Mad God
Written and Directed: Phil Tippett
Release: June 16th, 2022
Running Time: 83 Minutes
Animated film has been in a stylistic stale period for several years now. The success of the Disney-Pixar machine set off a mad dash to replicate its smooth, lightly detailed, big headed, meth-eyed aesthetic. More traditional forms of animation have increasingly taken a backseat to Pixar-inspired computer generation. Stop motion, which has always been somewhat rare in the world of feature films, has become niche as of late. Enter: Mad God, an experimental, visually driven horror film from award-winning visual effects artist Phil Tippett. Set in a post-apocalyptic world where prolonged, presumably nuclear and biological warfare has reduced humanity to grotesque, animalistic mutants with little regard for life, the film tells the dialogue-free story of a man on a singular suicide mission. As the main character, a humanoid in a black hazmat suit who is referred to only as “the assassin,” makes his way through the ruined world, the viewer is treated to a series of increasingly bizarre and grotesque scenes populated by increasingly depraved characters. From the opening scene to the film’s close, it is all beautifully animated and sure to please anyone who is a fan of both horror and stop-motion animation. The puppets are all nicely detailed, interesting to look at, and thoroughly bizarre.
A film that Tippett has been working on at varying levels for nearly three decades, Mad God is certainly one of the more interesting films that I have seen as of late, especially in the world of animated features. In a time when filmmakers seem to go out of their way to insult the viewers’ intelligence, with even the simplest story seemingly requiring infantilizing levels of patronizing plot exposition, and every bit of dramatic tension needing to be destroyed through inappropriately placed “lol omg so random” jokes and puns, this film charts a different (one could even say bold these days) path. The main narrative is simple, yes, boiling down to “go here, plant bomb, detonate,” but it is told entirely through its disturbing and well-animated visuals augmented by a sparse and often discordant score. In lieu of dialogue, when one of Mad God‘s twisted cast members parts its maw, the only thing heard is a collection of animalistic noises and grunts.
Whether you choose to interpret it as some sort of visual commentary on the dehumanizing nature of war, a simple exercise in animated body horror, or a simple passion project by an aging practitioner of a seemingly endangered art form is up to you, and I’ll not bore you with such pseudo-intellectual babel. We’ll leave that to the Rhodes scholars over at MetalSucks. However, Mad God is a visually interesting exercise in just how far one can stretch the principle of “show, don’t tell.” Especially in a time where filmmakers view the audience’s intellect with such little regard that even something as easily digestible as a simple superhero narrative must be bogged down in so much exposition that it feels less like a film and more like a freshman lecture. If you like stop motion animation, if you like body horror, and if you’ve got 83 minutes to while away, consider spending that time with this flick.
Score: 8/10