Review: The ABCs Of Death

The ABC's of Death is an anthology horror movie from 2012 that is available on Netflix. It is a collection of 26 short films, of various lengths, styles, and themes, that all depict at least one on-screen death. Each of the film's creators were assigned a letter of the alphabet, and based on it, chose the means by which a character in their film dies. Sometimes more than one person dies. Sometimes an animal dies. Sometimes people die in English and sometimes in Spanish or Japanese, and sometimes with no dialogue at all. I'll try not to spoil too much.

A

Isn't she Catlin Stark's sister on Game of Thrones? Really great practical effects, and I kinda like the reveal at the end, but it could have been more...visual? Instead it just feels like something that was added later.

B

Not as crazy about this one. A Spanish dude who, as far as I can tell, has a regular public service job? Sure. And the B word just didn't quite work for the story.

C

I love it when sci-fi is combined with other genres like this. I was positive that the C was for clone but I guess that works too

D

Wow. At one point I skipped ahead because I thought I knew what was going to happen and I just can't watch that. But thankfully I was wrong and it turned out to be awesome. Impossible not to be reminded of the movie Snatch.

E

If that spider was in my house, I would grab something slightly larger than a magazine. Like a shotgun.

F

Like most Japanese things, this absolutely belongs in http://www.reddit.com/r/wtf

G

I often wonder why the POV shot isn't used more in film. ...wait, what happened? Was he dragged under by something? Was he hit on the head? Can he not, I don't know, swim? I had to rewind this a few times and still couldn't figure out what happens. G is for...gravity? What the fuck does gravity have to do with this? Did something fall on him? Sorry, but this one just escapes me. EDIT: I apparently didn't rewind far enough. Thanks to Reddit user Sykotik for pointing out the bricks.

H

Oh buy, furries! Not just that, furries that recreate old Warner Brothers cartoons! Takes a step back into WTF territory for a moment, but still doesn't come close to the weirdness of F.

I

The practical effects are great, which is good because there isn't a story here. Ingrown...wat? Why not injection?

J

It's true, Japanese weirdness kills. Or sometimes just renders insane.

K

More toilet humour? If this segment wasn't animated, or if it didn't remind me of a certain South Park Christmas special, I would likely skip ahead.

L

Jesus Christ. Seriously Japan, what the fuck? I'm all against censorship and whatnot but seriously, what the fuck??

M

Ew.

N

Don't fuck with parrots.

O

Finally. I was craving something artsy after all that. Good visual presentation but absolutely no story makes for just an OK thing.

P

I hated this one. Didn't understand it, or maybe there was just nothing to understand, and I had to look away at one point, and was glad that I did. Fuck everything about this.

Q

I loved this one. But then again, it was in English, and I like meta stuff a little more than the average Joe. This might be the kind of thing I would make if given the letter Q, or that Quentin Dupieux would make if given any letter.

R

Eh. Cool effects, but no story and too abstract. Next.

S

Super cool. Like Robert Rodriguez made a "This is your brain on drugs" commercial

T

The second animated segment that, and I'm guessing this is complete coincidence, takes place in a bathroom. More unsettling than the last one but also wacky enough to be fun.

U

Ben Wheatley is the only director in the list of 26 that I was previously familiar with (Kill List is worth checking out), and the second one to make the entire segment in a first-person view, which works waaaaay better for this one than the last one. You'll probably start seeing his name more in the near future. If only any of the Twilight movies had this scene in them.

V

A bullet-tastic sci-fi that takes place in my favourite futuristic city, New Vancouver? Yes please.

W

Starts as a Metalocalypse episode, then does the meta thing like Q, then just goes apeshit. Love it.

X

Well, her life sucks but she seems pretty down-to-ear...OH GOD WHAT THE HELL!

Y

Eighties music, high school basketball, goblin janitor. Deer antlers is a badass way to go, as demonstrated by the show Hannibal.

Z

Once again, Japan absolutely refuses to be out-WTF'ed by anybody, and holy shit did they ever save the best WTFiest for last.