Mad God

'Mad God' is equally weird and demented; a mergence of the nightmarish and the nonsensical into one wildly ambitious ride. Basically it feels like a glimpse into the mind of a madman; into a place both violated and broken without reprieve and without hope.

This is what you get when the imagination is pushed into warped overdrive - a fully realised vision of a hellish dystopia. And all of it is gorgeously (grotesquely) brought to life by stop-motion animation and detailed sets.

It's hard to rate this as I would a film with a story because this is more of an experience: a vignette-like tour through various strange environments and witnessing its even stranger denizens doing all manner of strange things... Top marks for effort, but it might have worked better as a series of 10-minute shorts, since even at 80 minutes my attention began to waver with nothing coherent to latch on to.

6.5/10.

No doubt a visual spectacle and impressive stop-motion affair from Phil Tippett, but Mad God has essentially zero plot or reason to care for anything that's going on. Some unknown guy wanders around a machinery place seeing weird stuff, and that's pretty much it. There's no dialogue at all. If visual mindscrew-ery stuff and style over substance is your cup of tea, then you might love it. As for me, I needed more than that.

5/10.

Wow, work on this one began in 1987 and took over thirty years to complete! That alone marks this bit of stop-motion as a film worth considering. But is it worth viewing otherwise? I would have to say yes, but be under no illusions, this is not a film for everyone! There is no dialogue, so events onscreen are propelled by imagery and sound alone and its not honestly always easy to keep up with what is happening and why. On top of that, much of the imagery and events are of the grotesque variety, so viewers of a more sensitive bent should be warned. So, taking this into account, this tale of events in a post-apocalyptic fantasy world should best be approached by those with a taste for the bizarre and unpleasant. The imagery is extremely impressive, very often and this is one of those rare films which truly feels like an instant cult movie. Left-field animation fans should have a field day.

Mad God (2021) is a unique animated gem that was recently added to Shudder. The storyline follows a man who descends into a lost city in ruins. When he gets there he fines an array of death, torture and monstrosities that are a result of this lifestyle. He will search the city for the source of its pain and agony...

This movie is directed by Phil Tippett (Starship Troopers 2) and contains the voices of Alex Cox (Repo Man), Anthony Ruivivar (Tropic Thunder) and Talal Selhami.

The animation in this is fun and unique and reminded me a little bit of the movie 9. The universe is fascinating and the creatures within it are clever and well done. There's a good use of lighting to create intensity and curiosity. The storyline is a bit all over the place and hard to follow. The film focuses more on its outstanding special effects, gore and worthwhile action scenes rather than the plot. The surgery scenes in this are tremendous and the tank battles are very well done.

Overall, there's a lot to like here visually and conceptually. I just wish there was a better plot to take it over the top. I would score this a 7.5/10 and strongly recommend it.

If animation cinema is your thing, and dystopian dynamics make you sing, here's a film that you should see, it will fill your heart with glee, a post-apocalyptic nightmare with a sting. You're not too sure what's going on most of the time, in this purgatory world where nothing's fine, but the creatures are amazing, the hellish landscapes quite hair razing (amongst other things), the whole experience is outrageous and sublime.

Some rather talented people have made a grotesquely engrossing animation that leaves a mark, or perhaps a scar, that will linger for some time after and compel you to introduce those you know.