58
Metascore
9 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 80EmpireKambole CampbellEmpireKambole CampbellThe 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.
- 78Austin ChronicleRichard WhittakerAustin ChronicleRichard WhittakerThe 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.
- 75ObserverRafael MotamayorObserverRafael MotamayorThe 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.
- 67IndieWireDavid EhrlichIndieWireDavid EhrlichEven if The Spine of Night struggles to align its overarching story with the anthology-like shape that it takes, it’s still rare and rewarding to watch a film that makes so few bones about what it wants to be.
- 60The GuardianLeslie FelperinThe GuardianLeslie FelperinIt’s best not to think too hard about it and just let the striking imagery and saturated colours wash over your retinas.
- 50Movie NationRoger MooreMovie NationRoger MooreThe 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.
- 50The New York TimesGlenn KennyThe New York TimesGlenn KennyAlas, all the world-building filmmakers may contrive doesn’t count for much if they don’t put it across visually. And this heavily rotoscoped vision does not get where it needs to be to achieve genuine trippiness.
- 50RogerEbert.comSimon AbramsRogerEbert.comSimon AbramsThe first and maybe biggest problem facing viewers when they watch The Spine of Night is its drab and dramatically inert animation style.
- 50Screen RantFerdosa AbdiScreen RantFerdosa AbdiAs 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.