Neil Marshall recently popped up on Mick Garris' Post Mortem podcast, and - as you might expect - the director had some things to say about his forthcoming Hellboy movie. As luck would have it, they are all very encouraging things.

Said Marshall (as quoted by Bloody Digusting):

“We’ve been granted permission to do it R-rated, which for me is just like taking the cuffs off. It’s like, okay, so now we can just make the movie we want to make. Nobody’s going to stop us. So, that’s the main (difference). And I’m sure, obviously, the success of things like Deadpool and Logan have not hurt that cause. But, also, when you go back the original material, it is kind of bloody, so I’m going to embrace that.”

Furthermore, says Marshall, his plan for Hellboy: Rise Of The Blood Queen calls for using CGI as sparingly as possible:

“It’s definitely going to be as practical as we can possibly make it. I love to do stuff in camera whenever I possibly can, and use CG as the amazing tool that it is, to enhance or expand upon the world, but not to use it to replace reality, when you can do it (for) real.”

Again, all of this is very encouraging. A hard-R Hellboy would further set Marshall's take apart from Guillermo del Toro's excellent Hellboy films, and we're certainly not opposed to keeping things as practical as possible in the VFX department. Here's hoping this all pans out as Marshall wants it to.

Hellboy: Rise Of The Blood Queen arrives sometime next year. You folks excited or nah?