The recently launched first trailer for the “Hellboy” reboot scored much criticism for its tone. Before its release, the film was being sold on the point of it being quite different to the Guillermo del Toro films, focusing less on the fantastical and flippant and more on a darker straight horror vibe which justifies the film’s R-rating.

The trailer on the other hand looked like more of the same, albeit lower budget and less ambitious – not to mention a bad choice of music. Now the film’s star David Harbour, speaking with Empire, seems to indicate it’s a fault of bad marketing and the horror movie that was promised is being delivered:

“There’s really a sense that you’re actually killing things, even if they are giants or monsters. You’re chopping their heads off, you’re bathing in their blood and you’re feeling the complex feelings of actually cutting the heart out of another thing. We’re taking the time to deal with the fact that Hellboy is a killer. He’s a weapon.”

Harbour has previously said: “This movie is gory… it’s like a horror movie. There’s a lot of blood in it. It’s brutal.” All this suggests that we may have a case of a misrepresentative trailer. Milla Jovovich, Ian McShane, Sasha Lane, Daniel Dae Kim, Brian Gleeson, Sophie Okonedo, Brian Gleeson and Thomas Haden Church co-star in the film which opens April 12th.