Hellboy: The Crooked Man

Hellboy: The Crooked Man is a 2024 folk horror superhero film directed by Brian Taylor, based on Mike Mignola’s Dark Horse comic and scripted by Mignola and Christopher Golden. Jack Kesy stars as Hellboy, alongside Jefferson White and Adeline Rudolph. Stranded in 1950s rural Appalachia with a rookie BPRD agent, Hellboy finds a community in the grip of witches and a local devil tied to his own past.

Folk horror asks visual effects to stay quiet for long stretches, then not to be quiet at all. Prosthetic-led character design has to be carried further digitally — horns, skin, eyes and shape-shifting all live somewhere between makeup and CG — while witches, demons and hauntings demand creature and character animation together with fluid, fire and smoke simulation. Backwoods locations are opened out using CG environments, set extensions and matte painting, and rig removal, rotoscoping and compositing take the practical photography the rest of the distance. Terminal FX works across that range, contributing visual effects and animation to Hellboy: The Crooked Man alongside its other film, television and commercial projects.