We're halfway through the year and Phil Tippett's stop-motion flick Mad God, a film 30 years in the making, now has the dubious distinction of being Shudder's most-watched movie premiere of 2022.
ScreenAnarchy's Martin caught the film's world premiere at Locarno Film Festival in September 2021. You can find his full review here, but here are a couple excerpts.
Any attempts to reconstruct the film's storyline would be futile as Mad God is more of a visual smorgasbord of a stream-of-consciousness weirdness set against the backdrop of eerie post-industrialist wasteland.... Dialogue-free, Tippett's film is a highly visual experience of an enigmatic apocalyptic epic from the deepest bowels of imagination... Despite the obvious appeal to fans of weird horror and twisted visions, Mad God is at the heart a Blakean visual poem that is equally disturbing as it is captivating.
Terrific, now I have to look up what Martin means by Blakean visual poem. Mad God is now playing in select cinemas across North America and streaming on Shudder.
Mad God, the epic stop-motion masterpiece that Phil Tippett spent the last 30 years making, debuted June 16 and quickly became Shudder’s most-watched movie premiere of 2022. The film’s huge premiere comes a week after Mad God’s highly successful theatrical release from IFC Midnight in New York and Los Angeles, coinciding with its expansion to an additional 24 screens across North America. Mad God has been a hit with critics too, hailed as one of the best horror movies of the year and already Certified Fresh® at 91% on Rotten Tomatoes.“Shudder is a perfect partner for me and Mad God. It’s amazing to see the range of reactions from viewers to this movie that has lived in my head for 3 decades. From “what the hell was that?” to “that was the best movie I’ve seen in my entire life,” said Phil Tippett.“Phil Tippett is a towering figure in the animation and visual FX industry, and Mad God is the ultimate, purest expression of his visionary genius. Shudder is honored to be the exclusive home for his cinematic masterpiece, and we’re delighted to see Mad God enthusiastically embraced by our members,” said Shudder General Manager Craig Engler.Two-time Academy Award® winning artist, animator and filmmaker Tippett, whose VFX work can be seen in legendary films such as STAR WARS, JURASSIC PARK, ROBOCOP, STARSHIP TROOPERS and many more, was inspired to create MAD GOD during a lull in his schedule following ROBOCOP 2. After sketching and designing a few creatures and sets, he and his stage and stop motion team at Tippett Studio shot the first few scenes of MAD GOD, then suspended work on the project to focus on creating the groundbreaking effects for JURASSIC PARK. Some 20 years later, several of Tippett’s key artists and supervisors stumbled across original puppets and sets from those early shots. Revisiting the original footage and models, this new generation of artists, trained primarily on computers, longed to learn from Tippett and assist as he revived his long-since abandoned film. Together with a volunteer crew, Tippett taught a new generation of artists and craftspeople as they brought his labor of love to life. In 2020, while the world sheltered through a global pandemic, Tippett completed the final scenes. Mad God world premiered to rave reviews at the prestigious Locarno Film Festival and was showcased at Edinburgh International Film Festival, Fantasia Film Festival and Sitges Film Festival, among others.Mad God is a Tippet Studio production, produced, created and directed by Phil Tippett, co-produced by Jack Morrissey, and executive produced by Dave Berry, Jules Roman, Sanjay Das, Gary Mundell, Lisa Cooke, Colin Geddes, Katarina Gligorijevic, and Josh Sobel.