Mad God: Movie Review

Some films defy description - narrative eschewed in favour of an experience, and a series of sensory moments thrust upon the big screen.

Such is the way with FX genius Phil Tippett's Mad God, a blend of stop motion, live action, horror and disturbia in extremis.

Beginning with a gas mask clad figure known as the Assassin descending deep into a world of the
macabre, Tippett's vision starts starkly and rarely deviates away from its abnormal path.

As it descends on its 85 minute journey, Mad God with its mutations and horror elements is a singular vision of what a filmmaker can do. It's taken Tippett over 30 years to get to this end point, and as if the lead doesn't descend into madness, goodness only knows how Tippett survived this long with the project.

There are no easy comparisons with anything that's gone before for this film, it's of its own genre - part Radiohead video, part art project and all manner of upsetting, it's a collection of images that clearly have symbolism to those who look deeper within, and will reward those who know some of their religious iconography.

But central to any of that, it's worth exalting the creativity on show here - around the 40 minute mark, the film changes its clarity of vision and it moves from muddied horror to a stop-motion miracle of a movie that's worth experiencing, rather than examining.

Mad God won't be to everyone's tastes, but there are moments when the futility of life (or afterlife) comes to the fore. From cloth creatures carrying out grunt-level work only to be dispatched with cruelty to literal forks in the roads and creatures flying through a lightning-filled sky, every frame has something - nightmarish or otherwise.

Mad God won't be for everyone - but that's fine. Tippett's vision is utterly terrifying, unnerving and
ultimately up for discussion - and that's no bad thing whatsoever.

Mad God is streaming now on Shudder ANZ.