The ABCs of Death

2013 "26 Directors, 26 Ways to Die."
4.7| 2h9m| NR| en| More Info
Released: 08 March 2013 Released
Producted By: Drafthouse Films
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website: http://www.magnetreleasing.com/theabcsofdeath/site/
Info

An ambitious anthology film featuring segments directed by over two dozen of the world's leading talents in contemporary genre film. Inspired by children's educational ABC books, the film comprises 26 individual chapters, each helmed by a different director assigned a letter of the alphabet. The directors were then given free reign in choosing a word to create a story involving death.

Genre

Horror

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Director

Jake West, Noboru Iguchi, Yoshihiro Nishimura

Production Companies

Drafthouse Films

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The ABCs of Death Audience Reviews

Dorathen Better Late Then Never
SpunkySelfTwitter It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.
Gurlyndrobb While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.
Yash Wade Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.
Nancy666 Now I do love an anthology, and a horror movie made up of a sh*t load of shorts is something I just can't miss!Each short is based on a letter of the alphabet... and death. Many of the shorts are interesting and completely out there, some are just WTF and some shouldn't even be classed as any sort of horror. My personal favorites are A, E, L (I know i'm messed up), P and X. The acting is pretty good in each short, but no stand out fails or Oscar worthy performances.Overall I had to give it five because there's so much choice. It's just unfortunate that half of the choices are pretty lame. Give it a go and forward bits that bore you, they probably won't get better.
biancanoxley This was a good idea in theory, but in practice it was a borderline unwatchable train wreck. There were a couple of shorts that were actually good, but the majority were either not even remotely scary or just completely insane (and not in a good way).I tried to watch this with my friend. We gave up halfway through. She hates leaving movies unfinished, but we just couldn't finish this one while sober. A month later, we finished it while intoxicated. The level of intoxication required to finish this movie was rather high, and the movie was still terrible. We just didn't care anymore. I temporarily forgot how to walk, but I've never been more relieved in my entire life to be utterly wrecked.
viabilityfer This film contains 26 different segments by 26 different directors,some up and coming, others well known. They were assigned a letter and given 5k to make a short film involving death and something beginning with that letter. They were given complete freedom as to what they wanted to do with this budget. Many of them were disappointing or simply awful, some were quite good. It was interesting to see how a portion of these directors just ended up making something completely insane and not really having much to do with horror or the likes of it. For this review I suppose I'll talk briefly about each short. A had nice effects and a reveal at the end, kind of cool I guess, good start. B was underwhelming, a bit funny I suppose, pretty okay. It seems over thinking went on with C resulting in something bad. D was quite good, the budget was put to good use and resulted in a quality short film. The production value of E wasn't too good, nice concept, but didn't work for a short. F, don't know what to say about it, given the premise of the word chosen, I would have done it differently, but whatever, it was kind of a waste, but also kind of interesting. G was the 2nd worst one, pathetic. H was bonkers, a lot better things could've been done with that letter, at least it was entertaining. I didn't bring much to the table, but was a good effort. J was kind of funny, but really, what was picked for J doesn't belong. K was stupid, really not good. L was my favourite, I really liked the idea, the production value, and the content, but found the ending a bit rushed. M was the worst, kind of baffling how terrible it was. N wasn't that good either. O was useless, but the style was cool. I liked P a lot, well made with a nice story. I liked the idea of Q, but the ending was REALLY weak, so I found it to be a disappointment. I really liked R, I would also like for the director of it to make some more films, because he has a lot of potential I think. S was really bad. T was great, nice animation, made the most of the budget. U was forgettable, not so much bad, just uninspired. V might have been an okay idea, but the execution was lame. W was one of the worst. X was fantastic, what I would expect from the director. Y was enjoyable. Z was what it was, I don't want to call it good or bad, and okay is too mediocre of a word to use for it. So that's what I think about these shorts, I see a lot of wasted potential mixed in with some good stuff.
Lucabrasisleeps One of the benefits of having so many short films is that maybe there is something for everyone in this bunch. I am not sure if I can call this an anthology, it is mostly a collection of 5 minute (or less) short films. There are so many different approaches and so the movie is fascinating.One main thing I noticed is that there are way too many films with scatological themes. I have not seen so many movies dealing with such themes in a horror anthology before. It is plain weird to see a short film about farting. The Japanese films were overall weird but the farting one takes the cake. I just don't see how this is appropriate for a horror anthology. In any case, most of the films were only borderline horror. Another striking aspect is the inclusion of taboo subjects which may not be included on other anthologies that much. For example, I have not seen many taboo subjects on VHS or the other anthologies. I was disturbed quite a bit, maybe they could have been avoided.My favourites are Dogfight, Jidai-geki, Libido, Pressure, Toilet, XXL and Zetsumetsu. Dogfight was incredible because it dealt with one of my greatest fears - Dogs! I was so terrified throughout this one, it is visually striking. They should make more horror movies about dogs. Jidai-geki was hilarious, I was laughing at the various faces and the special effects. Libido was absolutely intense. Apparently this is the same guy who was behind the Safe haven segment in VHS2 as well so I am not surprised by the intensity of this segment. Pressure was hard to watch. But here people were complaining about the animal abuse but for me personally, it is the human story that struck me. I don't care about cats but I do care about the woman in the story who goes through various difficulties. This is a serious entry in a mostly comedic over the top anthology. Toilet was also interesting because of the clever premise and lines. The ending was also hilarious! XXL was shocking with its brutal violence. Apparently the French horror wave is not over yet. In usual French style, they try to include some social commentary in the midst of the brutal violence. And frankly many times I have felt the same way as the girl since I have had weight issues. Zetsumetsu at the end is also funny. I have been a fan of Tokyo gore police so this is pretty much similar to that style.It is funny how many of the directors in this anthology have made short films similar to their own previous films. I am surprised by the Ti west short film though, it is not that good. Fart, Gravity, Exterminate, Hydro electric diffusion, Quack, WTF are terrible. Speed and Vagitus were somewhat interesting, they have good endings. The remaining stories are not excellent either.Still they were entertaining somewhat in their weirdness. I rate it a 7/10.