Hellboy Animated: "Sword Of Stones" And "Blood & Iron" DVD Review

"Hellboy II: The Golden Army" is due out July 2008, a full 7 months from now. What's a fan to do while waiting for Guillermo Del Toro's sequel to his first movie about the nether region's favorite son with a human heart.

Luckily, Del Toro collaborated with Mike Mignola (creator of Hellboy comics), IDT Entertainment and others on two animated films, "Hellboy Sword of Storms" (2006) and "Hellboy Blood & Iron" (2007). Unless you're a reader of Mignola's Hellboy comics, these two films are worth buying or renting to delve into the world as protected by Hellboy, Liz Sherman, Abe Sapien, and the rest of BPRD (Bureau of Paranormal Research Department), a top secret agency created by the US government to "bump back" against things that bump in the night.

The two films take on very different tones, one of the fantastic, the other of the gothic. The DVDs contain extras where the creators discussed the making the films and the decision-making behind any deviation from the comic books.

Hellboy Sword of Stones

In "Sword of Stones", Hellboy was investigating an assignment in Japan when he magically transported to a demon world of Japanese mythos as he touched an artifact, the Sword of Stones. This sword was used to banish the demon brothers, Thunder and Lightning, who were trying to make a comeback in order to wake up sleeping dragons to help them conquer the world. But before they could do so, the Sword of Stones
must be broken to set them free.

Practically dumbfounded by the teleportation, Hellboy, at the advice of the first creature he met - a mysterious talking fox, travelled eastward as he attempted his way back home. He encountered and fought fascinating creatures such as a group of flying head demons, a harp-playing spider queen, a toad demon, and other ghouls.

Meanwhile, back on earth, Abe Sapien and Liz Sherman contended with the precursors to the coming of the demon brothers. Some of the dragons already began stirring and nearby countrysides were terrorized. Abe's and Liz's airplane was downed by a lightning bolt as they flew to Japan in order to investigate Hellboy's sudden disappearance. They fought one of the dragons in an island where they took sanctuary after their plane crashed into the ocean.

Slaying dragons, fighting mystical demons and becoming pawns in a centuries old love affair are the overlying themes of Hellboy Sword of Stones. The demon world is inhabited by fantastic lores of Japanese myths. The movie creators could probably have spent most of the storyline within this world and would have made a memorable film.

Their decision to separate Hellboy from Abe and Liz tho' is workable. For the non-comic book readers, this is the first time we get a feel of Liz's awesome power as a pyro as she was forced to confront the dragon on the island. We also get a macho-er Abe Sapien. In the cartoons, Abe is a frontline fighter, not simply a scout, though he ends up getting beat up quite a bit. Not the Abe Sapien I remember in Hellboy the movie.

Hellboy Blood & Iron

In "Blood & Iron", Hellboy and the BPRD were assigned to investigate a haunted house which was recently purchased by an entrepreneuring mogul who planned to use the house for a ghost-chasing TV reality show. It so turned out that the mogul had imported a set of artifacts from a legendary Hungarian countess known to be a vampire in her days but thought to have been vanquished by a young Professor Broom, one of BPRD's ranking officials and Hellboy's boss.

True to many vampire films, "Blood & Iron" took us through an intricate gothic story of vengeance and obsession. There were loose strings between the countess, her servant who was a former village priest, and Professor Broom.

In an artistic decision to weave the backdrop between the countess and Professor Broom with the events at BPRD's mission, the creators chose to show a series of flashbacks as Hellboy and his crew began their investigation. As expected, Professor Broom confronted the countess, but not before the countess was able to send Hellboy to her goddess, Hecates. It was Hecates who transformed the countess into a vampire and she wanted Hellboy to join her or kill him if he refused. Of course, Hellboy refused and as he made his way back to the mansion, Hecates chased him for a final, bonecrushing showdown.