There is no straight story line in this movie but still, spoiler alerts from here on.
While there is no straight plot in "The ABCs of Death", the movie keeps a red wire through the alphabet. Every director has been given a letter and made a short film about a word that begins with that letter. This leads us to a cavalcade of blood, gore, nudity, animation, mystery and comedy. And we have directors from all over the world. From Spain and England to Japan and Canada.
Now most of these shorts are suffering from the fact that they are short. Making a good horror story that lasts for only around five minutes is challenging but when a director succeeds with the task the short becomes better than most of the famous horror movies that is coming out now a days. One of my favourites are "Q is for Quack" where two directors is arguing on what they should do with their letter and ultimately comes up with the idea of shooting a real duck. After that the first director backed out of the shooting the second director does the attempt but the gun is jammed. While trying to fix it, he accidentally shoots the other director, who then accidentally shoots the first director, leaving the camera man and the duck left standing. "Q is for Quack" is fun and I like how they cooperate themselves in the film. Good show. Another favourite is "T is for Toilet" made by Lee Hardcastle who got in this movie through a competition. He uses clay stop motion technique and his story about a scared boy who tries to use the "big boy" potty is really fun and well made.
There is really nothing in "The ABCs of Death" that gives me nightmares but "X is for XXL" is the closest with its story about a fat woman who gets harassed all day and finally decides to loose some weight. What is hear method? Cutting of bits of flesh with a kitchen knife. The last look of her stepping out of the bathtub is the most horrific scene in the entire movie. No there are more funny moments than scary moments. Stories like "J is for Jidai-geki" and "N is for Nuptials" makes me burst out in laughter.
Then we also have the disgusting stories. In "L is for Libido", we get to encounter with a guy who is in a bit of a predicament. He has to masturbate and ejaculate before another gentleman otherwise he will get a large metal spike up his ass and through his body. I was this close [showing small space between thumb and index finger] to throw up and jump to the next story. It was just sick. Then we also have "F is for Fart" where a Japanese school girl (in a typical Japanese school girl outfit) smells her female teachers fart only to get sucked in a smelly, disgusting doom (while making out with said teacher). A perfect story for those of you who have that kind of fetish but not for me. And speaking of fetish, "H is for Hydro-Electric Diffusion" is perfect for those of you who are weak for furries. But unlike the two previously mentioned stories, I actually enjoyed this one with its cartoony humour.
Finally, we have the bad shorts. "W is for WTF" is just plain WTF. They try to do like the guys in "Q is for Quack" did but it ends up in a big bowl of random shit. Then we have "G is for Gravity" where absolutely nothing happens. A guy rides to the beach, takes out his surfing board, swims out to surf then drowns. Even I can write better story lines then that. And finally we have "M is for Miscarriage" where a woman is taking a shit but the shit is a unborn fetus who then clogs up the toilet. Both disgusting and boring.
The overall quality in "The ABCs of Death" is not that great and the fact that you get thrown into a new story every five minutes or so gives you no room what so ever to reflect over what you just witnessed. So if you are looking for a movie that will scare your pants of then "The ABCs of Death" is not the right choice but if you are curious of seeing underground horror directors work then watch this movie, go on the Internet and search what more films they have done and then watch them. That is the only advantage I see with "The ABCs of Death", a stepping stone for new, unknown movie makers.
Stories worthy of recognition: Q is for Quack, N is for Nuptials, T is for Toilet, Y is for Youngbuck
Stories not worthy of recognition: F is for Fart, G is for Gravity, L is for Libido, M is for Miscarriage, W is for WTF
Rating: 4/10 Dogfights
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