The Spine of Night

The Spine of Night is an adult animated fantasy film and is a tale about a mysterious force, its influence over the ages and the ones who opposed it. Created in rotoscope style animation harkening back to classics such as The Lord of The Rings animated feature, I was both intrigued because of experiencing something different and worried because of the style of animation it is using as I'm not a fan but as it turns out, I don't mind it and got used to it fairly early on as the story and the world sank its teeth into me.

At about only 90 mins long, there is a lot in the plot in terms of thematical material whether its spirituality, Gods, the infinite spiral of existence, Death, cycles of humanity, the pursuit of knowledge and the ego and pride that can arise, and such that can make you ruminate all seamlessly embued into the story that is being told by a shaman/witch/sorcerer and in an entertaining fashion. It also felt fresh, something original amongst the sea of sameness and is what made me love this film.

Since it is an adult animated feature, it doesn't shy away from nudity and violence/gore, especially the latter of which there is an abundance, all well animated and gives a proper kick to the dark fantasy nature of the experience. Speaking of animation, the environment and objects were actually rendered beautifully and even though the character design and movement isn't something I'd considered attractive, it works and has its own fluid charm to it that comes with rotoscope animation.

The film boasts a talented voice acting cast although I certainly did not realize any one of them whether it's Lucy Lawless or Patton Oswalt or Richard E. Grant etc during watching it. It's not amazing but it is apt for the tone and style of the film and does its job i.e it's still good.

I'd wish it was slightly longer and delve a bit deeper into its characters since you hardly connect to most of them strongly as there isn't enough screentime for the majority, but still, overall, it was a great watch. Phillip Gelatt and Morgan Galen King along with the entire team did a wonderful job with this and I'd highly recommend it provided you're fine with the animation style and the adult nature of it. And if i were to rate it, I'd give it an 8/10.

This is an rotoscoped animation film containing several stories, all connected by a common thread. The stories are interesting, if not very original, while the drawing is inspired and very violent. However there is one thing that I could not understand: the movements of the characters, especially during fight scenes, were really slow. It took away from the experience. Surely with all technology we have this could have been addressed somehow.

If you watched Heavy Metal you probably will get similar vibes from this movie. It is 40 years later, though, and Spine of Night doesn't bring too much new to the table.

Bottom line: dark fantasy film which will keep you entertained, but not something really memorable.

I stumbled upon the 2021 animated adventure back in 2021, but I didn't sit down to watch it back then, as I must admit that I just didn't find any appeal in the art style used to bring the tale alive on the screen. Then I stumbled upon it again in 2022, and I opted to sit down and watch it this time.

And I will say that "The Spine of Night" was interesting. It was a rather nicely well-written tale of magic and malevolence. And it certainly is something that will find some appeal with fans of the fantasy and adventure genres, especially so if you are familiar with role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons and such.

The storyline, as written by Philip Gelatt and Morgan Galen King, was actually enthralling and had lots of interesting contents to it. Keep in mind, though, that this is not an animated movie for a younger audience. The contents of the storyline is rather mature, and contains lots of explicit violence and bloodshed, and also nudity.

"The Spine of Night" has a good ensemble of voice actors, with the likes of Lucy Lawless, Richard E. Grant, Patton Oswalt and Larry Fessenden among many others. I especially liked the fact that they had Lucy Lawless to voice the leading role of Tzod, that was just nice.

Visually and in terms of the art style, then "The Spine of Night" does leave for something to be wanted. I mean, the art style and animation is good, but I found it to be a bit crude and could have used with a more artistic touch.

If you enjoy the fantasy genre, then you should give "The Spine of Night" a chance, should you have the opportunity to watch it. I was actually pleasantly surprised with the storyline.

My rating of "The Spine of Night" lands on a six out of ten stars.

I have seen my fair share of animated movies - effortlessly more than 98% of casual viewers. To those who have worked on this movie - if you are reading this - bravo. The story is intriguing. The music spot on. This is obviously a work of passion and homage, but it already feels like one couldn't reliably date it, were it given to someone without telling them when it was produced. This movie will be found and enjoyed by those lucky and inquisitive enough for decades to come!

Going on a tangent: The warring Olympian-Titan myth in this movie is a gem. "The greater the sin, the greater the mercy: the deeper the death and the brighter the rebirth"

And a further side note: Sure, everyone reading this would have seen better animation and have heard a more memorable soundtrack - give me Hans Zimmer and the Ghibli Team and you'd get both. I can think of plenty of movies where the violence (animated or not) is "cool". There's nothing of the sort here.

Morgan Galen King and Philip Gelatt's animated film is strictly for fans of fantasy epics and barbarian flicks, with a strong Conan the Barbarian vibe throughout - an epic tale of magic, bloodshed and tragedy as a cosmic flower of enlightenment from ancient Gods is used instead by tyrannical and megalomaniacal forces. Cue a centuries spanning saga of bloodcurdling violence, with witches, titans, kings and gods and all sorts of unworldly terrors and slaughter. The animators opt for rotoscoping for the human characters, and while some may find this jarring, I actually thought if fits very well with the story being told.

It's great, but only if this kind of tale is your cup of tea to begin with. Absolutely not for kids.