The Spine of Night 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		5.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.0

The Spine of Night 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Now with German engineering.

Reviewed by Randy Miller III October 18, 2022

Morgan Galen King's The Spine of Night is a new rotoscoped fantasy film that immediately brings to mind 1980s cult classics like Heavy Metal and Fire and Ice, not to mention more traditional era-specific fare such as Rankin/Bass' The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, Conan, and even He-Man. It should come as no surprise, then, that these productions were formative favorites of the director, whose lifelong dreams of producing his own rotoscoped work came to fruition with a few short films in the early 2010s. The Spine of Night is a natural extension of those seeds. While its narrative isn't all that engaging in spots and the art style is as crude as it is charming, the ridiculous level of violence on display here will certainly appeal to hardcore gore-hounds. (If that doesn't work, there's lots of nudity too.)

Co-directed and co-written with Philip Gelatt, King's film concerns a handful of characters whose lives are greatly affected -- and usually shortened -- by a mysterious blue plant known as "The Bloom" that grants its bearer god-like powers. The first is Tzod (Lucy Lawless), a fierce and almost fully nude priestess who, after meeting "The Guardian" (Richard E. Grant), frames the story with her own tale of loss. After her people are slain by the barbarian Mongrel (Joe Manganiello), she's taken to the lecherous Lord Pyrantin (Patton Oswalt); Tzod attacks and horrifically scars him and is thrown in prison along with a scholar known as Ghal-Sur (Jordan Douglas Smith), and her jungle home of Bastahl is burned to the ground. After their sudden escape, she's betrayed by the scholar, left to die, and Tzod's scarf of petals from "The Bloom" is stolen from around her neck. While the ownership of this treasure doesn't pinball as The Spine of Night guides us through several eras and scenarios, it attempts to show how The Bloom's power corrupts but may also restore balance to the broken world. In other words, nothing too out-of-bounds for fantasy entertainment.

The Spine of Night's rotoscoped animation stays faithful to format roots, running at 12 frames per second and with a fluid style of movement that feels surreal and almost dreamlike in its appearance. (This can negatively impact some of the action which feels rather slow, like fighting underwater or, well, in a dream.) The character designs are crude but charming; not especially attractive in most cases, but they stand out against the frequently jaw-dropping backgrounds which show a much greater level of detail. The film's main weakness, however, just might be its biggest selling point: the brutal violence, which is so casually exaggerated that's almost numbing after the first 30 minutes. (In contrast, the mostly non-sexual nudity at least feels natural given the subject matter, but may scare off a few Puritans.) One thing's for sure, though: it was unusually hard to get safe-for-work screenshots this time around. Voice acting is also a little hit-or-miss: Lawless is an inspired choice and an obvious standout, but some of the supporting/background characters feel out of place and the recording quality doesn't always match their environments very well.

I've got a feeling there's middle ground between this film and something that could truly propel the genre forward rather than being more of a reverent throwback, but The Spine of Night is still impressive from a technical standpoint and those who like their fantasy fare completely unfiltered will likely be fully captivated by its charms.

Earlier this year, Image Entertainment released a 4K/Blu-ray Steelbook combo pack and a standard Blu-ray for Region 1/A fans, but this recent Mediabook edition from Germany-based Koch Media is a stronger and more worthwhile effort overall. In addition to a better technical presentation (detailed below), extra bonus features, and really nice packaging, all disc content is English-friendly and the extras are available on both discs. Perhaps its only two mild drawbacks are that the included Blu-ray is Region B locked and the 40-page booklet is entirely in German. Schieße!

The Spine of Night 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Much like its Region A 4K counterpart, this 2160p transfer of The Spine of Night is upscaled from a 2K source but easily surpasses that earlier release for two reasons. One is simply better treatment of its source, as the film now appears in its original 1.85:1 aspect ratio rather than being slightly cropped. Although the new information on both sides isn't exactly a revelation, the image as a whole shows more texture and grain detail from the lack of zooming; it's also a bit darker, which seems to suit the film's tone. The other factor is the addition of HDR10 / Dolby Vision enhancement (both curiously absent from the Region 1 4K) that brings additional punch to some of the film's more vivid uses of color like open flames, Tzod's blue flower, the more expressive and silhouette-heavy sequence during this film's second half, otherworldly lights, and more. These moments dot The Spine of Night's landscape rather than dominate, but they leave a strong enough impression to made this HDR grade worth the price of admission for die-hard fans.

