The success, both critical and commercial, of Hellboy II: The Golden Army may be a little overshadowed by other more prominent comic book properties like Iron Man and The Dark Knight this summer, but it definitely deserves a place right alongside them. Mike Mignola’s irresistibly funky comic masterpiece has inspired a bona fide motion picture franchise—the second one might be even better than the first, if you ask me. There haven’t been all that many movies over the years that were based on horror-themed comic books (if anyone at DC is reading this, we need a “Demon” movie, pronto!), but The Golden Army is definitely one of the best. Aside from that one, what would be the top ten, in my opinion? Well I’m glad you asked…
He may be a superhero, but much like HB, he’s a horror-themed superhero. And the movie based on him is without doubt one of the most underrated in the pantheon of comic book cinema. For one thing, John Leguizamo is spot-on as the Violator. While not a classic, this one just doesn’t get the credit it deserves.
9. The Vault of Horror (1973)
While not as solid as its predecessor Tales from the Crypt, this second EC Comics-based flick is still pretty damn good. You’ve got guest appearances by the likes of Tom “Dr. Who” Baker, Denholm “Marcus Brody” Elliott and Dr. Phibes’ Terry-Thomas, so how could it not be entertaining? And no, the name of my blog in no way influenced this choice…
8. Swamp Thing (1982)
A truly great Swamp Thing movie has yet to be made, but this Wes Craven effort is still appealing in a creepy, quirky sort of way. Though flawed, it definitely beats the hell out of the movie based on that other bog-dwelling behemoth, Man-Thing.
7. Tales from the Crypt (1972)
Years before it ever became a hit HBO series, the greatest horror comic of all time inspired this British effort. It features the great Peter Cushing in one of his last horror roles, plus you’ve also got Hellboy II’s very own King Balor, Roy Dotrice. The legendary Sir Ralph Richardson, never above genre work, plays the Crypt Keeper.
6. Constantine (2005)
A lot of fun, but it divides fans for one simple reason: it’s not terribly faithful to the original DC/Vertigo book Hellblazer on which it’s based. If you can get past that, it’s a pretty decent way to pass a couple of hours.
5. 30 Days of Night (2007)
I’ll never stop being mystified at the pounding this movie took from a lot of fans, but you can count me among those who considered it a fresh and interesting vampire film at a time when fresh and interesting horror movies of any kind are hard to come by. Yes, the Steve Niles comic series was a lot better, but this was still an effectively brooding and visually powerful effort.
4. From Hell (2001)
The best movie made from the work of brilliant comics writer Alan Moore (although that may change with next year’s Watchmen film.) The only thing that hurts it is the painful performance of the vacuous Heather Graham. Moore may have disapproved of the flick, but he’s kind of a wacko.
3. Blade (1998)
Another horror-themed superhero movie, Blade doesn’t get enough credit for truly helping to kick off the comic-book movie craze, a full two years before Bryan Singer’s X-Men. Blade may have been a fairly minor Marvel character created by Marv Wolfman in the ‘70s, but soon-to-be-prisoner Wesley Snipes’ portrayal of the vampire warrior in this blood-soaked action-fest made him an icon.
2. Hellboy (2004)
In terms of translating a comic book directly to the screen, only Sin City can hold a candle to Guillermo del Toro’s visionary adaptation. No one since Christopher Reeve has literally become the comics character they portrayed like Ron Perlman as big Red. And you can rank Hellboy II right up here with this one, as far as I’m concerned. Here’s hoping we get a third ASAP.
and finally, the number-one horror-comic adaptation….
1. Dellamorte Dellamore (1994)
Novelist/philosopher Umberto Eco has said of Tiziano Sclavi’s Dylan Dog series, on which this zombie classic was based, “I can read the Bible, Homer or Dylan Dog for several days without being bored.” It’s the best-selling Italian comic book of all time, and it inspired the last great Italian zombie movie. Martin Scorsese has called it one of the best movies of the ‘90s, and it’s definitely one of the best horror movies of that decade. Dark Horse put out English reprints some years back, with none other than Mike Mignola providing the covers (paisans stick together).
