Can adult fantasy animation still find its audience? The team behind “The Spine of Night” hopes the answer is a resounding yes. If anything, ‘Night’ feels most at home echoing back to the revered cult classic “Heavy Metal.” The glowing orb that gives “Heavy Metal” its gateways for anthology stories replaced this time by an all too natural element.
READ MORE: ‘The Spine Of Night’ Is Blood-Soaked Animated Eye Candy [SXSW Review]
‘Night’ includes a talented cast of actors, with Richard E. Grant, Lucy Lawless, Patton Oswalt, Betty Gabriel, and Joe Manganiello lending their voices to the project. Lawless heads up the cast as Tzod —a strong warrior in search of knowledge. It’s a role the actress is familiar with after years of portraying Xena on the popular TV series of the same name. Richard E. Grant also presents a memorable character in The Guardian. This is the second 2021 role to put Grant on pop culture radars — the first being his spot-on performance as Classic Loki on the Disney+ series “Loki.”
‘Night’ hails from writer/directors Philip Gelatt and Morgan Galen King. King notably delves into the same themes of the film with 2013’s “Exordium.” The animated short touches on fantasy and adventure aspects; its core story includes warriors as well as an enemy that goes beyond imagination. Gelatt himself is no stranger to animation having contributed to Netflix’s “Love, Death, & Robots.” His 2018 film “They Remain” advances into the live-action realm with visual influences distinctly akin to graphic novels.
Here’s the film’s official synopsis:
In ‘The Spine of Night,’ an ultra-violent fantasy epic, ancient dark magic falls into sinister hands and unleashes ages of suffering onto mankind. A group of heroes from different eras and cultures must band together in order to defeat it at all costs.
A warrior’s journey is just the beginning in “The Spine of Night.” The anthology premieres in theaters, on-demand, and digital on October 29. It’s also scheduled to hit the Shudder streaming service in 2022. Get your first look at the trailer below.