The ABCs of Death offers 26 five-minute-or-so stories from 26 different directors from all over the world about death with a different theme based on a word starting with each of the letters of the alphabet from A-Z. It looks like the directors were given complete creative freedom and probably were also told to go "extreme," for the audience is spared no human excretion. You get a little bit of everything- all sorts of animation, POV/shaky cam, movies with no dialog, very simple shorts, very elaborate ones, brilliant ones, stupid ones. How can one review a movie like this without going into the detail of every short- something which would take too much time.
I'll just concentrate on the outstanding and good shorts. In reviews and comments there is a consensus about which ones are great and which ones are terrible. The terrible and bad ones don't even deserve a mention.
Outstanding shorts:
Dogfight (Marcel Sarmiento)- Visually brilliant; a story that ends on a good note, and with an exceptional performance by Riley the dog.
Libido (Timo Tjahjanto)- A mind-blowing but twisted story no doubt.
Removed (Srdjan Spasojevic)- A somewhat puzzling but strong short about a guy whose skin is being removed piece by piece and then takes revenge.
Unearthed (Ben Wheatley) - an original POV short from the perspective of... the villain creature, as people try to kill it- very cool.
Vagitus (Kaare Andrews)- The most elaborate short of them all. Brilliant story, excellent effects. I'm thrilled to see this director working on Cabin Fever III.
XXL (Xavier Gens)- What happens when an overweight woman can't handle the social pressure of not being thin? It's bloody.
Good shorts:
Apocalypse (Ignacio Vigalondo)- A woman tries to kill her husband. Killing isn't as smooth and easy as portrayed in the movies though. Good effects and a surprising ending.
Jidai-geki (Yudai Yamaguchi)- One of the few more humorous shorts that stands out for effects, as a guy tries to execute another one with a sword.
Orgasm (Bruno Forzani, Hélène Cattet)- A couple gets intimate, we get a neat portrayal I guess of what pleasure feels like for a woman. They don't call it little death for nothing though.
Pressure (Simon Rumley)- How far would a prostitute go to get money to buy her daughter a bike for her birthday?
Toilet (Lee Hardcastle)- I'm not a fan of animation, let alone play-doh animation, but this one is good and has a neat story.
Youngbuck (Jason Eisener)- A depraved old hunter guy tries to turn a boy into a hunter. Things don't go well.
The ABCs of Death is an ambitious project that succeeds overall thanks to the outstanding work of some of the filmmakers.
I'll just concentrate on the outstanding and good shorts. In reviews and comments there is a consensus about which ones are great and which ones are terrible. The terrible and bad ones don't even deserve a mention.
Outstanding shorts:
Dogfight (Marcel Sarmiento)- Visually brilliant; a story that ends on a good note, and with an exceptional performance by Riley the dog.
Libido (Timo Tjahjanto)- A mind-blowing but twisted story no doubt.
Removed (Srdjan Spasojevic)- A somewhat puzzling but strong short about a guy whose skin is being removed piece by piece and then takes revenge.
Unearthed (Ben Wheatley) - an original POV short from the perspective of... the villain creature, as people try to kill it- very cool.
Vagitus (Kaare Andrews)- The most elaborate short of them all. Brilliant story, excellent effects. I'm thrilled to see this director working on Cabin Fever III.
XXL (Xavier Gens)- What happens when an overweight woman can't handle the social pressure of not being thin? It's bloody.
Good shorts:
Apocalypse (Ignacio Vigalondo)- A woman tries to kill her husband. Killing isn't as smooth and easy as portrayed in the movies though. Good effects and a surprising ending.
Jidai-geki (Yudai Yamaguchi)- One of the few more humorous shorts that stands out for effects, as a guy tries to execute another one with a sword.
Orgasm (Bruno Forzani, Hélène Cattet)- A couple gets intimate, we get a neat portrayal I guess of what pleasure feels like for a woman. They don't call it little death for nothing though.
Pressure (Simon Rumley)- How far would a prostitute go to get money to buy her daughter a bike for her birthday?
Toilet (Lee Hardcastle)- I'm not a fan of animation, let alone play-doh animation, but this one is good and has a neat story.
Youngbuck (Jason Eisener)- A depraved old hunter guy tries to turn a boy into a hunter. Things don't go well.
The ABCs of Death is an ambitious project that succeeds overall thanks to the outstanding work of some of the filmmakers.