In the 1940s, the Third Reich has joined forces with the evil Grigori Rasputin, who has used his occult powers to summon up a demon from the depths of Hell. However, the demonic creature is captured by American forces, and put in the care of Professor Broom. Under Broom's care, Hellboy develops the desire to do good. Sixty years later he takes action as part of an elite secret defense team alongside Liz Sherman, and Abe Sapian, an aquatic humanoid with the power of telepathy. Hellboy finds himself facing the powerful Rasputin determined to bring the demon back to the forces of darkness.

MPAA rating: PG-13; for sci-fi action violence and frightening images.

Optional dubbed French dialogue, French subtitles; closed-captioned.

Based on the Dark Horse comic created by Mike Mignola.

Special features: Disc one: eight branching DVD comics by Mike Mignola; eight right hand of doom set visits; storyboards; four short films featuring the cartoons Hellboy himself recommends; cast commentary with Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, Rupert Evans and Jeffrey Tambor; creator commentary with director Guillermo del Toro and co-executive producer Mike Mignola; DVD-Rom: director's notebook, printable script, script supervisor's book; Disc two: four animatics; three deleted scenes with optional commentary; scene deconstruction; 'Hellboy': the seeds of creation; Kroenen's Lair; five board-a-matics; weblink; nine theatrical TV spots; poster explorations for the 'Hellboy' theatrical campaign; filmographies; previews.

Director of photography, Guillermo Navarro ; editor, Peter Amundson ; music, Marco Beltrami ; costume designer, Wendy Partridge ; production designer, Stephen Scott.

Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, Jeffrey Tambor, Karel Roden, Rupert Evans, Brian Steele, Doug Jones, John Hurt.

DVD, Region 1; Dolby Digital 5.1 surround, DTS, SDDS.