Mad God
Shudder | Release Date (Streaming): June 16, 2022 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
80
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 14 Critic Reviews
Positive:
12
Mixed:
1
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
RogerEbert.comSimon AbramsJun 14, 2022
Imagine, if you will, a dystopian nightmare set in a post-industrialized world that’s forever teetering on its last legs, but never quite falls over. This description does not, admittedly, tell you much, but the movie’s less of a narrative-driven parable than a dazzling and corrosively cynical vision of a hyper-compartmentalized society that’s struggling to both die and reset. Read full review
90
The New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisJun 16, 2022
Strange and squelchy and all kinds of sick, Mad God comes at you with nauseating energy, its flood of dystopian images both playful and repulsive. Read full review
90
Paste MagazineDom SinacolaJun 15, 2022
Tippett purges his Id until he’s wrung the last bit of bile from the Assassin’s journey, but even throughout all the harrowing imagery, the director never loses a sense of cinematic wonder. Read full review
89
Austin ChronicleRichard WhittakerJun 29, 2022
There's a narrative of sorts in Mad God, but it's episodic and disconnected. It's less a story than an anthology built around exploration of an ecosystem. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyDarren FranichJun 10, 2022
For anyone who loves stop-motion animation, the first 40 minutes of this bleak adventure will scratch your trippy itch and then some. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesNoel MurrayJun 17, 2022
The word “visionary” gets tossed around too much, but there’s really no better way to describe the spectacularly bleak animated science-fiction film Mad God or its creator, Phil Tippett. Read full review
80
The GuardianLeslie FelperinJun 14, 2022
This is undoubtedly a work of historic significance, made by a master in his field – but beware that it often feels like a film-making notebook, full of doodles and ideas but not especially cohesive as a story. Read full review
80
Film ThreatRob RectorSep 30, 2021
Tippett himself said he did not intend Mad God to adhere to any strict narrative structure, so it’s best to merely soak in the sumptuous, detailed visuals and extract your own meaning from the journey. It’s a ferociously engaging, if slightly flawed, viewing experience. Read full review
75
LarsenOnFilmJosh LarsenSep 9, 2022
Mostly a work of stop-motion, the movie boasts expansive, intricately detailed sets that the eye can’t help but want to explore, despite the horrors that take place among them. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineChuck BowenJun 6, 2022
Mad God offers a dense cornucopia of genre-fueled outrageousness that’s gradually united by a concern with cycles of warfare. Read full review
75
IndieWireRafael MotamayorAug 26, 2021
After four decades of crafting creatures for iconic films, Phil Tippett has finally unleashed his magnum opus, and it is worth the wait. Mad God exudes devotion, with every frame carrying decades worth of ideas and craft, resulting in a film that is just as hard to describe as it is hard to forget. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeJun 15, 2022
It’s a nightmare, and not one a mainstream audience would relish. But aficionados of this nearly extinct form of special effects will relish the chance to see a labor of love whose roots go back to circa 1987. Read full review
50
IGNKristy PuchkoAug 26, 2021
Phil Tippett’s Mad God unleashes decades of pent-up creative darkness into a trippy and troubling ride with astonishing craftsmanship, but little substance. Read full review
38
Movie NationRoger MooreJun 2, 2022
If it’s worth reciting the decades it took to pack all this imagery into sets so dark that much of it doesn’t register, it’s also worth noting that effects folk are, by definition, masters of making the trees. Whether or not they grasp the “forest” and can tell a compelling, coherent story about it isn’t exactly a given. Read full review
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