| Mad God | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Phil Tippett |
| Written by | Phil Tippett |
| Produced by | Phil Tippett |
| Cinematography | Chris Morley Phil Tippett |
| Edited by | Michael Cavanaugh Ken Rogerson |
| Music by | Dan Wool |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Shudder |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 83 minutes[1] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $124,156[2] |
| Box office | $325,042[3][4] |
Mad God is a 2021 Americanadultstop-motion animatedexperimentalhorror film written, produced, and directed byPhil Tippett.[5] Completed in 2021, it was produced over a period of 30 years.[6]Mad God premiered at theLocarno Festival on August 5, 2021, and was released in the United States byShudder on June 16, 2022. It received critical acclaim.
A tall figure shrouded in a jacket andgas mask, credited as the assassin, descends into a ruined, hellish world via adiving bell. In his possession, he has a map and a suitcase.
Traveling through the underworld, he encounters many creatures mercilessly preyed upon by larger monsters. Eventually, he reaches a city which is home to an army of faceless drones, apparently ruled by a monstrosity with filthy teeth and seared flesh who only speaks in baby babble as it’s only seen as closeups of its eyes and mouth on screens attached to a tower. Deep within the city's bowels, the assassin discovers a mountain of suitcases just like his own. He opens his suitcase, revealing a time bomb, which he places and prepares to set off. He fails to notice a creeping monster behind him, which then attacks and drags him away as the bomb's ticking hand appears unable to complete its circuit.
The assassin is shackled to a table and stripped in front of a mass of spectators. A surgeon appears with a nurse, splits open the assassin's abdomen, and begins rummaging through his chest cavity. Jewelry and papers are pulled out and thrown to the floor. Eventually, the surgeon finds his goal: a strange, wailing, infant larva-like creature. The surgeon hands it to the nurse, who carries it away.
The surgeon bores a hole in the assassin's head and connects his brain to a television set. As the surgeon watches the television, the world above is shown, where the last man gives a map forged by gnarled witches to an assassin and sends him down in a diving bell. Driving a motorcycle and then ajeep, the assassin follows the map through a munitions depot, a graveyard and a war zone before descending a spiral roadway.
Back in the underworld, the nurse brings the infant to a ghostly, floating creature who escorts the child to analchemist's lair. The alchemist grinds the infant into liquid, then alchemically transforms its remains into gold. This gold is then used to create a new cosmos which undergoes the same cycle of evolution, civilization and self-destruction as the previous one. In doing so, the assassin's bomb's countdown concludes.
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While working onRoboCop 2, Tippett began filming what would becomeMad God.[7] His work onJurassic Park led him to believe the days of stop-motion were over, and the film was shelved.[7]
20 years later, with the encouragement of members of his studio, Tippett began working on the project again,[8] utilizing crews of volunteers to assist him.[9]
"So on the weekends I would get as many as 15 and 20 people coming round. They didn't all have the talent or skill, but I'd figure out the processes during the week. I had them do all the heavy lifting."[6]
With aid fromKickstarter donations,[8] Tippett created the first three sections, which make up about half of the film.[1] He released a behind-the-scenes footage onYouTube during production.[5]
In 2013,Academy Award-winning sound designerRichard Beggs agreed to do the project's sound design and mixing.
In 2016, a two-minute short VR-version of the movie was released. All characters were animated and shot separately in front of a green screen using Dragon software; thenNuke was used to compose all the characters together in front of a background.[10]
The original score was composed byDan Wool, who started work on the project in 2010 and developed the score in chapters until the release in 2021. The soundtrack album, released byWaxwork Records,[11] was released June 21, 2022 on double-vinyl and CD.
In 2023 Wool released an alternative digital-only version of the soundtrack album, "Soundtrack for Phil Tippett's MAD GOD - Music+Effects Version [feat. Richard Beggs]", incorporating more of Richard Beggs' sound design for MAD GOD. It is available onBandcamp.
Mad God premiered at the74th Locarno Film Festival on August 5, 2021.[6][7]Shudder acquired its distribution rights, planning a limited release in theaters and onAMC+ on June 16, 2022.[12]
In the United States and Canada, the film earned $8,416 from two theaters in its opening weekend.[13] It expanded to 26 theaters in its second weekend and made $36,588.[14] It added $24,451 in its third weekend,[15] $37,617 in its fourth,[16] and $16,280 in its fifth,[17] ultimately grossing more than double its $150,000 budget in its limited theatrical release.
On review aggregatorRotten Tomatoes,Mad God holds an approval rating of 92%, based on 95 reviews, and an average rating of 7.8/10. Its consensus reads, "A rich visual treat for film fans,Mad God proves that even in the age of CGI, the cinematic allure of stop-motion animation remains strong."[18] OnMetacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 80 out of 100, based on 14 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[19]
John Defore ofThe Hollywood Reporter praised the film's animation, bleak atmosphere and design, calling it "a tech achievement FX geeks will need to see", and "among the bleakest dystopias [of] science fiction".[20]Sight and Sound's John Bleasdale offered similar praise while also criticizing its bleak setting, summarizing that the film "has all the makings of an instant cult classic".[21] Scoring the film four out of five stars, Drew Tinnin fromDread Central praised the design, atmosphere and animation, as well as the film's soundtrack, calling it "sheer artistry coming to life".[22]
Rafael Motamayor ofIndieWire rated the film a B, writing "Mad God, a cacophony of savagery and cruelty– [offering] no hope, no respite from the awe-inspiring terror."[23]Nerdist's Kyle Anderson rated the film a score of 4.5 out of 5, offering similar praise to the film's atmosphere, visuals, bleak setting, and production design while noting the film's simplistic narrative.[24] Reviewing forTilt Magazine, critic Thomas O'Connor called the film "a deeply unsettling spectacle", highlighting the film as a technical achievement in stop-motion animation, as well as praising the film's bleak atmosphere and disturbing imagery.[25]
Christopher Stewardson fromOur Culture Magazine rated the film four out of five stars, commending the animation, visual design, hellish atmosphere, and dream-like quality, writing "Mad God almost has an anti-war ring to it. In its abstract madness, it presents the nightmare of what war does. Nobody is human. Only monsters exist".[26]
Kristy Puchko ofIGN gave a score of five out of ten, praising the atmosphere and visuals, but criticizing the film for a "lack of any real plot or substance".[27]
