Mad God‘s gorgeously ghastly stop-motion animation is heading to Shudder next month
Special effects pioneer Phil Tippett’s feature directorial debut will be available for streaming
Aux News Mad God
People throw the word “visionary” around, but unless you’ve envisioned a sentient blob with undulating udders stomping on mummies, you’ve hardly earned the distinction. Animation and special effects legend Phil Tippett is finally getting the chance to widen the scope of his cinematic vision: Mad God, his stop-motion-animated monstrosity of a feature directorial debut over 30 years in the making, finally arrives on Shudder next month.
The Oscar and Emmy award-winning Tippett is best known for his pioneering effects in Jurassic Park, Robocop, and Star Wars films. Fans of his dazzlingly innovative and bizarre designs include Steven Spielberg, Paul Verhooven, and Guillermo Del Toro—the latter calling him “the man of a thousand creatures.” Judging by the exclusive, newly released Mad God trailer, the writer-director has released all “thousand” of them into one fantastically macabre, eye-poppingly twisted hellscape. Fun!
Here’s the film’s logline:
Mad God is an experimental animated film set in a world of monsters, mad scientists and war pigs. A corroded diving bell descends amidst a ruined city, settling down upon an ominous fortress guarded by zombie-like sentries. The Assassin emerges to explore a labyrinth of bizarre, desolate landscapes inhabited by freakish denizens. Through unexpected twists and turns, he experiences an evolution beyond his wildest comprehension. A labour of love that has taken 30 years to complete, Mad God combines live-action and stop-motion, miniature sets and other innovative techniques to bring Tippett’s wholly unique and grotesquely beautiful vision to life.
Screenings of Tippet’s magnum opus had horror and animation cinephiles foaming at the mouth last year; at Locarno Film Festival, Fantastic Fest, and others, it earned the sorts of awards that signal an instant cult classic. In The A.V. Club’s review, we called Mad God “an act of creation that’s not hemmed in by any conventional rules of storytelling.”
Stream Mad God on Shudder on June 16 to see for yourself.
10 Comments
I’m most looking forward to when my buddy who is notoriously apathetic to most movies watches this film that took 30 years of dedicated craft to make, and says, “It’s all right”.
Idk man, other than the clearly 16:9 frame and modern looking title card, this looks like some 1984 special effects, all herky jerky. 2/10
a pain I know all too well.
Two of my favorite things: Weird horror and stop motion animation. I’m very excited for this.
Looks good. I was hoping it would get a release soon and lo, the world is not all horrible news–there’s still that 0.001% of good stuff going on.If nothing else, I’ll be happy to watch something that is a labor of prolonged love and NOT subtitled The Way of Water.
I have no idea how to react to what I just watched. Intrigued and sickened at the same time.
Was really looking forward to this one, and saw it at a festival last year. Hell of a lot of craft went into it, but the murkiness and off-energy was a beat-down.
Mad GodPuny God — Mad Hulk!Hulk SMASH!
Looks like someone spiked Wallace and Grommet’s cheese with PCP.
Save us, Gamera!