ANI-MOVIES, *The Spine Of Night

Horror movie writer-turned animator Philip Gellat had worked on Netflix's Love, Death And Robots animated anthology, and developed a full-length feature in the spirit of that TV series. Along with Morgan Galen King, he took the concept of Ralph Bakshi's earlier works like The Lord Of The Rings plus Fire And Ice into a new adult dark fantasy which similar to the Netflix series is a selection of short stories connected to a central theme. Shot entirely in the nearly lost craft of rotoscoping, The Spine Of Night has the feel of a Frank Frazetta painting brought to life.

The swamp witch Tzod was killed centuries ago by a selfish prince, and her necklace of magic flowers called the Bloom was taken away by Ghar-Sul, a scholar who uses the flowers enchanted properties to greatly extend his lifespan. Ghar-Sul eventually took control of his fellow scholars, and their collected knowledge allowed the now unkillable magic user to form his own empire throughout the ages. Tzod is resurrected by a lost fragment of the Bloom to seek out the flower's original source, which she tracks to a large skull at the top of a mountain maintained by a withered guardian who tells her the Bloom is the last fragments of power left over from a race of gods that early mankind killed. A daring team of flying assassins manage to infiltrate Ghar-Sul's empire in an effort to kill him, which instead leads to the last of his Bloom supply. Noticing the last embers of the Bloom's light where he meets once again with Tzod, Ghar-Sul has a final battle with the swamp witch now taking up the task of the fallen guardian.

This movie is what Masters Of The Universe fans pictured their favorite toyline would be before the campy TV series put the barbaric fantasy on training wheels, except this is clearly not meant for younger viewers. Nudity, gore, and questionable drug use make The Spine Of Night a seriously mature feature. It is sure to make old school animation geeks filled with nostalgia with the more realistic animated motions and scenes of sheer bloody violence.