For anyone familiar with the science fiction offerings of the 80’s and 90’s, the name Phil Tippett should not be unknown. The man is a giant within the special effects community and has contributed many notable and classic effects sequences, going all the way back to the original Star Wars – A New Hope (1977). He also added his touch, largely employing the Stop / Motion technique using miniatures, to titles like Dragonslayer (1981), Howard the Duck (1986), Robocop (1987, and it’s inferior sequels), Willow (1988), Jurassic Park (1993) and Starship Troopers (1997), among many, many others.
In among all those titles, Tippett spent years (actually decades) toiling on a mysterious puppet-based passion project on the side, a project that would eventually become Mad God. He started it back in 1990 and after many stops and starts, and with the aid of a modest Crowdfunding campaign, FINALLY completed and released it on the festival circuit in 2021.
I was instantly intrigued when the first small mention of this tiny film hit the scene. Much of the output coming out of Hollywood largely sucks these days, due in large part to a lack of imagination and daring, so I’m always looking for the smaller projects that may have the virtue of being original, not confined to the money-grubbing sensibilities of the Big Time studios. The first trailer looked like a gritty slice of something that could be embraced as a companion piece to some fucked-up Tool video, and my attention was captured. Being that this was a highly esoteric project, it received VERY little in the way of release or fanfare.
So, I had to wait until this morning, when I came across it on Shudder (guess I have a free one-month subscription try-out to use now), in order to sear my looking balls with what Tippett’s unsettling bastard creation had to show me. As my Better Half and the two dog-girls were slumbering away in the early hours of a smoky Sunday morning (goddamn wildfires, man!), I brewed up a strong mug of Joe, wrapped up in a blanket and dove into the fucked-up nightmare that is Mad God.
Mad God opens with a mysterious, gas mask-clad figure, referred to in the credits as ‘The Assassin’, being lowered into an ugly, dystopian world of ruins and death. At every turn, bizarre and unsettling beings go about their strange businesses, often meeting gruesome unceremonious endings among the odd machine-works that make up parts of this subterranean universe, when they’re not preyed upon by other, larger creatures of many a grotesque type. A slew of creatures are crushed screaming into gory puddles of slime, usually underfoot, and no one bats an eye. ‘The Assassin’ has a mission and this mission takes him further and further into the depraved bowels of this world, where horrific and unexpected events lie in wait. And really, that’s about all the synopsis that I can realistically give.
Calling it as I see it, this ‘movie’ doesn’t hold much value, narratively speaking. If you’re coming into this hoping for a tight, concise story-line populated by various unique characters boasting interesting and compelling personalities, then you’ve stepped into the wrong theatre. This one is ALL about atmosphere and imagery, and that imagery is almost exclusively nightmare fuel, which really makes me wonder (and worry) about what’s been going on behind Phil Tippett’s eyes for the last 30 years. Everywhere, there’s slime, rust, ruin, and decay. There’s even a generous helping of shit, as in fecal matter, flowing disgustingly onscreen, as charming as that was. If you can think of it, and it grosses you out, odds are it turns up somewhere in Mad God’s 1 hour and 23 minute run-time. Do with that as you will.
As to be expected from a man who lived and breathed Stop / Motion for decades, the quality of the puppetry is admittedly impressive, as is the attention to detail in the production design, even if the story it’s all attached to makes little to no sense. In that regard, I could see a weirdo genius like David Lynch (Lost Highway) getting a kick out of what’s presented here.
Now, something that I didn’t expect was the inclusion of live-action elements, up to and including actors appearing in either prominent onscreen roles (like Repo Man director Alex Cox, as a character referred to as ‘Last Man’) or as strange background players in among the miniature landscapes and figures. I’d gone into this expecting nothing but puppets but Tippet took things a bit further and I will admit, made the nightmarish proceeding just that much more intriguing.
All in all, I’m glad that I finally got to experience this odd little project and I could certainly see myself checking it out again, if not to search for some hidden deeper meaning, then to try and catch all the little science fiction Easter Eggs scattered about (apparently a dead ED-209 from Robocop lurks in the background of a robot graveyard scene, a scene that I missed).
In truth, I’m not exactly sure of who I’m recommending this one to, though I AM recommending it. If you’re a fan of messed-up cult films or can understand the crazy allure behind something like Peter Jackson’s absolutely bonkers Meet the Feebles (1989), then I think you may be well served with Mad God.
*Until today, Meet the Feebles was easily the most messed up puppet-related movie I’d ever seen. If you haven’t seen it…that must be rectified. Mad God now comfortably rubs shoulders with it. Gauge that however you will.
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