The alternative Hallowe'en countdown; or, the moral of the story is ‘pay your freelancers’

This is the first of two Czech films that are part of this countdown; it wasn’t intentional, purely accidental. Doesn’t take a genius to work out that ‘Krysař’ (meaning ‘rat catcher’) is a retelling of ‘The Pied Piper of Hamelin’. Except instead of wearing a garish outfit, our Krysař is a tall, bearded fellow who cuts a dashing line in cloaks.

We start in the small town of Hamelin. We watch as the town advances in prosperity; businesses become richer, the inhabitants wealthier. But as the town gets bigger, so does the rat problem. Cue our hero, Krysař, come to save the day! However, it doesn’t take long before he comes striding into the Mayor’s office wanting his well-earned reward, like Moon Knight demanding money from Dracula. And, well, we all know the story and how it doesn’t end up going particularly well for Hamelin. But that’s what happens when you stiff your workers.

"I know you're here, Mayor of Hamelin, you big fucking nerd. Where's my goddamn money?"

This stop-animation short film is predominantly silent, bar a few words spoken by the Mayor and his cronies. But, fear not, you don’t need to switch on your subtitles as the language spoken is pure gibberish (although it does appear that the Mayor has been taking elocution lessons from Starscream). The industrial atmosphere throughout is heavy and dark, with the town clock acting as a daily memento mori to the hapless townspeople; no matter how hard you work or how rich you are, Death comes for us all. The eerie ghostly ending is in stark contrast to the rest of the film, resulting in the viewer being left feeling uneasy and unsettled.