Not surprisingly, the included Blu-ray is taken from the same superior source and, providing you're set up for Region B playback, might offer a solid enough improvement on its own to justify a purchase. This is a terrific 1080p presentation that improves upon the Region A Blu-ray and shares similar highlights with the included 4K disc: the original 1.85:1 aspect ratio, a slightly darker and more grain-heavy image, accurate color reproduction (within the boundaries of SDR), strong black levels, carefully-controlled contrast, and an overall very clean and stable image that doesn't suffer from any signs of banding, edge enhancement, softness, or compression artifacts. This was the disc used for all my included screenshots and offers a pretty accurate representation of what it'll look like on a properly calibrated display.

The Spine of Night 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The included DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio mix -- offered in both its native English and a German dub -- sounds more or less identical to track included on both Image Entertainment's 4K/Blu-ray Steelbook combo pack and standard Blu-ray. Please note that no optional English subtitles are included here on either disc -- only German.

The Spine of Night 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This two-disc release ships in a limited matte-finish Digibook with metallic highlights that extend to the spine and back cover. Inside, the visuals continue with 40 pages of artwork and German-language essays about the film and genre as a whole. Both discs feature artwork as well and, overall, this is just a really awesome-looking piece that die-hard fans will appreciate. The bonus features listed below are similar to Image's Region 1 releases but there are three new additions. Although all of these extras are thankfully presented in English, most include forced German subtitles.

• NEW! Audio Commentary - This scene-specific track pairs up co-writers / co-directors Philip Gelatt and Morgan Galen King; it's a pretty casual and chatty track that expectedly covers a lot of ground from start to finish. A few highlights include exchanging e-mail with the Faces of Death people, early short films (two of which are included on this release -- see below), the festival circuit, formative fantasy films, developing and tweaking early drafts, animating an exploding horse, paper knives, costume designs and backgrounds, shooting live-action footage, favorite moments, cutting and rearranging scenes, working with a pro wrestler, and much more.

• The Making of "The Spine of Night" (29:49) - This featurette lightly the covers the film's long seven-year production, as well as writer/director/animator Morgan Galen King's lifelong fascinating with sword, sorcery, and horror fare including He-Man, Rankin/Bass' The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, Heavy Metal, and Creepshow 2. He also speaks about other pursuits -- music, comics, and earlier animated efforts including Exordium and Mongrel, which are included as extras. Other participants include director/writer/producer Philip Gelatt, Morgan's wife Megan Fuller, and several actors in costume presumably during the rotoscoping process.

• Short Films - These two early animated films, directed by Morgan Galen King, are very similar in style to The Spine of Night with rotoscopted animation (much of it done by King himself over a period of several months), a strong Heavy Metal vibe, brutal violence, and even a few familiar characters. Although slightly rougher around the edges, they're impressive in their own right and well worth watching for fans of the main feature.

• "Mongrel" (2012, 2:50) - King's first short, fully animated by him during a six-month period, follows "Mongrel" (The Spine of Night's barbarian) as he defies the orders of a violent ape king.
• "Exordium" (2013, 8:01) - Featuring very similar characters and story elements to The Spine of Night (which is advertised as this short film's sequel), Exordium tells the tale of a bearded man who brutally slays the keeper of a mysterious blue flower that grants him god-like powers.

• NEW! Original Teaser (1:20) - Also available on creator Morgan King's YouTube channel.

• NEW! Original Trailer (1:53) - Likewise, you can watch it here.

The Spine of Night 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Morgan Galen King's The Spine of Night is a reverent visual throwback to the age of Heavy Metal, Fire and Ice, and other genre cult classics. Fans of those films will be excited to have anything that keeps the rotoscope dream alive... which is probably good, since its story doesn't really carve out much new territory for the genre. But while there's room for narrative improvement, The Spine of Night is absolutely electric at times even if the sky-high level of blood and guts sometimes works against it. Koch Media's limited Digibook 4K/Blu-ray combo pack handily beats Image Entertainment's Region 1 4K/Blu-ray Steelbook with a better transfer on both discs, more extras, and cooler packaging, although there are a few language-related drawbacks. This one's worth the extra cash, but it's for established fans only.