Streaming Service: Shudder
Movie Name/Year: The Spine of Night (2022)
Genre: Animation, Action, Adventure
Length: 93 minutes
Rating: Unrated
Production/Distribution: Gorgonaut, Reno Productions, Koch Films, Velvet
Spoon, Wild Duck Productions, Freaks On, RLJE Films, Shudder
Directors: Philip Gelatt, Morgan
Galen Kingr
Writers: Philip Gelatt, Morgan Galen King
Actors: Richard E. Grant, Lucy Lawless,
Patton Oswalt, Betty Gabriel, Joe Manganiello, Patrick Breen, Larry Fessenden,
Jason Gore, Maggie Lakis, Tom Lipinski, Nina Lisandrello, Rob McClure, Malcolm
Mills, Abigail Savage, Jordan Douglas Smith
IMDb Blurb: Ultra-violent, epic fantasy set
in a land of magic follows heroes from different eras and cultures battling
against a malevolent force.
Cat’s Point of View:
The Spine of Night
was both a surprising delight and grisly spectacle that has seared itself into
my mind forever.
That being said, I’m afraid this movie will suffer from a
very niche target audience. I happen to wholeheartedly live in their
demographic, though. Before I get into why I adored this film, I do need to
provide a disclaimer – which ties in with why I’m afraid The Spine of Night might struggle a bit.
While animated, The
Spine of Night is absolutely not suitable for children whatsoever. Hard no.
This is not a ‘cartoon.’ Aside from the generic full frontal nudity of male and
female characters alike, it was a bloody gore-fest of violence.
We’re talking skull-splitting, evisceration, and immolation in
grand animated glory. This has to be one of the most brutal things I have ever
experienced. But hey, there’s zero sex involved with The Spine of Night. The nakedness of
characters is only a backdrop. That’s just how they culturally dressed (or didn’t,
as the case may be). Honestly, though, if you’re watching people being cleaved
in half and disemboweled, a few nondescript bits of anatomical pieces bobbing
around on screen shouldn’t be an issue. I digress…
Now that’s out of the way, let’s get into the good stuff.
My primary concern for The
Spine of Night was the fact that it was pitched as an anthology. As I mentioned in
the March 2022 Top 20 article, my relationship with that particular
film framework is a bit strained. It left me a little guarded with a hint of
trepidation for The Spine of Night. I
was so excited after the trailer that I was dreading something like that
messing the experience up for me.
The good news is that I hardly noticed. If this was supposed
to be an anthology, it is the most seamless one I’ve ever seen. The Spine of Night flowed smoothly
through its story, which was mostly told through flashbacks. Speaking of flashing
back, I was hit with all sorts of nostalgia because this felt so much
like Heavy Metal (1981). This sort of
narrative could have even been in the same universe with the story arc from
that classic.
Other than some bits of the ultra-violence, the only thing
that remotely put me off even a little was the animation style, itself. I’m not
the biggest fan of the rotoscope style, in this fashion. The Spine of Night made it work, however. The overall production
was simply gorgeous. The contrast between the characters and the breathtaking
backgrounds was interesting more often than distracting.
The story made my sword and sorcery fantasy-loving heart
happy.
Out of all the streaming services available, Shudder is the
perfect place for The Spine of Night
to call home. You’ll be able to catch it there as a Shudder Exclusive starting
Thursday, March 24th.
Rotten
Tomatoes Critic Score – 76%
Rotten
Tomatoes Audience Score – 62%
Metascore – 57%
Metacritic
User Score – 7.6/10
IMDB
Score – 6.2/10
Trust
the Dice: Parental Advisory Rating –
R (borderline NC-17)
Trust
the Dice: Cat’s Rating – 4/5
Movie
Trailer:
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