Stalk of the Celery Monster
Stalk of the Celery Monster is a 1979 short animated film written, directed and animated entirely in pencil by Tim Burton during his time as a student with the California Institute of the Arts.
| Stalk of the Celery Monster | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Tim Burton |
| Produced by | Tim Burton Brett R. Thompson |
| Story by | Tim Burton |
| Starring | Tim Burton as Maxwell Payne Ralph Votrian |
Production company | |
Release date | August 30, 1979 |
Running time | 1.5 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
The film caused such a stir among his class that it attracted the attention of the Walt Disney Animation Studios, who offered young Burton an animator's apprenticeship at their studio.
Plot
The only fragments remaining of the film today depict a dentist named Dr. Maxwell Payne making bloody experiments with his patients. He tries a woman, and after that the monster of the title shows up, roaring, he starts, with the monster making the experiments with an old 1930s laboratory. In the following clip, the woman leaves, as Dr. Maxwell Payne searches for another victim.
Preservation status
It was shot on 8 mm film and for much time it was considered to be lost, until fragments of it were shown in 2006 on Spanish television. Currently, the excerpts of the film are archived at the Library of Congress.