Kickstarter
Acclaimed VFX man and filmmaker Phil Tippett’s decades-long passion project “Mad God” is coming to the horror streaming service Shudder, available Thursday, June 16.
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You can sign up for Shudder through their website, but if you’ve already used your free trial and you’re looking for another free way to watch, you can also watch all Shudder content via Amazon Prime Channels.
If you’re an Amazon Prime subscriber, you can try the Shudder Channel with a free trial right here:
Prime Shudder Channel Free Trial
Once you’re signed up for the Prime Shudder Channel, you can watch “Mad God” live on the Amazon Video app, which is available on your Roku, Roku TV, Amazon Fire TV or Firestick, Apple TV, Chromecast, any device with Android TV (such as a Sony TV or Nvidia Shield), Xbox One or Series X/S, PlayStation 4 or 5, various smart TV’s, Xiaomi, Echo Show or Echo Spot, iPhone, Android phone, iPad or Android tablet.
You can also watch on your computer via the Amazon website.
‘Mad God’ Preview
Horror streaming service Shudder has acquired the rights to longtime animator and filmmaker Phil Tippett’s “Mad God,” which is an “experimental animated project that is 30 years in the making,” according to the Shudder press release.
It continues:
Tippett was inspired to create “Mad God” during a lull in his schedule following “Robocop 2.” After sketching and designing a few creatures and sets, he and his stage and stop motion team at Tippett Studio shot the first few scenes of “Mad God,” then suspended work on the project to focus on creating the groundbreaking effects for “Jurassic Park.”
Some 20 years later, several of Tippett’s key artists and supervisors stumbled across original puppets and sets from those early shots. Revisiting the original footage and models, this new generation of artists, trained primarily on computers, longed to learn from Tippett and assist as he revived his long-since abandoned film. Together with a volunteer crew, Tippett taught a new generation of artists and craftspeople as they brought his labor of love to life. In 2020, while the world sheltered through a global pandemic, Tippett completed the final scenes.
Partially funded by legions of backers on Kickstarter, the first few parts of the film were made over months and years supported by the crowdfunding platform. In exchange, backers were granted early access to the footage, in addition to souvenirs from the making of each chapter.
“Mad God” is a stop-motion animated horror film that follows a character called “The Assassin” through “a forbidding world of tortured souls, decrepit bunkers, and wretched monstrosities forged from the most primordial horrors of the subconscious mind.”
According to the Kickstarter page, “the crew is entirely made up entirely of volunteers, including artists from Tippett Studio, students from local art schools, and industry veterans who remember the ‘good ol’ days’ when effects were made by people on sets photographing puppets one frame at a time.”
“In short, Phil Tippett is a genius, and there’s no better home for him and his visionary mind than Shudder,” said Craig Engler, Shudder’s general manager, in a statement “We’re proud to bring this sure-to-be timeless film to our members.”
“It’s been over 30 years, but thanks to the team at Tippett Studio we finally made the dream a reality. I’m proud to partner with Shudder on the release of Mad God, and it’s an honor that my original vision can now be shared with audiences across the country,” added Tippett.
“Mad God” premieres Thursday, June 16 on Shudder.