Follow The Assassin through a forbidding world of tortured souls, decrepit bunkers, and wretched monstrosities forged from the most primordial horrors of the subconscious mind. Directed by Phil Tippett (Star Wars, Jurassic Park), the world’s pre-eminent stop motion animator, every set, creature, and effigy in this macabre masterpiece is hand-crafted and painstakingly animated using traditional stop-motion techniques.

For in-depth thoughts on Mad God, please see my colleague Devin McGrath-Conwell’s review from its original streaming release here.

Video Quality

Mad God comes to Blu-Ray courtesy of RLJE Films with a fantastic 1080p transfer that represents the source admirably. With production taking place over 30 years, you might expect some variances in quality amongst some scenes, but everything looks homogenous in terms of raw aesthetics. The colors present in this transfer are not the most vibrant due to the dark and grimy look of the film, but the depth and nuance of the hues are outstanding while maintaining crisp delineation.

The textures of all of the unsettling environments look naturally filmic and give the feature a nice sense of depth. The movement of the characters and creatures are very fluid, and they retain their crisp edges free of streaking. The level of detail this transfer reveals is a feat of grotesque beauty with every intricate detail on display. Black levels are strong with no serious issue of banding or compression issues. This Blu-Ray provides a practically immaculate presentation for some of the most interesting stop-motion animation to be unleashed upon the world in some time.

Audio Quality

The Blu-Ray comes with a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless track presented here with optional English SDH subtitles for the sound effects cues. The track is a lovely sounding experience that brings the movie to life in a really pleasing manner. Dialogue is practically nonexistent in this feature, so this track mostly relies on building up the world through environmental effects. There are some really fun panning effects in the rear channels that add a nice layer to the experience. The music is precise in its placement throughout the room as it envelops the audience. The track employs some decent activity in the low end when the things get a little more chaotic in the narrative. There is also a nice amount of sonic detail in the surround channels as the sound of various locations creates a world fully realized. This is a stellar sounding release that should more than please fans of the film.

Special Features

This combo pack arrives in SteelBook packaging with a glossy, reflective finish that features stunning cover art that looks great in person of The Assassin surrounded by some monsters with the title of the movie behind them. The rear cover features an extreme close-up of an eyeball, and the interior features more creatures from the film. Photos of this can be found at the end of the review.

Audio Commentary #1: Writer/Director Phil Tippett and Guillermo del Toro provide a really great commentary track in which del Toro plays the part of fanboy by asking incredibly insightful questions which leads to conversations about the inspiration behind the project, the history of the production, how key figures became involved, how the film evolved over the decades, advice that was given by Milos Forman, the themes of the picture and so much more that makes for a really rewarding listen.

Audio Commentary #2: Writer/Director Phil Tippett and an array of sound designers, cinematographers, editors, fabricators and more (could not find everyone on iMdb) provide a very informative commentary track which gets even more technically-driven than the previous one as specific shots are analyzed and deconstructed on multiple fronts.

Interview with Writer/Director Phil Tippett: A five-minute audio interview with Tippett in which he discusses his emotional state regarding the completion of Mad God, how he developed the narrative, his inspiration for the aesthetic and more.

Mad God Influences & Inspirations: A seven-minute filmed interview with Tippett in which he discusses his early interest in stop-motion animation, the impact of Hieronymus Bosch, how he was inspired by the likes of Tex Avery and Bob Dylan and more. The director also discusses how the decades of development changed the trajectory of the story as he expanded his knowledge.

Maya Tippett’s The Making Of Mad God: A ten-minute featurette in which the creative team discusses the history of the project, resurrecting old ideas, being hands-on and abandoning perfection, the grotesque world they created and more.

Maya Tippett’s Worse Than The Demon: A nearly 13-minute piece in which Tippett discusses his early life and aspirations, his interest in the monstrous, getting involved in filmmaking, his journey with Mad God, working outside of the Hollywood structure and more.

Academy Of Art University & Mad God: A five-minute featurette which takes a look at the collaboration between students of Academy Of Art and Tippett Studios. This is really cool to see what a great opportunity these up-and-coming artists got thanks to Tippett.

Mad God Behind-The-Scenes Montage: A 13-minute montage of on-set footage during the lead up to the completion of the final shots in the film.

Behind-The-Scenes Photo Gallery: A two-minute collection of photos from the production are provided here.

Final Thoughts

Mad God is quite unlike what we are normally offered up these days, and for that reason alone it is worth seeking out to keep the appreciation of stop-motion animation alive. It is a grotesque nightmare which is not pleasant to embark upon, but that is the overall point. Beneath the gnarled flesh and unholy fluids is a story rich with thematic depth. Even if you cannot get fully on board with this in a narrative sense, there has to be some part of you that can appreciate what a feat of craft and imagination this is. Phil Tippett never gave up on his vision over the years, and the field of animation is better off for it. RLJE Films has offered up a Blu-Ray featuring a pretty stellar A/V presentation and some great special features all housed in a beautiful SteelBook packaging. If you are a fan of the film, this is a really great release. Recommended

Mad God is currently available to purchase on Blu-Ray SteelBook Combo Pack and DVD.

Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.

Disclaimer: RLJE Films has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.