EDITOR’S NOTE: This incredible movie is now on Shudder. I first watched it at Fantastic Fest on October 1, 2021.

We shouldn’t have to tell you who Phil Tippett is. He’s the artist who animated everything from the Star Wars miniature chess scene to ED-209 in RoboCop, the aliens of Starship Troopers and the dragons in Willow and Dragonslayer. He’s been working Mad God for thirty years and let me tell you — it was worth it.

An assassin explores a decimated world following a map that is rapidly falling to pieces, taking him through lawless mutant worlds and followed by faceless drones commanded by a monstrous infant. When he finally finds his target, it’s a dud, his life’s mission ruined and he’s captured. Then, the film becomes something else, a metaphor for war, destruction, creation and so much more, all animated by a true master.

While this film was created by dream logic, it also has the destruction of the Tower of Babel, Repo Man director Alex Cox as The Last Man, electrocuted brains, cosmic babies, Hell, Heaven and honestly whatever you want it to be and anything that you see in it. There hasn’t been a movie this formless or as willing to challenge you to answer what it’s all about in, well, forever. It’s a nihilistic apocalypse that somehow makes me want to celebrate being alive.

One of the sales lines for this film states: “Each piece of Mad God is handcrafted, independent and created from the heart.”

This is a film that I feel like I could write thousands of words about and you still wouldn’t know what it was truly about. You must see it and feel it for yourself. It’s begging to be explored and dissected and just plain experienced.

You can learn more about the movie at the official site.