Mad God

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Mad God
Mad God poster.jpg
Directed byPhil Tippett
Screenplay byPhil Tippett
Produced byPhil Tippett
CinematographyChris Morley
Phil Tippett
Edited byMichael Cavanaugh
Ken Rogerson
Music byDan Wool
Production
company
Release date
  • August 5, 2021 (2021-08-05)
Running time
80 min[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Mad God is a stop motion animated film written, produced and directed by Phil Tippett.[2] Completed in 2021, the film was filmed over a period of 30 years.[3]

Plot[]

An Assassin shrouded in a jacket and gas mask descends in a diving bell to the ruined world depicted in his map. His map deteriorates along the way.

Travelling through mutant lands, past captive electronic torture victims and other horrors, he eventually comes to find the city behind enemy lines. Nameless, faceless drones are ruled here by a baby-babbling monstrosity with filthy teeth and seared flesh. The assassin halts for a moment here, pondering whether or not to take an ally, before he decides to escape while he can and descends into the bowels of the city, leaving a drone to be killed for walking away from the others.

The Assassin discovers a mountain of suitcases just like his own, beneath the city bowels. These contain bombs, which his own bomb will detonate. As the Assassin primes his bomb and prepares to set it off, sitting down to await his death along with presumably every other mutant and person behind enemy lines, the Assassin fails to notice the creeping presence of a mutant of technological design. It captures him and drags him away - and his bomb fails to go off.

The Assassin is put on public display, tortured, and stripped. The spectators seem human-like in appearance.

The Assassin lies upon a table, where it appears he has been for many days and weeks. His bandages, which cover his entire body, are yellowed with age, and his one exposed eye is red with dryness, having not blinked for quite a while. The Surgeon, or the torturer, appears with a nurse, the Helpless Assistant. Systematically, and painfully, and ultimately fatally for the Assassin, the Surgeon cracks his chest, and begins rummaging through his chest cavity. Jewelry, and books, metaphors for useful secrets of war, are pulled and strewn about and read through - a particularly interesting book catches the Surgeon's eye, and he investigates, before throwing it away. Eventually, after a long period of rummaging and bloody searching, the Surgeon finds his goal - a precious, screaming child. The Surgeon hands it to the Nurse - this screaming child a metaphor for the secrets they so desire.

In the world above, the Last Man gives a map forged by witches to another Assassin and sends him down in another diving bell. Driving a motorcycle and then a jeep, the Assassin follows the map through a munitions depot, a graveyard, and a warzone before descending down a spiral roadway.

The nurse brings the baby to a floating creature who escorts the child to an alchemist’s lair. The alchemist grinds the baby into liquid, smelts the liquid into metal, and crushes the metal into crystals that he hands back to the creature.

The creature scatters the crystals into a fiery portal. A new universe forms that rapidly decays into another ruined world.

Production[]

While working on Robocop 2, Tippett began filming what would become Mad God.[4] His work on Jurassic Park led him to believe the days of stop motion were over and the film was shelved.[4]

Twenty years later, with the encouragement of members of his studio, Tippett began working on the project again[5] utilizing crews of volunteers to assist him.[6]

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.[3]

With aid from Kickstarter donations,[5] Tippett was able to create the first three sections which make up about half of the film.[1] Tippett released a behind-the-scenes footage on YouTube during production.[2]

Release[]

The film premiered in 2021 at the 74th Locarno Film Festival.[3][4] It is set for release in 2022.

Reception[]

The film won the Audience Award at the 27th L'Etrange Festival.[7] The Hollywood Reporter praised the film calling it "a tech achievement FX geeks will need to see."[8]

Mad God holds a 93% approval rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes based on 28 reviews.[9]

References[]

  1. ^ a b Thorne, Will (July 29, 2021). "'Star Wars' VFX Artist Phil Tippett on Premiering His 'Mad God' Opus and Leaving 'Hollywood Filmmaking' Behind". Variety. Retrieved August 20, 2021.
  2. ^ a b Lussier, Germain (July 28, 2021). "VFX Icon Phil Tippet's Long-Awaited Movie Looks Absolutely Incredible". Gizmodo. Retrieved August 20, 2021.
  3. ^ a b c Bleasdale, John (August 20, 2021). "'I wouldn't take my kids to this': Star Wars' Phil Tippett on his hellish animation Mad God". The Guardian. Retrieved August 20, 2021.
  4. ^ a b c Navarro, Meagan (July 30, 2021). "Phil Tippett's 'Mad God' Unveils Stop-Motion Animation Sci-Fi Epic 30 Years in the Making [Trailer]". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved August 20, 2021.
  5. ^ a b White, James (August 3, 2021). "Mad God: Stop-Motion Maestro Phil Tippett Unleashes A Look At His Film". Empire. Retrieved August 20, 2021.
  6. ^ Grater, Tom (July 27, 2021). "'Mad God': Watch Debut Trailer For Animation 30 Years In The Making From 'Star Wars' VFX Artist". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved August 20, 2021.
  7. ^ Mack, Andrew (September 24, 2021). "L'Etrange Festival Announces 2021 Award Winners, THE INNOCENTS And MAD GOD Take Top Prizes". Screen Anarchy. Retrieved September 25, 2021.
  8. ^ DeFore, John (September 20, 2021). "'Mad God': Film Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved September 25, 2021.
  9. ^ "Mad God - Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes.

External links[]

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