Directed by Brian Taylor (who made Crank, Gamer and Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance with Mark Neveldine and also directed the comic book adaption Happy! and Mom and Dad) and written by Taylor, Christopher Golden and Hellboy creator Mike Mignola, this is the second reboot of the franchise and one I was wondering if we even needed. And then I watched it and was hooked — this may not have the budget of the originals, yet it’s the closest movies have come to capturing the wild zeal of the comic book.

B.P.R.D. agents Hellboy (Jack Kesy) and Bobbie Jo Song (Adeline Rudolph) — a new character not from the comics — are riding a train, taking a supernatural spider back to headquarters for study when it escapes, causing the train to wreck and leaving them stranded in the Appalachian Mountains. The spider went wild because they’re surrounded by great evil, something that Tom Ferrell (Jefferson White) has returned home to stop.

Years ago, thanks to Effie Kolb (Leah McNamara), he messed with magic and left behind his true love, Cora Fisher (Hannah Margetson), when the Crooked Man (Martin Bassindale) came after him. He was left with a lucky bone that has allowed him to survive for years, but now he must put the supernatural menace in the grave forever with the help of Hellboy, who learns more about his origins and who his mother was.

This story is based on issues 33-35 of the comic book series. Even the ending, with the witch wearing the bridle that turns her into a horse, comes from the story. This gets the folk horror aspect of Hellboy right, something that didn’t really get to be part of Hellboy, Hellboy II: The Golden Army or the 2019 Hellboy. There are moments when characters explain the deep occult stories behind things or how witchballs are made, moments that could break the film for some but made it for me. I went in expecting to hate this movie and loved even a second, wanting more of how it tells its story.

Don’t be like I was and dismiss this because it doesn’t feel like the big-budget original films. Allow it to be a weird $20 million direct-to-streaming blast of weirdness, a film that has more in common with The Legend of Hillbilly John than a Marvel blockbuster.