IMDb RATING
6.3/10
3.1K
YOUR RATING
A virus begins to grip the Earth's population and a group of hopeful survivors are cryogenically frozen in attempt to find a cure. But when the group awakens they are flung into a horrifying... Read allA virus begins to grip the Earth's population and a group of hopeful survivors are cryogenically frozen in attempt to find a cure. But when the group awakens they are flung into a horrifying situation.A virus begins to grip the Earth's population and a group of hopeful survivors are cryogenically frozen in attempt to find a cure. But when the group awakens they are flung into a horrifying situation.
- Awards
- 1 win & 2 nominations total
Kana Hanazawa
- Kasumi Ishiki
- (voice)
Toshiyuki Morikawa
- Marco
- (voice)
Eri Sendai
- Shizuku Ishiki
- (voice)
Sayaka Ôhara
- Katherine Turner
- (voice)
Akiko Yajima
- Tim
- (voice)
Kenji Nomura
- Ron Portman
- (voice)
Shin'ichirô Miki
- Peter
- (voice)
Ayako Kawasumi
- Laura Owen
- (voice)
Misaki Kuno
- Alice Roznovski
- (voice)
Yoshinori Fujita
- Walter
- (voice)
Tsutomu Isobe
- Ivan Coral Vega
- (voice)
Patrick Seitz
- Marco
- (English version)
- (voice)
Brina Palencia
- Kasumi
- (English version)
- (voice)
Stephanie Young
- Katherine Turner
- (English version)
- (voice)
John Swasey
- Ivan
- (English version)
- (voice)
Alexis Tipton
- Shizuki
- (English version)
- (voice)
Bob Carter
- Ron Portman
- (English version)
- (voice)
Featured reviews
December 2012 . Starting mass panic in the world. People in all the cities of the world are dying of unexplained illness , turning into stone statues . The virus affects all humanity scientists call the term " Medusa " or the abbreviation AC I. D. - Acquired hardened cells. UN declares state of emergency .
At the same time a leading corporation in the field of chemistry «Venus Gate» offers its residents a panacea Earth. Their project " cryogenic sleep ," the essence of which is to put a few dozen people in the capsule for long-term sleep - can save humanity . Venue experiment underground laboratory hidden under the old castle . Among the elected girl Kasumi and arrived with her in order to hold it before a long sleep , her sister Sadzuki . They lost their parents during World disease , but because they are given a parting hard. Their personal nobody knows the history of relations largely affect the further course of events . The experiment takes place and after some time the participants wake up to find himself surrounded by monsters.
In the animated anime film " King of Thorn " the authors with amazing fantasy story beat tale " Sleeping Beauty" in the scenery postapocaliptic horror. In the center of the story a few survivors of the experiment. Once alone in the battle with the monstrous creatures , they try to find a way out of the past and find out the reasons of the accident. All laboratory facilities , including an ancient castle itself , orgy spiny tentacles plants , and someone upstairs in the castle tower , watching them , controlling their every move .
The gloomy atmosphere and a dizzying events well keep the viewer in suspense . The film did not reduce the pace , throwing up new heroes of this anime encounters with monsters and unexpected plot twists . Bored while watching you just do not have .
Characters from the authors went out interesting and memorable . Boy Tim, who constantly compares all monsters and all that happens to a computer game . Catherine Tan experiencing maternal feelings for him . Mysterious and picturesque ( not only his character , but also tattooed body ) male Marco Owen .
Do not hesitate , if you should watch the movie "King of Thorn " or not. This is a good intense mystical horror , dynamic fighter and touching drama , imaginatively something in common citations and happening on the screen with many favorite fairy tale. It is unusual , original, witty and not boring.
At the same time a leading corporation in the field of chemistry «Venus Gate» offers its residents a panacea Earth. Their project " cryogenic sleep ," the essence of which is to put a few dozen people in the capsule for long-term sleep - can save humanity . Venue experiment underground laboratory hidden under the old castle . Among the elected girl Kasumi and arrived with her in order to hold it before a long sleep , her sister Sadzuki . They lost their parents during World disease , but because they are given a parting hard. Their personal nobody knows the history of relations largely affect the further course of events . The experiment takes place and after some time the participants wake up to find himself surrounded by monsters.
