"Mad God" is just the latest version of this. No, it isn't artistic to show abject horror and depressing sadness on screen. People are just getting off from sadism and adrenaline and claiming it's some transcendent experience.
I'm not going to judge anyone who enjoys movies like it, because I can see the appeal, but if I see another critic say another piece of edgy garbage is actually an artistic masterpiece I'm going to tear my brain out through my earhole.
“Is creating suffering purely for the sake of suffering in and of itself art?”
Yeah, because it’s not real suffering. Saying ‘life is shitty and pointless and what am I doing here’ is a timeless question, from Job to Lear to Hemmingway.
Obviously don’t actually torture people, but art doesn’t necessarily need to defend itself.