‘Hellboy: The Crooked Man’ Ending Explained

Hellboy The Crooked Man

Hellboy: The Crooked Man is now on VOD (Video on Demand), after a theatrical release abroad. And true to form for the source material by Mike Mignola, the ending of the movie leaves a few threads tangled… As well as potentially teeing some things up for a theoretical sequel. With that in mind, if you’re looking for a Hellboy: The Crooked Man ending explained, we’ve got you covered.

Before we get to that, though, let’s break down a simple recap of the plot of the movie. And after that, we’ll speculate about the chances The Crooked Man could get a sequel (though they’re, uh, not good). And if you’re looking for more, check out our mostly spoiler-free review of Hellboy: The Crooked Man.

Hellboy: The Crooked Man Plot Recap:

The movie opens in 1959 with Hellboy (Jack Kesy), bookish BPRD (Bureau for Paranormal Research And Defense) agent Bobbie Jo Song (Adeline Rudolph), and a third guy who doesn’t matter because he dies immediately transporting a deadly, supernatural spider back to headquarters. Perhaps of note for fans of the character, nobody says “BPRD” or really who they work for at any point in the movie, making it seem like they somehow got the rights to Hellboy, but not the BPRD. Maybe they didn’t want to complicate things further? I don’t know.

In any case, the spider escapes, kills that third guy, and crashes the train they were on in the Appalachian Mountains. Hellboy ventures that there’s something powerful that amped the spider up. So they decide to explore the area while they track it down.

That’s when they encounter a small, isolated community full of sarcastic a**holes who razz Bobbie Jo for asking if they have a telephone. They’ve also got a boy in a catatonic state on the floor of one of the cabins, who the movie never seems to come back to in any way. However, it’s definitely tied in some way to Tom Ferrell (Jefferson White), a former resident of the community who has returned from war to find his whole family dead, and a boy catatonic on the floor (again, not important, sorry catatonic boy, please go hang out with the dead body of Third BPRD Agent).

Bobbie Jo and Hellboy decide to travel with Tom to see his ex-girlfriend Cora Fisher (Hannah Margetson), a witch. They discover she left her skin behind while traveling the woods as a raccoon. While they wait, Tom tells a story about how he was tempted by another witch, Effie Kolb (Leah McNamara). She helped him make a deal with a supernatural entity named… Wait for it… The Crooked Man (Martin Bassindale).

The Crooked Man is rumored to be a corrupt businessman named Jeremiah Witkins who was punished for his sins. He now collects souls in the form of pennies to try and buy his way out of his curse. Effie helps Tom make a lucky bone… But he gets so scared seeing The Crooked Man he leaves and never uses it. And no matter how many times he tries to dispose of the lucky bone, it always comes back.

Speaking of coming back, Cora returns, and in the movie’s best sequence, her body horrifyingly reinflates while everyone watches. During a brief moment of respite, Bobbie Jo — who is the upright agent who believes all supernatural things can be explained with science — mentions to Cora that she’s been trying to do spells. Cora explains you have to put your emotions into them, they’re not just words. Seems like that could be important later!

That’s when Effie turns up, demanding Cora’s soul. Not only that, but Effie reveals that after Tom left “town” she corrupted his father and turned him into a horse who she rides “every night.” You get it. They drive away Effie — for now — and then watch as Tom’s father dies, probably from some horse disease.

Hellboy The Crooked Man review

They take the father’s body to a nearby church to bury him… But not before Cora is attacked and killed by a giant snake. Hellboy manages to kill the snake… But not before he’s bit himself — and granted the vision of his mother, Sara, who was also a witch, making a deal with a demonic entity.

After all that they reach a church presided over by Reverend Nathaniel Armstrong Watts (Joseph Marcell). Marcell is the only actor who realizes he’s in a B-movie and needs to play everything at an 11. Also of note, he’s blind and old. They prepared to bury the dad, and Cora, on the church’s consecrated ground… Which is when The Crooked Man and the rest of the community, who are also witches, show up.

The Crooked Man wants Tom to give him the lucky bone and threatens him. He also tempts the Reverend with youth and sight. But they all realize The Crooked Man can’t take the lucky bone, so an extended fight scene in the church ensues as The Crooked Man raises the dead, witches scream outside, and the Reverend uses the lucky bone to bless a shovel, which Hellboy uses to beat back the dead. I swear to you that this description makes it sound much cooler than it actually is, in execution, unfortunately.

Anyway, they beat The Crooked Man, and the supernatural being retreats to his dilapidated house. Hellboy tells Bobbie Jo to hang back, where the once-again blind Reverend tells Bobbie Jo even a blind man can see Bobbie Jo and Hellboy have feelings for each other. I, a seeing audience member, could not see that, but I guess they’re in love???

Hellboy and Tom head to the mansion to stop The Crooked Man once and for all, while Bobbie Jo realizes the creature draws powers from the mountains, and heads to the town’s mines, which are located under the church. Why are they located there? I guess to keep back some sort of supernatural evil, the Reverend muses. Sure.