In the animated anime film " King of Thorn " the authors with amazing fantasy story beat tale " Sleeping Beauty" in the scenery postapocaliptic horror. In the center of the story a few survivors of the experiment. Once alone in the battle with the monstrous creatures , they try to find a way out of the past and find out the reasons of the accident. All laboratory facilities , including an ancient castle itself , orgy spiny tentacles plants , and someone upstairs in the castle tower , watching them , controlling their every move .
The gloomy atmosphere and a dizzying events well keep the viewer in suspense . The film did not reduce the pace , throwing up new heroes of this anime encounters with monsters and unexpected plot twists . Bored while watching you just do not have .
Characters from the authors went out interesting and memorable . Boy Tim, who constantly compares all monsters and all that happens to a computer game . Catherine Tan experiencing maternal feelings for him . Mysterious and picturesque ( not only his character , but also tattooed body ) male Marco Owen .
Do not hesitate , if you should watch the movie "King of Thorn " or not. This is a good intense mystical horror , dynamic fighter and touching drama , imaginatively something in common citations and happening on the screen with many favorite fairy tale. It is unusual , original, witty and not boring.
It seems, that last generation of Japanese writers are obliged to create story around school-girls and huge bodybuilders. They got great ideas and smash em at the dumbest characters.
After interesting prelude outline and impressive visual you had to watch talking patterns until you eventually start scrolling timeline.
Compare to this decade King of Thorn not that bad. Good visual, multicultural characters, lots of fanservice, but with zero art ambitions. I understand why.. but still is a shame.
Compare to this decade King of Thorn not that bad. Good visual, multicultural characters, lots of fanservice, but with zero art ambitions. I understand why.. but still is a shame.
I found the story to be pretty interesting the whole way through the film. Everything else was kinda inconsistent. Sometimes the audio was incredible and then another random time I'd notice a stock sound effect being used or a sound effect peaking. Visually there are some amazing shots but then there are the weird CGI visuals that don't quite work. This is definitely a film I enjoyed despite its pretty obvious flaws. Its definitely worth checking out and it seems like something I would watch Again despite my mixed feelings.
I knew nothing about King of Thorn going in, except that it is a horror anime. Its story begins to unfold with a sense of dread that is very palpable and unique. Nothing violent or apocalyptic occurs within the first 30 minutes or so but, without spoiling the story, those 30 minutes are very dreadful in terms of what looms on the horizon for a set of characters that have a mysterious disease. I remember feeling as emotionally frightened when I read the first third of The Stand, at a younger age, but King of Thorn managed a similar emotional tone without a story of massive, apocalyptic outbreak. The world of King of Thorn manages keep a tentative handle on the disease that plagues it and the dread comes from the sacrifice that the main characters decide on to find a cure, placing their well being in the care of a questionable corporation and tossing away their lives as they've know them.
That is the feeling I had in the first act of this movie. By the second act things become a bit more conventional. The second and some of the third act become survival horror in the vein of similar Japanese stories like Resident Evil. This does not take from the compelling nature of the story and its mystery, but did not feel as rare a story experience as the first act.
The third act however, is filled with exposition that is difficult to follow and otherwise loses interest for me. At one point things become more "anime sci-fi" (a concept I simply cannot explain well), which is not a problem; expect that I didn't feel the story up to that point was building toward it. It felt less creditable for me.
The last 20 minutes, things become very muddled and subplots for the remaining survivors and their true motivations get tangled up in a more and more nonsensical plot. Things become more fanciful for the sake of animation visuals and sci-fi explanations for such events, if not ignored, seem to be quickly served out. More interesting, if you can trudge through these problems, is the ultimate twist ending involving the young female protagonist.
And my major complaint with King of Thorn, however, is that many action scenes switch from the otherwise traditional 2D anime style, to a cell shaded CGI animation process. It's 3D computer animation that is processed to look flat and try to mesh with the majority of the rest of the movie's hand drawn style. No doubt this was a cheaper way for the animation team to create complex action scenes and have more control, but the two styles do not mesh well. The cell-shaded CGI is not as glossy in color as the 2D animation and also misses many drawing details, like grime and dirt on the characters faces. Inexperienced anime viewers might not pick up on the switch all the time, but may still feel the action scenes have an odd movement and don't quite sit right.
