The Spine of Night Trailer Takes You on a Heady, Gory Fever Trip

The Spine of Night Trailer Takes You on a Heady, Gory Fever Trip

Philip Gelatt and Morgan Galen King are heading to SXSW next week with one hell of a movie if this trailer’s anything to go by.

Ahead of its premiere at the festival (virtual, of course) next week, Gelatt and Galen King revealed the first trailer for their rotoscope-animated fantasy movie, The Spine of Night. Set in a mystical world ravaged by mysterious dark forces, the film follows “heroes from different eras and cultures” that come together to defeat said forces before humanity falls altogether. All that sounds like pretty standard fantasy fare, but then, well…just watch it in action:

The rotoscope animation lends a strange surreality to it all, aided by a wild colour scape that means the moments of gore — and there’s a lot of that — really stand out, even as they’re not particularly lingered on in the trailer. Throw in the fact that it stars Richard E. Grant and Lucy Lawless (the former of whom you hear briefly at the end), and you’ve got us intrigued.

Spine of Night — which also stars Patton Oswalt, Betty Gabriel, Joe Manganiello, Abby Savage, Larry Fessenden, and Rob McClure–will debut at SXSW next week, where U.S. audiences will be able to watch it by registering here.