The Spine of Night

Name: The Spine of Night
Genre: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Horror
Released: October 29, 2021
Duration: 93 min
Rating: 58
Cast: Betty Gabriel, Jason Gore, Joe Manganiello, Larry Fessenden, Lucy Lawless

2021

METASCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 9 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 7 Ratings

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7.7

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7.7	Your Score
7.7	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 7 Ratings

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The Spine Of Night (Teaser Trailer 1)

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Movie Details & Credits

RLJE Films | Release Date: October 29, 2021 | Not Rated

Starring: Betty Gabriel, Jason Gore, Joe Manganiello, Larry Fessenden, Lucy Lawless, Maggie Lakis, Patrick Breen, Patton Oswalt, Richard E. Grant, Tom Lipinski

Summary: This epic fantasy tale, about the history of a land that never was, begins when an ambitious young man steals forbidden knowledge from a sacred plant. He falls to its darker temptations and in so doing, unleashes ages of suffering onto mankind. As his power grows over the years, it falls to people of different ilk and culture to attempt toThis epic fantasy tale, about the history of a land that never was, begins when an ambitious young man steals forbidden knowledge from a sacred plant. He falls to its darker temptations and in so doing, unleashes ages of suffering onto mankind. As his power grows over the years, it falls to people of different ilk and culture to attempt to stop him. Among those who stand against him are a daring tomb-robber, star-crossed lovers, a maniacal necromancer, winged assassins, and an undying guardian.… Expand

Director: Morgan Galen King and Philip Gelatt

Genre(s): Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Horror, Animation

Rating: Not Rated

Runtime: 93 min

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Critic Reviews

Empire Kambole Campbell

Mar 22, 2022

The Spine Of Night is here to satiate the cravings of those who miss a particular brand of animated storytelling, updated with added psychedelic fervour and plenty of extra-gnarly bloodshed. Read full review

Richard Whittaker

Oct 28, 2021

The longer you are immersed in this exchange of stories, of hope dying against darkness but proving its value just by its glimmers, the more it enthralls. Read full review

Rafael Motamayor

Oct 7, 2021

The Spine of Night serves as an entertaining, action-heavy, gnarly throwback to the hyper-violent, high-fantasy rotoscoped animation of the 1980s that nevertheless suffers from a small production, muddled voice directing, and the usual problems of the animation technique. Read full review

The Guardian Leslie Felperin

Mar 24, 2022

It’s best not to think too hard about it and just let the striking imagery and saturated colours wash over your retinas. Read full review

Movie Nation Roger Moore

Oct 26, 2021

The Spine of Night is a reasonably good-looking — and gory — animated sword and sorcery saga for adults, a movie set in a wholly-realized fantasy world, but lacking a story or characters that invite us to invest ourselves in their fate. Read full review

RogerEbert.com Simon Abrams

Oct 29, 2021

The first and maybe biggest problem facing viewers when they watch The Spine of Night is its drab and dramatically inert animation style. Read full review

Ferdosa Abdi

Mar 31, 2022

As the film marches to its conclusion, one will have some appreciation for the rotoscoping animation, the score, and the voice work from some of the actors. However, the murky narrative structure and the lack of a central protagonist only works against all the gory goodwill the film possessed. Read full review

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User Reviews

LongDarkBlues

Apr 1, 2022

So unique and weird and awesome, with an eye to genre classics and an eye to modernizing them.

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BarrowBeacon

Nov 2, 2021

This is the coolest thing I've seen in ages. It's trippy, ambitious, and weird, and the unusual story structure is a welcome change of pace.

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Spartan_117

Nov 8, 2021

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 becauseThe 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.… Expand

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