Tzod (Lucy Lawless), a high priestess from a jungle based tribe, goes on a journey to destroy an unholy power that has plunged the world into darkness.

The Spine of Night boasts an impressive array of actors, such as Richard E. Grant, Parton Oswalt, Lucy Lawless and Joe Manganiello…to name but a few.

It’s an animation that barks back to the days of classics like ‘Fire & ice’ and ‘Heavy Metal’. It’s an infusion of brutal violence and cosmic horror, and I’m happy to say it works very well.

The imagery is striking, with some of it good enough to be used as still images to adorn your wall. It’s violent, full of action and the rotoscope style is a nostalgic dream.

The voice acting is also very good, and each actor really throws themselves into the role. The story hooks you from the opening scene and this definitely something I would like to see more of from other filmmakers. We need to bring this style back.

A Scanner Darkly was another movie that employed a similar style of animation, but you could still see the actual actor under the surface art. With this it’s more on the art side rather than the live action, but I like that.

The Spine of Night is a Shudder exclusive, and is available to stream via their app now. However, those wanting a physical copy can pick one up now from all good stockists.

4/5

JM