Mad God

"A journey beyond your wildest nightmares."

2021 1h 24m EN

👍

6.8

SOLID

★6.8TMDB · 601

AnimationFantasyHorrorScience Fiction

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

A silent figure known as The Assassin travels through a nightmare underworld of tortured souls, ruined cities and wretched monstrosities forged from the primordial horrors of the unconscious mind of Phil Tippett, the world's preeminent stop-motion animator.

“A journey beyond your wildest nightmares.”

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Cast

Alex Cox
Last Man
Niketa Roman
Nurse / Witch
Satish Ratakonda
Surgeon
Arne Hain
Surgeon / Alchemist / Witch
Jake Freytag
Assassin
David Lauer
Assassin / Alchemist / Zombie
Hans Brekke
Assassin
Tom Gibbons
Alchemist

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Phil Tippett
Writers: Phil Tippett
Languages: No Language
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

84 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $0.3M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 5 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "Mad God Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Phil Tippett, shot by Chris Morley. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Dan Wool. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Ken Rogerson shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Alex Cox and Niketa Roman and Satish Ratakonda carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Phil Tippett directs. Chris Morley behind the camera. Dan Wool scores. Ken Rogerson cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Profitable at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in No Language.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

184 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.
2Shot for just $0.3M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
3Released 5 years ago.
4Part of the "Mad God Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
5Directed by Phil Tippett, shot by Chris Morley. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by Dan Wool. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor Ken Rogerson shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Alex Cox and Niketa Roman and Satish Ratakonda carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "A journey beyond your wildest nightmares.".
10IMDB entry: tt15090124 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
11Classified under 11 themes, including "assassin", "bomb", "surrealism", "exploration".

The technical file

Cinematography: Chris Morley
Original score: Dan Wool
Editing: Ken Rogerson
Production design: Phil Tippett
Makeup / hair: J. L. Barnett
VFX supervisor: Chris Morley
Sound: Richard Beggs
Runtime: 84 min · 1h 24m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $250,000
Box office: $322,619
Return: 129% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): NR
IMDB: Mad God (2021)

Awards

Sitges Film Festival best special effects award

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Part of

Mad God Collection

The Mad God Collection

Also by

Phil Tippett

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

Chris Sawin2021-08-22
★ 7/10
Mad God is a terrifying triumph to animation. It is mesmerizing, unique, and disgusting through and through. The ruined city in the film is coated in these overwhelming layers of grunge and unknown fluids that practically ooze onto the audience. The film seems to draw homage from the Labyrinth Cenobites reside in from the Hellraiser films. Apart from taking away that we’re all doomed to repeat the same pain and anguish for eternity, Mad God’s one flaw is reasoning behind its gruesome existence. Dreams and aspirations lead us through life like a treasure map, which more often than not, never come true. There’s nothing out there quite like Mad God. It is frighteningly phantasmagorical and a horrific masterpiece of animation. Full review: https://hubpages.com/entertainment/Fantasia-Mad-God-Review
CinemaSerf2022-08-15
★ 7/10
Wow, but the quality of the stop-motion animation in this is breathtaking. On a big screen, the detailed movement of characters and settings alike; the clever use of light and shade look superb - it's really quite an astonishing piece of art to enjoy. The story itself is almost incidental - it centres around a gas-mask clad human lowered into a dystopian environment of ruins and hideous mutations where life and limb are at risk every step it takes edging through this murderous and perilously dark and dangerous environment towards a central tower from which, we can safely assume, the root of this brutal evil emanates. As the adventure progresses, we begin to appreciate the story is not so much about the grimy and hostile scenarios, but about the nature of whatever is in this tower that presides, perhaps even thrives, over this abject misery. It is frequently peppered with some deliciously cruel dark humour - things get squashed and squished with a ruthlessness that isn't really menacing, but actually quite entertaining as his trek through this industrial maelstrom continues. I reckon this does need a cinema - so much of the skilful artistry won't really work so well on a television, however big. It has a great, deconstructed, persevering style to it that surprised me - and i did quite enjoy watching.
kisaligol2022-10-03
As a technical artistic piece demonstrating the expressive power of stop motion cinematography, it is a triumph. As a story, it is a eighth grade goth kid sitting in the back of class, doodling their inner turmoil and profound nihilism. Most of the metaphors relating to our world (e.g., work, medicine, military, birth-rebirth, religion, etc.) rarely rise above that depressed 8th grade standard. Still, I'd rather watch this technical masterclass in cinema than yet another vanilla film that is little more than a pile of cliches. You will certainly not forget it, and the ending is worth staying for as it veers into the best kind of psychedelic metaphysical territory. WARNING: would not recommend tripping while watching this, you may have more than a panic attack.