Have you read the old Jack Chick evangelism tract Somebody Goofed? BoingBoing today is talking about an amazing animated version of the tract:

The animated version was created in 1997 by Syd Garon and Rodney Ascher; the BoingBoing post has some additional links and commentary. The animation is weirdly compelling and a bit creepy in a way that the campy tract is not; the music choices in particular really add to the effect.

I think one of the main reasons it works so well is that the creators walk a careful road between mocking parody and straight seriousness. Here’s a quote from Ascher that sums it up:

It was designed to be something of a Rorschach test: we followed the original comic as rigorously as we could, resisted any temptation to change things around (for pacing, content, whatever) and allowed the audience to interpret however they liked. During its premiere at DFilm, the audience was mostly quiet and thoughtful but at a screening at the SFMoMA it played pretty much as a spoof with a lot of appreciative laughter. On the other hand, when it was shown at a screening for the Television Commercial Industry, the awkward, confused, slightly hostile silence was deafening. Happily enough, we’ve gotten very nice responses from both Chick Publications and The Suicide Girls.

If you liked the “Somebody Goofed” animation, the same animators recently put together another one based on the “Titanic” tract, also by Jack Chick.