Film Review: The Spine Of Night

The Spine Of Night is an animated fantasy film from a collaboration between Philip Gelatt and Morgan Galen King. It is done through the style of rotoscoping, which, for those who don’t know, involves animators tracing over live action footage, a technique developed and popularized by Max Fleischer, and famously used extensively by Ralph Bakshi, and even in recent stuff like the Richard Linklater films, Waking Life and A Scanner Darkly, and the Amazon series, Undone. The story involves a woman, Tzod (Lucy Lawless), traveling up a mountain seeking a mystical blue blossom, but is being prevented by The Guardian (Richard E. Grant).

It is up to the Guardian to stop anyone from getting to the blossom, slaying them down if necessary. However, Tzod is desperate, and has traveled from very far, and has experienced the power of this blossom firsthand. She tells him that the power has already made its way into the world, and she begins to tell him stories from various eras about what happens when the blossom ends up in the wrong hands, stories that involve folks like a corrupt prince, Lord Pyrantin (Patton Oswalt), a barbarian named Mongrel (Joe Manganiello), a warrior called Phae-Agura (Betty Gabriel), a character referred to as the Prophet of Doom (Larry Fessenden).

The film has clear influences from the like of Heavy Metal, and Ralph Bakshi’s Fire And Ice. It’s total pulp fantasy full of casual nudity, grisly violence with buckets of blood, and somewhat wonky ideas and imagery that feels like it would be better enjoyed if you were high. And that is not a complaint, by the way, it is very much a part of the charm for a film as unabashedly weird and out there like this, and if that sounds like you’re cup of tea, this is definitely a film that you should seek out and support.

The rotoscoping is very well done, and executed in a way that has some obvious but intentional rough around the edges qualities. It feels like a long lost product of the 80s, and less like something you’d see nowadays. There’s a lot of beauty to observe even in some of the rougher elements, and the animators are clearly having a blast indulging in all the stuff that we don’t typically see in western animation because its dominated by projects geared towards younger audiences, or plays strongly into comedy if it’s for adults. This is a refreshing watch, and a really cool stylistic exercise.

Of course, if you go into this expecting something deep, I don’t think you’ll get much out of it. It is an exercise in genre and style through and through, and the fun comes out of seeing the filmmakers and animators indulge in all these things. And with its 93 minute runtime, it goes by really fast, making a strong impression along the way. The various stories are all intriguing, filled with colorful and larger-than-life characters, and brutal action that has a lot of weight and impact.

There’s not a whole lot to dig into with something like The Spine Of Night, it comes at you with a clear intention, and you’re either going to be on board for it or not, and I was totally in for the ride. It’s a clear labor of love from the filmmakers involved, and I would love to see a return of these kinds of adult oriented animation that doesn’t focus on comedy alone. It sucks you into its world, its characters, but without expecting you to absorb an absurd amount of lore. The voice cast is all around terrific as well, bringing a lot of life and vibrancy to these characters. I had a great time, and if you were bummed that David Fincher and Tim Miller’s attempts to bring forth a new Heavy Metal got scrapped before they created Love, Death & Robots, this will definitely scratch that itch.

The Spine Of Night is now out in select theaters and VOD platforms.