This animated feature is written and directed by Philip Gelatt, who previously made live-action horror pics They Remain and The Bleeding House, and Morgan Galen King; it is an American-made production but one indebted to the style and scope of classic Japanese anime, what with its fusion of 18-certificate worthy violence, steampunk fantasy elements and new age spiritualism. That all makes for a heady, fizzy mix that’s very watchable, probably even more so for viewers open to the use of chemical assistance. Still, there are passages where the narrative throughline gets rather muddled and you can only wonder where those characters with mechanical wings and plague doctor masks suddenly came from (or did you just fall asleep for a minute and imagine them?) It’s best not to think too hard about it and just let the striking imagery and saturated colours wash over your retinas.
