Mad God (2021)
Phil Tippett’s nightmare fuel.
Presentation:
When he wasn’t making miniature sets for Bladerunner and Alien, Phil Tippet was working on creepy home projects you usually don’t show the outside world. Mad God is not the most disturbing film of all time, but it’s the most repulsive stop motion of all time. I’m both scared and delighted what goes in Tippet’s mind because as someone that appreciates the grotesque, this definitely has a certain artistry to it (at least for the first half). This movie supposedly took Tippet 30 years to make, which is apparent because the first half of the film has the animation style of the 90s whereas the second half switches to live action and digital cameras. That was honestly more repulsive to me than any graphic imagery throughout the film. I really like the design of his world, which can be described as apocalyptic dieselpunk. Some of the violence dances on the border of art and self-indulgence because there is so much arbitrary cruelty.
Conclusion:
The visuals are avant garde, but there’s something about the presentation that ruins it for me. I didn’t like the disjointed inconsistency and the performances of the second part felt like an undeveloped indie B horror, and I don’t mean that in a positive way. There is a story with commentary about humanity and war, but that’s stretching things because this is really just an art house film designed to provoke, and provoke it does. For the twisted gothic cinema lover.
Recommendations
Visual spectacle of a generation.