Pest (2019)

Director: James Wilsher

Writer: James Wilsher

Stars: Amy Crudgington, Jamie Evans

When Chloe is frustrated by an infestation she resorts to extreme methods to eliminate her pest with shocking results. 

The Southend-on-Sea Film Festival will be returning for its 11th year from 23rd May to 27th May. In preparation for the event I got an opportunity to ask writer-director James Wilsher a few questions about what we can expect from his new film Pest which has been selected to play at the festival.

Q Your new short film Pest has been selected to play Southend Film Fest, what can we expect from the film?

Well I always try to do something different from my last project, so as the last feature -Sisters- was a comedy I thought I’d try a little horror, which you don’t get a lot of at the SOSFF, they save them for the Horror On Sea festival.

Q What was your inspiration for the story when you were writing it?

The short is based, in part, on a real life experience when I had a mouse infestation of my own. That’s where the similarities end, as my methods were not as extreme as Chloe’s, played by Amy Crudgington. 

Q What were your influences for the look and style?

I try and make my shorts more reliant on visual storytelling now, rather than with dialogue, so my main influences were visual film makers like Kubrick and Fincher, only on a smaller budget and more light hearted. 

Q Did you experience any issues or challenges whilst making the film?

Mainly ones I imposed on myself! Like I said, this is a more visual attempt, something I’m still trying to perfect. The actual filming went pretty smoothly, thanks to a great cast and crew. 

Q What were some of your favourite moments during the filming?

Well I don’t want to give away any spoilers but filming the climax was great fun. Working with Amy was great too. 

Q Did you make any changes from the original script during filming?

Not really, we were pretty much set before we started shooting, which is the advantage with preproduction. We’d done test shoots on my iPhone in the weeks running up so I knew exactly what I was doing on the day. 

Q Do you have any projects you are working on?

I’m hoping to make my third feature this year. We’ve got a couple of options, but it all comes down to budgets and fundraising when you’re an independent filmmaker. What this space. 

Q If someone is looking to get into filmmaking themselves, what advice would you give?

You can make a film on an iPhone now a days so just give it a go. Research is important, so watch films, learn techniques and talk to other filmmakers. All of which you can do at Southend Film Festival. See you there. 

The Southend-on-Sea Film Festival runs from Thursday 23rd May to Monday 27th May. You can find out more about the event and purchase tickets on the website https://www.southendfilmfestival.com

Philip Rogers

Published in various websites, Philip is a reviewer who is best known for his interviews and media coverage of independent projects including; films, books, theatre and live events. Always on the lookout for something different to cover!