That is the feeling I had in the first act of this movie. By the second act things become a bit more conventional. The second and some of the third act become survival horror in the vein of similar Japanese stories like Resident Evil. This does not take from the compelling nature of the story and its mystery, but did not feel as rare a story experience as the first act.
The third act however, is filled with exposition that is difficult to follow and otherwise loses interest for me. At one point things become more "anime sci-fi" (a concept I simply cannot explain well), which is not a problem; expect that I didn't feel the story up to that point was building toward it. It felt less creditable for me.
The last 20 minutes, things become very muddled and subplots for the remaining survivors and their true motivations get tangled up in a more and more nonsensical plot. Things become more fanciful for the sake of animation visuals and sci-fi explanations for such events, if not ignored, seem to be quickly served out. More interesting, if you can trudge through these problems, is the ultimate twist ending involving the young female protagonist.
And my major complaint with King of Thorn, however, is that many action scenes switch from the otherwise traditional 2D anime style, to a cell shaded CGI animation process. It's 3D computer animation that is processed to look flat and try to mesh with the majority of the rest of the movie's hand drawn style. No doubt this was a cheaper way for the animation team to create complex action scenes and have more control, but the two styles do not mesh well. The cell-shaded CGI is not as glossy in color as the 2D animation and also misses many drawing details, like grime and dirt on the characters faces. Inexperienced anime viewers might not pick up on the switch all the time, but may still feel the action scenes have an odd movement and don't quite sit right.
I do enjoy a good anime film, but man, they certainly do not believe in happily ever after for most of these things. Sure, you may not get a total downer of an ending, but you can bet that lots of stuff are going to be messed up with many many deaths! This one depressed the hell out of me as I kept watching wondering what was going to be the end result.
The story, a strange virus dubbed Medusa has begun as it literally turns those infected into stone. A group of 169 are chosen to go into cryogenic sleep to wait out a cure for the disease. Among those a young girl whose sister also suffers from the Medusa virus, but was not chosen. The young girl wakes up amidst a sea of thorns and soon everyone is woken only to encounter strange creatures who begin attacking. The majority killed by some horrific beast living in an elevator shaft, the remaining people must figure out what has happened to them and the world.
The story is very good, it does become more of a science fiction anime towards the end though, but it managed to work. I liked the characters and hated the fate of so many of them.
So, we get people trapped in an almost gothic style castle as beasts of some type roam the place looking for food. Though as we progress we learn more and more about the cause of this strange predicament and one of the characters figures it out in the end. I almost got what the twist was going to be, but it still managed to surprise me quite a bit as I did not get the total twist.
The story, a strange virus dubbed Medusa has begun as it literally turns those infected into stone. A group of 169 are chosen to go into cryogenic sleep to wait out a cure for the disease. Among those a young girl whose sister also suffers from the Medusa virus, but was not chosen. The young girl wakes up amidst a sea of thorns and soon everyone is woken only to encounter strange creatures who begin attacking. The majority killed by some horrific beast living in an elevator shaft, the remaining people must figure out what has happened to them and the world.
The story is very good, it does become more of a science fiction anime towards the end though, but it managed to work. I liked the characters and hated the fate of so many of them.
So, we get people trapped in an almost gothic style castle as beasts of some type roam the place looking for food. Though as we progress we learn more and more about the cause of this strange predicament and one of the characters figures it out in the end. I almost got what the twist was going to be, but it still managed to surprise me quite a bit as I did not get the total twist.
Did you know
- TriviaBefore the doors on the cryogenic tubes close, you can just briefly catch that the display monitor reads "NO MAN".
- GoofsWhen looking at the computers in the security room, "October" is misspelled as "Octorber".
- Quotes
Marco: Perhaps all of us are only a dream of somebody.
- ConnectionsReferenced in SciFi Japan TV: Anime x Tokusatsu: The Big O (2013)
- How long is King of Thorn?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Languages
- Also known as
- King of Thorn
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime
- 2h(120 min)
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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