The ABC's Of Death

Released by: Magnolia Films
Released on: May 21, 2013.
Director: Various
Cast: Various
Year: 2013
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THE MOVIE:

The horror anthology film has a long and storied history from the early days of Basil Dearden's 1945 DEAD OF NIGHT, through Britain's Amicus films in the 70's like THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD right up until recent entries like V/H/S.

THE ABC'S OF DEATH is the most recent one in this canon and its certainly a very ambitious project. 26 shorts, in varying lengths, from directors worldwide representing every single letter of the alphabet.

Any project like this is going to have some winners and some clunkers. You will also notice a wildly divergent set of aesthetics on display. Everything from animation to extended slo-mo and shaky-cam footage is deployed in this particular arsenal. There isn't any connective tissue between the shorts either - as in a wraparound narrative or host either. This isn't necessarily a bad thing however. One of the strengths of this film is that if something doesn't float your boat another canoe is just around the bend.

Instead of plot synopses of the various shorts, it makes more sense to focus on some general points and overriding themes I noticed. This is very much an "extreme horror" title for the most part. Far from the genteel horror anthologies focusing on ghosts and haunted castles this is very much the child of the David Cronenberg ethos. Hard-assed body horror is a big part of this film with a tastelessly hilarious fixation on toilet humor in a couple of spots. Letters K, M, and T - the last one bizarrely done in claymation and about potty training a child - seem to have commode on the brain. Another interesting thing to note is that the most confrontational and edgy pieces here come from the Asian directors. Yoshihiro Nishimura's entry for the letter Z is unusually strong stuff (and quite political) and Timo Tjahjanto's (L) entry is the roughest sledding in the whole bunch. I'd call it torture porn but its far to well-made for that nonsensical label. Eli Roth dreams he could come up with something this genuinely disturbing.

Another couple of shorts break the fourth wall and I also noted a fair amount of animal cruelty in a few segments (faked of course - we are a long way from the days of CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST folks) so dog, spider and cat lovers beware. I also got a huge kick out of the letter U - a vampire tale with a style to warm the heart of every TWILIGHT hater out there.

Final verdict? A great premise and a mixed bag means some of these fail to hit the mark. But most of them are good, a few are great, and the worst are watchable. That's a pretty impressive track record.

VIDEO/AUDIO/EXTRAS:

This is a strong 1080p AVC encode that, obviously, encompasses a huge range of shooting styles and camera effects. Rating the video on something like this is almost impossible - it's 26 separate films. That said, overall quality is excellent. These were all shot digitally, so if you are looking for that organic and grainy 70's look you won't be finding it. This is a modern project all the way - loaded with a large amount of digital effects work and desaturation. But it is thoroughly professional looking.

The previous caveats for the video apply here but the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track for the shorts is generally strong if lacking in much serious surround sound or LFE action. You'll be hearing a polyglot of languages here and some of the films have noticeably weaker audio, but those segments seem to be going for the "lo-fi" effect as a choice as opposed to incompetence.

In a word - huge. Each segment gets a dedicated commentary track. These involve different people involved in the films and are generally worth a listen. Especially for anyone interested in the nuts and bolts of modern film production.

There are also supplemental featurettes for over half of the films. These can be anything from a making-of doc to a series of stills to deleted scenes. Since none of these are particularly long they are worth the time if they are on one of the shorts that you enjoyed.

THE FINAL WORD.

Unlike the recent disappointment V/H/S, THE ABC'S OF DEATH is class A stuff. It's a bold and ballsy concept that doesn't work every single time - but works most of the time. And it's a terrific showcase for an international array of talent ranging from the virtually unknown to industry standard bearers like Ti West.

It also comes wrapped with some top- shelf and copious extras. Highly recommended.

Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!