‘The ABC’s of Death’ Review: A Few Letters Short of an Alphabet

[WatchTrailer2]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUbYCtRlPVs[/WatchTrailer2]

The ABC’s of Death is a horrific helicopter ride—whirring, buzzing and speeding out of control into a lake of blood, guts and gore. It’s the footage of Vic Morrow getting his head chopped off. It’s the footage of that man getting hit by a train and flying into a million pieces.

Really, it’s neither one of those things, but when you get done the film your brain recalls these moments of doom and gloom and it’s an uneasy feeling, one that the cinematic experience as a whole was not meant to entice.

26 directors, 26 short films. Well, if you can call some of these vignettes short films, because some of them belong in the garbage next to the cutting room floor.M for Miscarriage is such a tasteless waste of film that it almost brings the entire amalgamation of violence to a screeching halt at a stop sign strewn with visage.

And speaking of visage, one of the more creative and cinematic pieces, brought to you by the letter “R”, does just that–douses you with visceral materials smeared over celluloid strips…and it’s a bloody good revenge thriller.

As you can see, I have my likes and dislikes about this film, or, anthology of films. Of course, with 26 short films, you’re not going to love, hate or even like all of them. But, there are some true gems in here.

One cinematic sci-fi horror adventure features robots, telekinetic humans and a back-story which looms in the darkness that makes you wish the short was a full-feature.

A horrific and yet hilarious claymation segment is another of the highlights, as it does both terrify, humor and then terrify the viewer once again—it’s a clay see-saw.

The very first segment is terse, and mightily effective. It almost gives you hope that all of the segments would follow in its well-plotted footsteps.

But, alas, that is not the case. There are some truly distasteful segments that feature things like child sodomy, huge penis swords, vaginal destruction and even more of the odd and grotesque.

Surely from my words you want to see this film…and you should. It’s not great; at points it’s fantastic, at others disgraceful. But if you want to see bizarre cinema at it finest—and the very last segment is the most bizarre of all—then go see this film. I want to hate it and love it at once just for pushing the boundaries of cinema, but some boundaries are not meant to be crossed.

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