For more news and opinions on the world of horror, including how the genre will be represented at the Emmys, a look at the racism of H.P. Lovecraft, and the first part of the history of horror television, check out Brian’s daily blog, The Vault of Horror, at thevaultofhorror.net
I must be high because I thought spawn was crap, I hated hellboy, swamp thing was pure cheese and blade while good the end fight sucked. oh and from hell was another pile of dog waste. spawn was the worst because the comic is so good, that could have been made into a great franchise
I thought 30 days of night was better than both Blade and Hellboy, while the latter two were entertaining... neither of them were really "horror" in my oppinion.
So... not to diminish any of the films on this list, but I can easily rhyme off ten better comic book adaptations. Seriously the only ones worth keeping here are From Hell and Dellamorte Dellamore.
As much as I wanted to like both Hellboy films that doesn't change the fact that they both had disasterous scripts, and I think a decent script is a pretty big prerequisite for a 'Top 10 Comic Adaptation' nod.
SPAWN was shite.i much prefer the animated version on HBO. i saw SWAMP THING as a kid and i remember it more for Adrienne Barbeau's boobs than anything.
How much did BD get paid to put "Spawn" on that list? Goddamn, that movie needs to be remade/rebooted worse than any other comic book property. The best thing about it is Leguizamo as Violator because it's the ONLY good thing about it. The CGI scenes of Malebolgia and Hell are some of the worst ever put on film. The movie is ridiculously frustrating, especially for those who were fans of the comics.
How much did BD get paid to put "Spawn" on that list? Goddamn, that movie needs to be remade/rebooted worse than any other comic book property. The best thing about it is Leguizamo as Violator because it's the ONLY good thing about it. The CGI scenes of Malebolgia and Hell are some of the worst ever put on film. The movie is ridiculously frustrating, especially for those who were fans of the comics.
How much did BD get paid to put "Spawn" on that list? Goddamn, that movie needs to be remade/rebooted worse than any other comic book property. The best thing about it is Leguizamo as Violator because it's the ONLY good thing about it. The CGI scenes of Malebolgia and Hell are some of the worst ever put on film. The movie is ridiculously frustrating, especially for those who were fans of the comics.
never heard of number 1 anyway Spawn was good for a 1997 comic movie compared to lets see Generation X!! anyone remember that horror? CAPTAIN AMERICA!? the 89 Punisher and She Hulk with Bridget Nealson as she hulk!!
I understand most of your grips and shit about spawn especially with Al's best bud not being a white man and not that much gore....but it was better then any of the others I listed before it anyway it wasn't give a big budget since it was a comic book based movie Micheal Jai white was great just the budget didn't match anyway he did a great job as Gable in Dark Knight
The Crow was about as horror-based as the Swamp Thing movie was. Anyway, I agree with that dude triple posted about the Spawn movie. It's a property that really deserves some justice.
Hellboy number 2? are on crac? and THE CROW is better than Blade, Hellboy, spawn, constantine etc and if you take that like horror the crow is horror.even the crow desrves the first place looking the parameters this list is done and before some one said my english is crap.
cant say much about most of em coz i aint read the comics.. swampthing and blade rock. dont feel hellboy that much. wheres sin city? gotta checkout nr. 1 sometime. wtf, brigitte nielsen played she hulk *lol* damn, is she superugly..
Ugh, apparently some of you are missing the point. You need to look at the source material that inspired these movies to see where the horror elements come into play. Swamp Thing fought all sorts of monsters and demons, ditto Blade, and Hellboy and Spawn ARE demons!
for all means and purposes the crow was a super human zombie so i think it would qaulify for the list. spawn should have had four seqeuls by now.... hows about raw head rex? dc needs to get off its as a give us a house of secrets movie live or animated, heck i'll even settle for shadow pack or night force, depp would own baron winters.
