The ABCs of Death

Massive disappointment. Very few truly good segments, mostly average and below par + something absolutely appalling here and there. The idea of bringing together renowned modern horror filmmakers from all over the world, assign them a letter of the alphabet and let them make a short with death as the theme is not bad. But the result is an incredibly unfocused mix of very inconsistent quality. The good ones are Y Is for Youngbuck by Jason Eisener, X Is for XXL by Xavier Gens, D Is for Dogfight by Marcelo Sarmiento, L is for Libido by Timo Tjahjanto, U Is for Unearthed by Ben Wheatley, and Q Is for Quack by Adam Wingard. So, 6 out 26, which is very little. There a few more that have something and are well made (I, O, T, H, R), but that I didn’t like, while the rest swings between boring, uninteresting average and unwatchable cringe (F!!!). And Ti West must have drunk the budget he had, because otherwise his half-minute long M Is for Miscarriage is impossible to explain. (01.02.2013)

A-B-C-D... – so goes the nursery rhyme, but this bloody anthology film is definitely not for a young audience. The quality of the each story varies widely, from decent to utter garbage. I was most impressed by the letters S (Speed), K (Klutz) and T (Toilet). The worst, most embarrassing, or gratuitously gory stories were letters F (Fart), H (Hydro-electric Diffusion), and Z (Zetsumetsu). All in all, when I add it all up and scratched my head, it was a rather below average affair that I came to by sheer chance via a director whose short frankly disappointed me. (27.03.2014)

This was overall a quite challenging endurance test to see if I can withstand even the most idiotic (mostly Asian) idiocies ever filmed. Only some stories turned out quite well. I will mention only those that were quite surprising. For example, D is for Dogfight, quite originally shot with slow-motion sequences and at least an effort to make some point. Q is for Quack, cleverly conceived movie about the favorite director Adam Wingard. T is for Toilet, an absolute highlight of the whole mess, beautifully designed, funny, and visually elaborate. U is for Unearthed, also quite an unseen little piece of work, just one small innovation is enough to make everyone look at it in a better light. Literally. And finally X for XXL, a very gory affair, a bit predictable, though maybe for some. But I like it nice and bloody, so thumbs up. On the other hand, those shitty mountain goulashes like F, O, H, W, Y, and Z were not even worth an old, smelly, filthy penny. Some stories might have hope if they were thought over better and longer, or if they had a better director. I also have to join the surprised majority opinion about Ti West's performance, which absolutely made no sense, charm, point, simply nothing at all. I didn't know most of the directors, but West gave me the imaginary assurance that at least his story could be worth something. Unfortunately, nothing. (23.03.2013)

The ABCs of Death is an interesting mosaic, but there is one big problem with it: There aren't many shots that really stand out. I don't think it's because the short form is inadequate, but rather because the creators wanted to play around and ended up with inventive but uninteresting pieces. Brutality is frequent here, which is dull and exaggerated, with very few good points to be found. As a showcase of different styles and approaches, it's interesting, but as a consistent work, it's incredibly weak. (25.03.2014)