Hellboy: The Crooked Man Ending Explained:

Hellboy The Crooked Man

The final showdown happens in three parts, simultaneously. Once Hellboy and Tom reach the mansion, they start doing your classic “running down hallways, confused” thing. Hellboy gets trapped in a vision of his mother, pregnant with him, being burned alive in the birthing process. He’s told that the only thing he can do is kill her to free her from her eternal pain… But when he is freed (more on that in a second) it’s clearly a trick from The Crooked Man, because Hellboy’s gun is to his own chin, about to blow his own head off.

Tom faces down Effie and ends up blasting her through a window with the lucky bone. We’ll come back to her later.

Meanwhile, Bobbie Jo is in the tunnels trying to find the source of The Crooked Man’s power when what does she run into? The spider from the beginning, of course. And how does she stop it? By remembering how she was stopped from using witchcraft as a child and channeling that emotion — per Cora’s instruction. The spider shrinks, which somehow cuts down The Crooked Man’s power, and Bobbie Jo puts the spider in a nearby jar.

Back in the mansion, Tom and Hellboy physically battle The Crooked Man, with Tom finally embracing — and then rejecting — the lucky bone. That weakens The Crooked Man enough that Hellboy is able to punch him so hard his head explodes into pennies. Again, I cannot emphasize enough, that this is not as cool in the movie as it sounds.

Tom takes a penny that may or may not be his soul, and they head back to town. Along the way, they discover Effie, who has aged now that the source of her power is gone. Tom had kept the magical bridle from his father, puts it on her, and turns her into a horse.

Then a helicopter from UNKNOWN ORGANIZATION, DEFINITELY NOT THE BPRD, lands, and takes Hellboy, Bobbie Jo, and the jarred spider to safety. As they fly, Bobbie Jo puts her head on Hellboy’s shoulder and proceeds to adjust her position several times because lying on Hellboy is likely extremely uncomfortable. Also, they are in love. FYI.

The final shot of the film is Effie The Horse, who Tom (or perhaps the catatonic boy from the beginning?) has painted a message on that says “Beware! I Am A Witch!”

So yeah, the Crooked Man is gone, Effie is a horse, Tom has put his past behind him, and Hellboy and Bobbie Jo are flying off to their next adventure. The end!

Will There Be A Hellboy: The Crooked Man Sequel?

Uhhh… Almost definitely not. It was released theatrically internationally starting back in June and has thus far only made a reported $1.3 million on a $20 million budget. It likely made some money this past week on VOD (heck, I paid $19.99, so add that to the total!), but does not seem to be currently charting on Prime Video, and is number 23 (as of this writing) on Apple TV. Fandango has both the movie and their 6-film Hellboy bundle in the Top 10, so that’s promising. But we’ll see how that pans out.

More damning, both the critics’ reviews and fan reaction don’t seem to be there. On Rotten Tomatoes, The Crooked Man is 41% rotten from critics, and 59% from fans. On Metacritic, it has a 45 Metascore, and on Letterboxd it has 2.37 out of five possible stars, with over 8,000 ratings. Not great, Hellbob.

Keeping the budget low was smart. Not making that budget back, most likely, means even the low risk didn’t pay off. It’s possible that defraying the cost with international tax credits (likely why they filmed abroad) and several companies could help make a case for a direct sequel to The Crooked Man, versus what we’re seeing publicly. But it’s more likely at this point is that Hellboy will be put back on the shelf for a bit, and then get the ol’ reboot. Again.

Hopefully as a TV series? AKA, the ideal form for Hellboy? I’m just saying?

Note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly referred to a bridle as a saddle.

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4 thoughts on “‘Hellboy: The Crooked Man’ Ending Explained

  1. Are you sure you watched the right movie? Let’s count the mistakes…
    1) They bury the dad, and Cora.
    2) where the once-again blind Reverend
    3) Tom takes a penny
    4) Tom had kept the magical saddle
    5)Then a helicopter

    1) No one is buried
    2) Reverend was always blind
    3) Hellboy picks a shiny penny and GIVES IT TO Tom
    4) Saddle? You really saw a saddle at any time in this movie?
    5) They were on a train not a helicopter

    This is the last time I’ll come here for a recap since you make shit up as you go along.

    1. You’re right, it’s a bridle, not a saddle! My bad!

      It’s definitely a helicopter at the end, though, it literally flies over the horse.

      The Reverend does get his sight back from The Crooked Man.

      I didn’t feel it was important to specify that Hellboy picks up a penny and gives it to Tom, but perhaps that’s also my bad? It felt like explaining that is like explaining Tom got money from the bank, the teller handed it to him. Unnecessary levels of detail.

      But sorry we lost you as a customer!

  2. Another correction. Tom tells the family of the catatonic boy to boil his clothes while calling out Cora’s name. That will break the spell.

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