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

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)

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:

Miscellaneous: The goddess 'hek-a-tee' is consistently referred to as 'hek-ate' throughout.

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:

References Hellboy (2004)

A definite improvement.

After being a little disappointed with Sword of Storms, Blood and Iron makes up for it with a darker story, better voice acting, and a far less irritating music score. The movie begins with Hellboy beating down a monster, which is kinda what he does, and getting the crap beaten out of him while it happens, which is also kinda what he does. Afterwards, we're treated to a surprisingly layered story involving Trevor Bruttenholm, Hellboy's "father" essentially, an old vampire, and the witch-goddess Hecate. Caught in the middle is this old priest who lost his faith, which gives the story a good grounding that Sword of Storms lacked. It's much less of a "Let's kill the bad monster" story, and brings a very human element to the equation. The story also leaves out the ham-handed character development seen in Sword of Storms, for a much grittier, more subtle, and believable portrayal. My main criticism would be the inclusion of the "human metal detector" guy. He's not particularly helpful or necessary to the story. He actually serves to water down some scenes that were building real suspense. They also could have done a better job setting up Hecate as a character. She comes off as another monster, but her motivations don't quite work for me. Overall, I think Blood and Iron is a step in the right direction, and worth seeing at least once. It's a must-see for fans of the comic book, and anyone disappointed with the live action movie.