New NSFW 'Hellboy' trailer lays out the plot, gore

There’s a new Hellboy in town, and he’s a lot gorier and swearier than he’s ever been before.

But the blood-soaked trailer isn’t just there to deliver a bunch of f-bombs, it also lays out the reboot’s plot, which sees our hero struggling between nature and nurture after an apocalyptic menace – medieval sorceress Nimue the Blood Queen (Milla Jovovich) – arrives on earth. Will Hellboy stay loyal to his human mates, or will he join Nimue to conquer the world?

Both of Guillermo del Toro’s Hellboy adaptations were rated 12 in the UK, but, on the evidence of the latest (NSFW) trailer, Neil Marshall’s targeting the Deadpool audience with a film that’s almost certainly going to be rated 15 or above.

Read more: David Harbour teases new ‘Hellboy’ poster

We shouldn’t be surprised, star David Harbour tried to warn us in November of last year.

“The R rating that we’re going for is a little bit gory, a little bit horror film-y, but it’s about being a mature movie with adult themes,” Harbour said.

The trailer isn’t perfect – we really hope there’s still work to do on the CGI, as it somehow manages to look more dated than the original movie, which is 15 years old – but there’s enough fun stuff to keep us intrigued. Look, we’ll watch anything with Ian McShane in it, and, add in Eastenders’ Big Mo with a machine gun and we’ll buy a ticket out of curiosity alone.

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Still, with Stranger Things’ David Harbour replacing Ron Perlman in the titular role, there’s plenty here to annoy fans who would rather see del Toro’s Hellboy III than a new take on the franchise. Here’s hoping they give Marshall’s film a chance.

The film will land in UK cinemas on April 11 – one week after Shazam.