I think House Of Secrets would be a kick ass series, if on the right station. So I'll get behind that one. Rawhead Rex was a short story by Clive Barker first, so I doubt that it counts.
ok, to whoever wrote this list, spawn is NOT a superhero.....and the film was total crap and a disgrace to the complete amazingness that is the comics.
I'd definitely include The Crow (it IS a horrific tale, not to mention the screenplay was done by splatterpunk flag bearer David Schow) and Faust was a pretty damn good adaption too, and HIGHLY underrated. Though then again, I haven't come across many people who have seen it or even know about it, which is a shame.....
Doesn't Sin City qualify for this list? I mean it was adult themed and had a lot of bloody moments in it as well and it was a great film. Wasn't impressed by Spawn at all minus the special effects. I agree about The Crow, it should most definitely be included in this list.
"Though flawed, it definitely beats the hell out of the movie based on that other bog-dwelling behemoth, Man-Thing."
Anything beats Man-Thing. I'm petitioning to get those 90 minutes of my life back. Otherwise not a bad list, I really enjoyed From Hell, Constantine, 30 Days Of Night and Hellboy.
Spawn not getting the credit it deserves?? Please. The best thing about The Dark Knight was seeing The Joker give "Spawn" a hard time and put him in his place.
FUCK Spawn, and especially fuck John Leguizamo's "performance" as Clown/Violater. Everything about that movie is horrid. I would have rather seen Man-Thing up there as #10. Or how about...Oh, I don't know, The Crow?? Hell even Ghost Rider is better than Spawn.
The number 1 is perfect. The whole time I was reading this I was just like number 1 better fucking be Cemetary Man or one of the many other names it goes by.
I thought they were all good picks most of all 30 DAYS OF NIGHT i love that movie but i ve never seen Dellamorte Dellamore i got to get on top of that.
where is the crow
or the dark knight
and the first moive on the list i never fucking heard of it
what the fuck all u need to put on there was creepshow beacuse it was basied off of tales from the crypt and vault of horror stupid fucks fucking swamp thing what the fuck that movie is a huge pile of shit
spawn was better and the hbo animated series than the pile of shit movie who ever writes this shit is a dumb fuck this site is getting fucking bad
oh yeah and batman 1989? isn't that the movie that started the comic book adaptation revelution or am i just crazy? maybe even 300 should be mention or sin city. those were just about as true to the source as imaginable.
Creep Show while prob better than all the films on this list wasn't actually adapted from a comic, it’s just an homage to Tales From The Crypt et al - so it makes sense it's not on here.
Personally i thought Hellboy totally fumbled the ball in terms of it's adaptation HB2 still hasn't come out in the UK yet but looks like an improvement
Girlfriend and I saw 30 Days of Night in a theatre that that the AC turned WAY UP. We were freezing but that made watching a rather fun experience.
As for Spawn, McFarlane should have stuck to the comic..but I'm guessing he caved for the money. Gotta have cashola for hockey teams and pricey sports collectables, right?
What he should have done was have a sit down with Frank Miller about the Robocop fiasco and decide to hold out til there was someone willing to do the comic justice.
"oh yeah and batman 1989? isn't that the movie that started the comic book adaptation revelution or am i just crazy? maybe even 300 should be mention or sin city. those were just about as true to the source as imaginable."
My God, seriously, how DUMB can you be? This is list is the top 10 HORROR comics adaptations! Did I miss something? Was batman really Dracula in disguise? boscodaze, do us all a favor, and go play in traffic.
bad list.. bad bad bad bad list.. u did a horrible job this time.. dellamorte dellamore is a good choice.. but i dont understand how hellboy, constantine, and swamp thing can be considered horror, and not sin city, or the crow, hell even alien vs. predator was better than spawn.. even the new batman flick was a hell of alot darker then most of the choices on this list.. come on dude.. make a better list.. bad choices!!! dont annoy horror fans
Some of you didnt read the title to this, its the top 10 HORROR comic book adaptations, now if we did say top ten comic adaptation in general, Dark Knight would be number one, obviously! Number one 4 weeks in a row, epic!
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