Holy. Hell. The Spine of Night just threw down a bloody gauntlet to all other midnighter films at this year's SXSW Film Festival. Bring your 'A' game cause they've just dropped one hell of a teaser. Indiewire got to break the news and now we have the trailer down below. There is nothing else to say really. You need to see it to believe it.
It brings me right back to my childhood when an animation style like this was groundbreaking stuff. I'm having flashbacks of watching Ralph Bakshi's The Lord of The Rings in grade school and the subsequent PTSD from fearing that my conservative mom would find out, and disapprove. But never in my life would pre-teen Andrew have thought he would have seen something with this level of violence. Holy. Hell.
This epic begins many years ago when an ambitious young man steals forbidden knowledge from a sacred plant and, as he falls to its darker temptations, unleashes ages of suffering onto mankind. As his power grows over the years, there are many who stand against him. Among them are a daring tomb-robber, star-crossed lovers, a maniacal necromancer, winged assassins, and an undying guardian.
THE SPINE OF NIGHT is an ultra-violent, hand-rotoscoped epic fantasy inspired by the cult classic works of animators Ralph Bakshi and Frank Franzetta. The film is set in a fantasy land ripe with magic and intrigue where a dark force is unleashed sending mankind into an age of ruin. It falls on heroes from different eras and cultures to fight back, and stars Richard E. Grant (STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER, BRAM STOKER’S DRACULA), Lucy Lawless (Ash Vs. Evil Dead, Xena: Warrior Princess), Patton Oswalt (THE SECRET LIFE OF PETS 2, Parks and Recreation), Betty Gabriel (GET OUT, UPGRADE), and Joe Manganiello (JUSTICE LEAGUE, SPIDER-MAN), also featuring Abby Savage (Orange Is The New Black), and Larry Fessenden (THE DEAD DON’T DIE, DEPRAVED) and Rob McClure.
The world premiere of The Spine of Night is on March 18th at 8PM CST.