Hellboy Animated: Blood and Iron (2007) (TV)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Directors:

Victor Cook
Tad Stones

Writers:

Kevin Hopps (written by)
Mike Mignola (characters)

Release Date:

10 March 2007 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Horror

Plot:

In 1939, young Professor Bruttenholm destroyed Erzsebet Ondrushko, a female vampire who bathed in the blood of innocents to stay young...

Plot Keywords:

Dark Horse Comics | Based On Comic | Based On Comic Book | One Man Army

Cast

Ron Perlman	...	Hellboy (voice)
Selma Blair	...	Liz Sherman (voice)
John Hurt	...	Professor Trevor 'Broom' Bruttenholm (voice)
Doug Jones	...	Abe Sapien (voice)
Peri Gilpin	...	Professor Kate Corrigan (voice)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
J. Grant Albrecht	...	Oliver Trombolt (voice) (as Grant Albrecht)
Jim Cummings	...	Tom Manning (voice)
Grey DeLisle	...	Anna (voice)
Rob Paulsen	...	Sydney Leach (voice)
Dee Dee Rescher	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Kath Soucie	...	Erzsebet Ondrushko (voice)
Cree Summer	...	Hecate (voice)
James Arnold Taylor	...	Young Broom (voice)

Also Known As:

Hellboy Animated: Blood & Iron (USA) (DVD box title)
Hellboy Animated: Blut & Eisen (Germany) (DVD title) [de]

Runtime:

75 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Singapore:NC-16 | New Zealand:M | Netherlands:12

Company:

IDT Entertainment

Trivia:

Near the end, during the flashback, among the items in Prof. Broom's office on of them is a statue of the Aztec Bat-God featured in Hellboy Animated: Sword of Storms (2006) (TV).

Goofs:

Continuity: The wounds on Hellboy's chest disappear when he rips open Hecate's "iron maiden", then reappear.

Quotes:

Liz Sherman: [installing surveillance equipment] All right, check the signal.
Sydney Leach: Well, it's decent. But wouldn't video cables cut down on interference, though?
Liz Sherman: Haven't used them since a poltergeist hung Ralph Furtado by his heels in the Whaley House.
Sydney Leach: Really?
Liz Sherman: Occupational hazard. Motion sensor goes down there.
[laughs]
Liz Sherman: He was upside down for four hours. We found him after two, but that guy was such a jerk.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Tales from the Tomb: A Look Inside Blood and Iron (2007) (V)

a dark romp with vampires and ghosts

Hellboy: Blood and Iron is about vampires coming back after many, many years in wait, and also about ghosts and memory and all those things left behind. If it were about these things more-so in-depth (or rather the kind of attention that Guillermo del-Toro would pay to the subject matter if he directed), it would be really great material. Trouble is, the Hellboy animated movies, with this the second installment, are limited by means of budget, time, and even to an extent the scripting. There's a lack of the dry, sly and just outright clever humor from the Hellboy live-action movies, with only one or two quips from ol' Red (Ron Perelman, always good even in dull one-liners), and some characterizations and dialog that are as routine as whatever one might find in a straight-to-video release.

These flaws being noted, Blood and Iron is extremely enjoyable for what it can afford in its 75 minute running time, which is giving some lifeblood to a comic-book that needs it desperately. The plot works mostly upon the strengths of the animators, and luckily they are many. What might seem ordinary and traditional- even a little lacking in fluidity (again, budget)- gives way to extraordinary moments going past the expected for "kids" stuff. There's some very dark material particularly in this installment, as we see an iron goddess, a vampire curse, a couple of blasted witches, snakes, and those creepy ghosts (which, thanks to some del-Toro presence, reminds one of the Gothic folklore of Mexico). It's all very impressive when it works best, and there's even some interesting designs for these villains and creatures of the night.

There might not be much depth (the climax is just a bunch of "we are not like *them*" semantics from the iron woman to Hellboy as they punch each other senseless), but for a short while it's some good fun and some brilliant animation, for what it's worth. Less than great, and at the same time far better than it should have any right to be. A-