Mad God

I must confess, I had no idea who Phil Tippett was until the power of Google and Wikipedia told me- he (and some other folks) are the people who gave us those  AT-AT Imperial Walkers in "Return of the Jedi." Tippett has been nominated five times for an Academy Award for his special effects work and has won twice. Tippett is a stop motion master and "Mad God" is his thirty year side project, which according to my internet findings, resulted in Tippett being checked into a mental health facility. Well let me tell you, "Mad God" is one of the most craziest things I've ever seen, and I've seen a lot. What's it all about? This is my best shot: it's about a little chap, dressed like a World War One miner (metal helmet, gas mask, bulky grey hazmat like apparel) who descends in a sarcophagus like container/elevator, through a multilevel science fiction hell. He has a map and a quest to blowup this nether world. He is captured, and his guts are surgically removed in a "let's dig a hole in the sand" method - it's pretty gross. Inside our little gas-miner friend is a squealing baby insect like thing which is then brought to a kind of high priest like figure - something out of Alejandro Jodorowsky's "The Holy Mountain." The baby bug is squished and the result is the ending of "2001: A Space Odyssey." Well not quite, but close enough. It's kind of like a stop motion version of "The Cremaster Cycle" crossed with the sensibilities of Heavy Metal magazine. There is no dialogue. It's bonkers. Catch one of the most visually interesting things in your local rep cinema or on streaming services.