Spine of Night

Shudder has recently been killing it with their exclusives in the last year. Consider Spine of the Night, their most recent success. A cosmic horror rotoscoped gorefest in the vein of the 1980s movies Heavy Metal and Ice and Fire. This movie is one of the best fantasy flicks to come out in recent years and has easily taken the cake for one of the best genre movies to come out all year.

CW: Extreme violence

The Spine of Night opens with a witch named Tzod, voiced by Lucy Lawless. We get introduced to her as she's climbing a desolate mountain with a skull planted on the top. When she reaches the skull we get introduced to a flower called The Bloom, and it’s being guarded by a mysterious man only known as The Guardian, who has remained at his post for generations and protected The Bloom from being used by man. The Bloom is a magical flower that lets mankind see into the universe, but it also gives mankind unlimited power and potential. Tzod once had access to The Bloom and used it to help her people. It is then we also get introduced to The Mongrel, or rather, the man who becomes The Mongrel, who uses this Bloom to become a tyrant. The movie is set up as two characters telling stories about the power of The Bloom, how it can lead to cruelty and corruption, and how we can stop it. 

This movie is unrelenting in its violence and gore. Faces are burned off with fire, humans are cut in half, heads are cut into pieces, people have their bones broken one bone at a time. The movie shows you all the gore. It’s not one for the squeamish. The movie also has a lot of non-sexualized animated nudity. Which is something more movies should embrace. Let’s end the taboo of movie nudity and normalize the penis. The Spine of Night is a wild ride, and the animation alone is a standout.

Rotoscope animation is one of my favorite kinds of animation, mostly for how uncanny it is. I first came across is in A Scanner Darkly, then I watched Heavy Metal later in my life and both of those movies blew me away with their style. This movie is no different. The animation is amazing, it’s gory, visceral, uncanny, trippy, and fascinating. The movie demands your attention just for its quality in animation. The movie is easily the best animated features of the year, and maybe even one of the best movies of the year.

Everything below this line is a spoiler, if you want my opinion, I loved this movie. If you’re a fan of cosmic horror, fantasy, or animation I strongly suggest that you watch this film. If you want to watch this movie, you can currently buy or rent it. It will be available on Shudder in the near future.

At the core of this movie we have The Bloom and the secret it holds. The humans who ingest The Bloom and gain its power also gain unlimited knowledge. They learn about everything the world and even the universe has to offer. The core lesson they learn is that life has no meaning or purpose. Our purpose in life is to live and survive. Outside of our survival, The Gods, the sons of Gods, the sons of the sons of Gods, the universe, none of it cares about it. The Guardian(s) take it upon themselves to keep The Bloom hidden from mankind, because they would rather us be ignorant to the universe, because as they say, ignorance is bliss. It’s such a grim and bleak outlook that even when the tyrant is finally killed at the end, there’s no joy in his death, because everything has no meaning, and it just leaves you feeling cold (in a good way).

This is a movie that demands attention. Movies like this need support so we can get more experimental movies. Supporting odd or experiential films will help keep movies and animation fresh. Go experience the cold embrace of the universe, get acquainted with nothingness, and enjoy yourself some violent, grimdark fantasy.

Review by Richard Gerlach