The primary audience for a film of this nature, and one suspects writer-director duo Philip Gelatt and Morgan Galen King knows this, is probably those who enjoy getting high and watching madness unfurl.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 5, 2024

It’s an unabashed celebration of Ralph Bakshi, Frank Frazetta, steam punk, and heavy metal...

| Oct 3, 2023

The Spine of Night is an exceptionally beautifully crafted animation and blends themes of violence with horror and fantasy.

| Sep 4, 2023

It is a rare thing for a film to impress and disappoint at the same time, but that is certainly the case with The Spine of Night.

| Original Score: 5/10 | Nov 28, 2022

The Spine Of Night is a visually impressive tale but one that is too short to deliver on its scope and promise.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 12, 2022

The story and universe help the film land an impact, but The Spine of Night draws you in immediately with its absolutely breathtaking hand-rotoscoped animation.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Sep 22, 2022

If you're going into the film wanting an uber-violent (I cannot stress this enough, the film is impressively gory) and action-packed throwback, then you will be thrilled.

| Original Score: 6/10 | May 17, 2022

This animated horror-fantasy will likely only speak to a select audience. But that target demographic will surely embrace it wholeheartedly.

| Original Score: 4/5 | May 16, 2022

The Spine of Night is a defiantly old school piece of work. Yet whilst it undoubtedly plays with nostalgia, the films overwhelming atmosphere is one of compelling nihilism as it presents us with an impressively rendered onslaught of violence and despair.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 20, 2022

Ultimately, iThe Spine of Night'si throwback animation doesn't quite live up to its creators' ambitions, though Gelatt and King deserve a ton of credit for delivering this love letter to the aesthetic.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 19, 2022

With an epic-scale plot (in a relatively brief running-time) and lots of florid touches, filmmakers Philip Gelatt and Morgan Galen King pack the film with eye-catching action that's fetishistic and outrageously violent.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 31, 2022

If you like your animation with boobs and buckets of blood all done in an uncanny valley then The Spine of Night may bring back good memories.

| Mar 31, 2022

It throws a lot at you, and it's really out of the box and bizarre, but it's a neat movie and it's worth seeing.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Mar 25, 2022

It certainly won’t be everyone and lacks the nuance and Shakespearian intrigue of big-budget fantasies like Games of Thrones and its serialised ilk, but, once seen, it is certainly a visceral tale not easily forgotten.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Mar 24, 2022

For fantasy fans who are sick of elves and want to get beyond the endless narratives about squabbling over thrones, The Spine Of Night offers something appealingly different.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Mar 24, 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.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 23, 2022

Those who embrace The Spine of Night will do so for its bloody and beguiling aesthetics, not for its occasionally wobbly storytelling.

| Mar 22, 2022

A heady, fizzy mix that’s very watchable, probably even more so for viewers open to the use of chemical assistance.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Mar 22, 2022

Achieves everything it wants to do. But this return to the genres rotoscoped glory days doesnt deliver the emotional core it needs to stand out from the crowd.

| Original Score: 3 / 5 | Mar 22, 2022

The Spine of Night may well be the best animated adult fantasy we have seen in years. "Must-see" is all too often bandied about these days, but in this instance, it's crack on the money.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Mar 21, 2022