Episode 165: Spooky Canon Month I (MAD GOD, 2025)

Hello, boils and ghouls! October is here, which means we kick off the first entry in our fourth annual SPOOKY CANON MONTH! We will return to our weekly cadence to cover our favourite horror films every week. For my pick, we discuss the inimitable 2021 stop-motion classic, by famed special effects guru Phil Tippett: MAD GOD! Joining Curtis and John for this discussion is our long-time recurring guest—Magill Foote! We talk about the almost 30 year long gestation process of this film, the impressive effects work, some of the deeper thematic meaning within a sometimes experimental text, and chat about stop-motion animation more broadly (and Magill shares some examples on some up-and-coming animators in this space). Before that, we run through our news and what we watched this week. John also recaps his experience at Ottawa inaugural GENRE GEMS film festival (see the list of films below in the show notes).Next week we discuss the Fulci horror classic: DON'T TORTURE A DUCKLING.TIME STAMPS00:00:00 Introduction00:03:50 Shout outs: Renting DVDs at the library (or using free streaming services like Hoopla or Kanopy!)00:10:16 New Releases (One Battle After Another; Strange Journey: The Story of Rocky Horror; Predators; Good Boy; The Smashing Machine)What We Watched This Week00:17:53 Combat Shock (Magill)00:19:31 The Toxic Avenger [2025] (Magill and Curtis)00:26:53 Zombie Bloodbath (Magill)00:28:39 Crawlers of Doom, and extended Tokar discussion (Magill)00:33:41 The Wicked City (Magill)00:35:36 The works of Joel Haver (Magill)00:40:53 Troy (Curtis)00:41:29 Kiki's Delivery Service (Curtis)00:45:20 Dirty Work (John)00:49:42 One Battle After Another (John)00:52:42 The Heirloom (John)00:53:35 Dead Lover (John)00:54:42 A Useful Ghost (John)00:57:16 Zodiac Killer Project (John)01:00:08 Buffet Infinity (John)01:02:03 The Last One for the Road (John)01:03:22 Sirāt (John)01:05:35 MAD GOD Discussion01:46:01 Our Scores for MAD GOD01:51:34 Coming Up Next!CREDITS AND PLUGSIntro: Spooky Scary Skeletons - Andrew Gold (Ginny Di cover)Outro: 'Long Way Down' - From 'MAD GOD'https://www.magillfoote.com/Magill's produced podcast: https://www.trailwentcold.com/Magill and Grant's new games store: https://taigainteractive.itch.io/Check out Magill's contributions on Rue Morgue magazine!https://rue-morgue.com/Check out Magill's wife's new book (The Widow's Charm): https://caitlynpaxson.com/Check out the GENRE GEMS website, with links to their early bird passes: https://www.genregems.ca/Follow John on Letterboxd—@johnnycakes91For a list of films covered at Genre Gems: https://letterboxd.com/johnnycakes91/list/genre-gems-2025-festival-lineup/ Curtis: https://www.the-back-row.com/ - check out 'Runstedler's DVD Pick of the Month'https://curtisrunstedler.ca/Dr Curtis Reads: https://www.youtube.com/@curtisrunstedler