289. 31 Days of Halloween 2025 - Day 24: MAD GOD (2022) dir. Phil Tippett

Is it crazy to still be working through last year's 31 Days of Halloween in September of this year? Yes. Yes, it is. However, I doubt it's as crazy as what Oscar-winning animator extraordinaire Phil Tippett (JURASSIC PARK, ROBOCOP, RETURN OF THE JEDI, fuckin' PIRANHA) did: drop his magnum opus after three decades of work. MAD GOD is a stop-motion masterpiece: a descent into hell the likes typically reserved for Hieronymous Bosch paintings. The one character we follow is named The Assassin, dressed in a leather coat and gas mask (looking like the dude on the cover of FALLOUT: NEW VEGAS). He's arrived in a world that looks like the detritus of every other failed civilization. Only remnants remain. Statues, cracked buildings, abandoned machinery. No hierarchy exists outside of predator and prey. Even then, what alphas could remain? What would they even live for? I feel more like a witness than a viewer. This is the result of a man and his team painstakingly crafting every beam of light, clay creature and miniature piece of rubble, placing each in a precise location. It's the closest, I'd argue, filmmaking will get to humanity resembling a capital-C Creator. To allow myself to start comprehending how Tippett pieced together these elements and worked them into such a lovingly presented hellscape is to immediately launch open a headache. This is a movie that defies recommendation; there's no questionnaired flow chart that should lead you here. It's simply: Are you human? Yes? Then sit your ass down. Press play. --- Follow The Movies on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ & ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Letterboxd⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Throw a couple dollars in the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠tip jar!