level (perhaps unavoidable, given its lossy format), but again that's not the case where. What we essentially get is a more stable and consistent audio presentation; one whose differences again might not be quite as noticeable depending on your setup or volume preferences, but I certainly appreciate the improvements we get here.

As with the US release, optional English (SDH) subtitles are included during the main feature only.

Hellboy: The Crooked Man 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This two-disc release ships in an "international" keepcase (that is, it's a little thicker that those we usually get in the US) with poster-themed cover artwork, a nice spot-gloss slipcover, and a few printed goodies tucked inside, including a fold-out poster and four bound collector's photo cards. The case even includes a swinging hinge rather than two hubs, which gives this package a much more deluxe weight and feel that's usually reserved for premium boutique editions. What's more is that this 4K release also includes a number of exclusive behind-the-scenes extras (compared to the basically barebones domestic edition), all of which can be found on the included region-free Blu-ray.

• NEW! Cast & Crew Interviews - A generous assortment of Q&A-style cast and crew video interviews shot during production, presented separately but oddly with no "Play All" option. All ten of these short to mid-length conversations are pretty self-explanatory as far as subject matter goes and they're a bit "samey", but there's a well-rounded amount of material covered including casting, the characters, story and development, shooting, location scouting, post-production, and more. (Sadly, creator Mike Mignola is nowhere to be found.)

• Jack Kesy - "Hellboy" (8:26)
• Adeline Rudolph - "Bobbie Jo Song" (7:57)
• Hannah Margetson - "Cora Fisher" (6:09)
• Jefferson White - "Tom Ferrell" (14:33)
• Joseph Marcell - "Reverend Watts" (20:58)
• Martin Bassindale - "The Crooked Man" (13:04)
• Leah McNamara - "Effie Kolb" (8:13)
• Brian Taylor - Director (15:14)
• Jonathan Yunger - Producer (13:56)
• Orlin Grozdandov - Production Designer (7:13)

• NEW! Behind-the-Scenes B-Roll (24:21) - A loose collection of unnarrated clips from the shoot with candid moments, rehearsal footage, unseen bits, makeup application, and of course a few goofs.

• NEW! Theatrical Trailer (1:45) - An alternate shorter version than the US release trailer.

Hellboy: The Crooked Man 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Brian Taylor's divisive Hellboy: The Crooked Man is probably better (or at least more faithful to the original comics) than Neil Marshall's universally maligned 2019 film, but that's not exactly high praise. Despite a script by Mike Mignola based on his 2008 limited series of the same name, it's kind of a slog and, other than a few high points, somehow feels cheaper than its paltry $20M budget suggests. It's at least supported well by this region-free 4K/Blu-ray combo back from the UK-based label Icon Film Distribution, which advances upon the US Blu-ray in every fundamental category including 4K/SDR video, lossless audio, bonus features, and packaging. Newcomers will of course want to try before they buy, but those who want The Crooked Man in their home video libraries should look no further.