The bizarre sci-fi horror movie that took 33 years to make
Cinema has seen its fair share of long-delayed projects, but few can lay claim to a gestation period as long as Mad God, which finally saw the light of day in 2022 after an astounding 33-year production period. The special effects odyssey, the brainchild of legendary industry guru Phil Tippett, has been variously hailed as a “magnum opus”, “unlike anything you’ve ever seen”, and “absolutely disgusting”. However, the stop-motion animation film’s content pales in comparison to the real tale: the epic struggle to bring this unique vision to fruition.
Tippett, the man behind this enterprise, is no stranger to pioneering work. His career boasts an impressive portfolio of ground-breaking achievements, with an Oscar for Return of the Jedi and revolutionary SFX work on Jurassic Park and RoboCop. Tippett began his monumental project in 1987, weaving together a cocktail of techniques: stop-motion, live-action, and ‘go animation’; a style he himself innovated, bestowing a unique blurring effect upon stop-motion movement.
Mad God is an eye-popping, stomach-churning confluence of Dante’s Inferno and the freakish hellscapes of Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch. The director described his creative process as akin to “transcribing messages from the great beyond”. In a 2022 interview with the New York Times, Tippett reflected on his work, stating, “I do not seek; I find”. The result is a tapestry of unimaginably grotesque, uncannily horrifying imagery that pushes the boundaries of visual storytelling.
Tippett’s film is a nightmarish panorama of monstrous steampunk creatures, set against a backdrop of guts, faeces, and general bodily fluids. Its scenes, including one that features a mutant baby screaming in the arms of a plague doctor, seem designed to fuel viewers’ nightmares for months. It’s not too implausible, then, that the making of Mad God had such a significant impact on Tippett’s mental health that it drove him to the brink of a breakdown. Nevertheless, Guillermo del Toro called it “genius”.
The three-decade-long journey to Mad God was, in some respects, a deliberate grind. “Everything I do is a very slow cook,” Tippett mused, “It just takes time”. However, financially realising his horrifying menagerie also proved a formidable challenge and likely the main reason for the three-decade development process.
Tippett resorted to a Kickstarter campaign, leaned on dozens of volunteers, and even solicited loans from friends to see his project through to completion. The experience was gruelling, with Tippett admitting that he “ended up hating” the project in its final years, confessing that it “busted my brain”.
Mad God was finally unveiled to the public in 2022, with audiences embracing the film as a magnum opus, an arduous labour of love worth the wait. Despite this reception, the toll of its creation was heavy; Tippett has resolved never to embark on a similar endeavour in the future.
Watch the trailer below.
