When the first trailer for the upcoming Hellboy reboot was shown off at New York Comic Con back in October, most people seemed pretty impressed by David Harbour’s fresh take on the titular antihero and the crazy world he calls home. But now that the general public have had a chance to feast their eyes on a teaser of their own, the reception isn’t quite so glowing.
Coming to us from Dog Soldiers and The Descent director Neil Marshall, the new Hellboy had been promoted as a darker affair than the Guillermo del Toro flicks, which made the one-liner-filled teaser and its ’80s dance pop soundtrack a pretty confusing experience. And while the footage has already drawn its share of supporters, most fans seem to have been left not knowing what to make of the whole thing.
But what do original stars Ron Perlman and Selma Blair think of it? Well, the pair – who played Big Red and Liz, respectively, in the del Toro films – took to social media this week to react to the trailer. And though they didn’t comment on it directly, it’s clear where their allegiances lie, as both of them shared posts relating to/referencing the original Hellboy movies.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Brni_h6HLWl
Whether or not these posts indicate that the two stars aren’t happy about the reboot is hard to tell, but we know that Perlman in particular is a bit hurt by the chance that he never got to close out del Toro’s planned trilogy. And as longtime fans of the character, we are, too.
After all, this first trailer for the reboot didn’t exactly leave the best taste in our mouths, with its light tone and abundance of punchlines. But maybe it’s just a matter of misleading marketing. I mean, star David Harbour did recently assure the fans that the film “is gory… it’s like a horror movie. There’s a lot of blood in it. It’s brutal.”
In any case, though a lot of people are starting to get nervous, Lionsgate still has a few more months to win over skeptics and convince us that a Hellboy movie doesn’t need del Toro or Ron Perlman leading it to be worth seeing. I guess we’ll find out if that’s indeed the case on April 12th, when Big Red stomps into theaters.