"Let's go crazy everyone!"

This is a segment from a tape called The 19th International Tournee of Animation: Volume 1. It's called Tony De Peltrie (dir. Pierre LaChapelle), and I first saw this when I was 4 years old. It terrified me, not just because of the content, but because it was so engaging (though the technique is crude by today's standards - but I'd say that's precisely what makes the thing so engaging). The tape was also off-limits to me - I wasn't supposed to be watching it, which necessitated that I only watch it when there was no one else around, when I was absolutely alone, when there was no place to retreat to. The tape was full of fascinating, forbidden, possibly dangerous magic, and I wanted more. When Tony fixed his gaze DIRECTLY at me, I was afraid in the most animal sense of the word, afraid that a much larger, much older, much wiser creature than I had summed up my entire life's worth in an instant and had decided that I should be consumed, brought totally and forever into his world. I'll be writing more about this tape in the coming weeks.