King Pest

In a city devastated by plague, two drunken sailors flee a tavern brawl and wander into a nightmarish district of the dead. They stumble upon the grotesque court of King Pest, a self-proclaimed ruler surrounded by decaying figures, absurd rituals and macabre revelry. What begins as a drunken adventure turns into a hallucinatory descent where horror and dark comedy intertwine. Inspired by Edgar Allan Poe, the film reimagines the Black Death not only as a historical terror, but as a metaphor for addiction and self-destruction. Built as a grotesque puppet animation with a sharp final twist, King Pest is a visually expressive short film about delirium, death, and the last illusion of returning among the living.

Director’s statement
King Pest grows out of two very personal lines in my work: my connection to carving and handcrafted puppets, and my long-term fascination with Edgar Allan Poe. For me, the puppet is not a stylisation added afterwards. It is the natural language of this story. Its materiality, fragility and expressive face can carry both grotesque humour and a disturbing sense of decay. Poe is often reduced to horror, but what inspires me most is his ability to combine dread, irony and allegory in a single gesture. In King Pest, I want to create a film that works as a macabre genre piece, but also as a metaphor for addiction and the illusion of escape. The rhythm of the film should feel like a descent into delirium: funny, unsettling, and finally fatal.