Announcement
Collapse
No announcement yet.
THE ABC'S OF DEATH
Collapse
-
- Published: 06-03-2013, 06:37 PM
- 0 comments
X
Collapse
-
The ABC's Of Death
Released by: Magnolia Films
Released on: May 21, 2013.
Director: Various
Cast: Various
Year: 2013
Purchase From Amazon
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.
Posting comments is disabled.
Categories
Collapse
article_tags
Collapse
- album review (218)
- album reviews (274)
- arrow video (272)
- blu-ray (3225)
- blu-ray review (4162)
- comic books (1392)
- comic reviews (872)
- comics (988)
- dark horse comics (484)
- dvd and blu-ray reviews a-f (1969)
- DVD And Blu-ray Reviews G-M (1711)
- DVD And Blu-ray Reviews N-S (1757)
- DVD And Blu-ray Reviews T-Z (878)
- dvd review (2513)
- idw publishing (216)
- image comics (207)
- kino lorber (391)
- movie news (260)
- review (318)
- scream factory (279)
- severin films (300)
- shout! factory (537)
- twilight time (269)
- twilight time releasing (231)
- vinegar syndrome (497)
Latest Articles
Collapse
-
Released by: Kino Lorber
Released on: February 22nd, 2022.
Director: Gianfranco Parolini
Cast: Lee Van Cleef, Jack Palance
Year: 1976
Purchase From Amazon
God’s Gun – Movie Review:
Directed by Gianfranco Parolini in 1976, quite late in the spaghetti western boom years, God's Gun (Diamante Lobo in Italy) introduces us to a bad, bad man named Sam Clayton (Jack Palance) who, along with his gang of equally bad, bad men, start wreaking...-
Channel: Movies
04-17-2024, 12:10 PM -
-
Released by: Kino Lorber
Released on: October 8th, 2019.
Director: Mario Bava
Cast: Christopher Lee, Reg Park, Leonora Ruffo, Gaia Germani
Year: 1968
Purchase From Amazon
Hercules In The Haunted World – Movie Review:
Directed by Mario Bava in 1961 and featuring a screenplay by Bava (and Sandro Continenza, Francesco Prosperi and Duccio Tessari), Hercules In The Haunted World (also known as Hercules At The Center Of The Earth and...-
Channel: Movies
04-17-2024, 12:08 PM -
-
Released by: Cinématographe
Released on: March 26th, 2024.
Director: Jack Nicholson
Cast: Jack Nicholson, Mary Steenburgen, Christopher Lloyd, John Belushi
Year: 1978
Purchase From Amazon
Goin’ South – Movie Review:
Made at the height of his career as an actor, 1978’s ‘Goin’ South’ sees Jack Nicholson once again in the director’s chair, seven years after his directorial debut, ‘Drive, He Said,’ failed to set the...-
Channel: Movies
04-17-2024, 10:29 AM -
-
Released by: Radiance Films
Released on: April 20th, 2024.
Director: Noburo Nakamura
Cast: Miyuki Kuwano, Mikijiro Hira
Year: 1964
Purchase From Amazon
The Shape Of Night – Movie Review:
Directed by Noburo Nakamura for Shochiko in 1964, ‘The Shape Of Night’ follows a young woman named Yoshie Nomoto (Miyuki Kuwano). In the opening scene, she’s working as a streetwalker on the outskirts of town and soon enough, she’s picked...-
Channel: Movies
04-17-2024, 10:26 AM -
-
Released by: Film Masters
Released on: April 23rd, 2024.
Director: Bert I. Gordon
Cast: Richard Carlson, Juli Reding, Lugene Sanders, Susan Gordon
Year: 1963
Purchase From Amazon
Tormented – Movie Review:
The late Bert I. Gordon’s 1963 horror film, ‘Tormented,’ is an effectively spooky ghost story made with an obviously low budget but no less effective for it.
The story revolves around a professional piano player...-
Channel: Movies
04-17-2024, 10:19 AM -
-
Released by: Grindhouse Releasing
Released on: March 12th, 2024.
Director: William Grefé
Cast: William Shatner, Jennifer Bishop, Ruth Roman, Harold Sakata
Year: 1974
Purchase From Amazon
Impulse – Movie Review:
Directed by the one and only William Grefé, 1974’s Impulse is one of those rare films that allows you to witness what it would be like if a really sweaty William Shatner got mad at a lady carrying balloons. Before that...-
Channel: Movies
04-15-2024, 01:20 PM -