ABCs of Death 2 (UK Blu-ray / DVD)
Gareth Jones
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Starring a ton of people
Directed by a ton of people
Distributed by Monster Pictures UK
The first The ABCs of Death was an admirable experiment – line up 26 filmmakers to create a horrific presentation of short films, each themed on a single letter of the alphabet. Unfortunately, save for just a few entries, it was primarily an exercise in boredom and missed opportunity. Not be dissuaded from their Big Idea, however, series creators Tim League and Ant Timpson decided to take a second run with the concept.
And it’s a good thing that they did – because The ABCs of Death 2 is leaps and bounds ahead of its predecessor.
Going into extreme detail with every short would be a herculean task, but suffice it to say that for every poor (or outright terrible) entry into this anthology, there are two more that more than easily make up for the shortcomings with their quality. Director E.L. Katz (Cheap Thrills) opens the show with a bang with the excellent ‘A is for Amateur’, perfectly marrying elements of excitement, grimness and black humour to great effect in setting audience expectations for the rest of the anthology.
On top of that, other standout entries include Alejandro Brugués’ desert island drama ‘E is for Equilibrium’, which winds up being another darkly funny feel good entry for men; Robert Boocheck’s utterly fabulous slow-motion slice of insanity ‘M is for Masticate’ (which sports a gut-busting punch line in the finish); Juan Martínez Moreno’s brutal ‘Split’; Steven Kostanski’s wild and just plain wrong ‘W is for Wish’ (which also prompts a severe hankering to go and watch Manborg again); Inside directors Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury’s highly disturbing ‘X is for Xylophone’ and Robert Morgan’s stop-motion animated ‘D is for Deloused’ – one which is so full of gruesome, weird atmosphere that you’ll feel like taking a shower afterwards.
That isn’t to discount the rest of the entries that don’t quite reach those heady heights, as there are plenty more worthwhile shorts from directors such as Julian Gilbey (whose short, ‘C is for Capital Punishment’, contains one of the most upsettingly horrendous decapitations to hit the screen in years), Jim Hosking, Julian Barratt, Larry Fessenden and Vincenzo Natali to be had during The ABCs of Death 2‘s 2-hour runtime.
Those that fail to impress, such as Bill Plympton’s ‘Head Games’ (superbly animated in his unique style, but feeling totally out of place in this anthology) and Lancelot Imasuen’s ‘L is for Legacy’ (a confused narrative mess laden with poor effects that simply pales in comparison to its brethren here) generally do so because they simply don’t stand up to the quality of other shorts surrounding them – something which certainly couldn’t be said about the first ABCs of Death.
And so with the quality remaining consistently high, The ABCs of Death 2 gives the audience little to worry about but sitting back and enjoying the eclectic selection. By the very nature of filmmaking, not every viewer is going to feel the same about every short – but there’s more than enough here, at a reliable level of value, for everyone to enjoy. With this release, League and Timpson have undoubtedly pulled off what they had hoped to in the first place – and if they can keep the quality control up to this level, there’ll be plenty of welcoming anticipation for a third run.
Following that overview, special mention has to be given to The ABCs of Death 2‘s closing short, ‘Z is for Zygote’. Chris Nash’s short film stands head and shoulders as the anthology’s most riveting, disturbing and absolutely horrifying piece of work. Expectant mothers will look away; childless couples will glance at each other in mutual affirmation and absolutely everyone will gasp in shock at the ghastly climax of this tale. Kudos also goes to the anthology’s opening and closing score, which is quite possibly the most unsettling “la la la”-themed musical number ever to defile one’s ears.
Overall, The ABCs of Death 2 pulls the admirable feat of flipping the quality stack in comparison to the previous entry, offering a great mix of the horrendous and the humorous with only a few duds to be had – and those that are good, are really good.
Monster Pictures deliver The ABCs of Death 2 to UK DVD sporting the trailer as the sole special feature, which is very disappointing considering there is most likely a wealth of behind-the-scenes material to be had from even a few of the shorts involved.
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Special Features
Categorized:Reviews
