MIKE Mignola's dark comic book series transfers to the big screen courtesy of acclaimed Mexican writer-director Guillermo Del Toro (The Devil's Backbone, Blade II).

At the height of World War II, the German Reich enlists the services of a black magician to destroy the advancing Allies by opening a portal between our world and the demon universe.

Thankfully, the Nazi plot is thwarted by US soldiers, but not before a demon-like creature called Hellboy escapes into the world.

Many years later, Hellboy (Ron Perlman) employs his superhuman strength to vanquish evil, working alongside aging Professor Bruttenholm (John Hurt), fish-man Abe Sapien (Doug Jones), sexy pyrokineticist Liz Sherman (Selma Blair) and fledgling FBI agent Meyers (Rupert Johnson) to save the day.

When old adversary Grigori Rasputin (Karl Roden) rises from the grave, Hellboy must wrestle with his destiny as mankind's destroyer to extinguish the demonic threat.

See it at UCI, Odeon