31 Days of Halloween: Day 11 – The ABCs of Death

This Schlocktober, Psycho Drive-In will be exploring the world of horror cinema, featuring thirty one films released between Halloween 2012 and Halloween 2013. Next up is The ABCs of Death.

The ABCs of Death is one of, if not the most ambitious horror film anthology ever put together. It’s made up of 26 short films by 27 different directors from around the world, each of whom were assigned a letter and the job of telling a short story involving Death –  in any way they saw fit. Which means that, as you might expect, it’s a very hit-or-miss collection; but overall there’s a lot more to love than to hate.

Not only are there some nice and scary bits scattered throughout the anthology, there are also some of the most bizarre and mind-boggling short films I’ve ever seen. Everyone who watches this film is going to have their own favorites, as you can see from our previous review of ABCs of Death here, so it’s a little hard to really critique traditionally – which is why we took a look at every single installment in our original review.

What you can do, however, is get a good idea of which writers and directors you will want to find more work by. For me, I immediately sought out more work by Adrián García Bogliano, Hélène Cattet & Bruno Forzani, Ernesto Díaz Espinoza, and Adam Wingard. The ABCs of Death also reinforced my love of Noboru Iguchi, Srdjan Spasojevic, Jason Eisener, Nacho Vigalondo, Yoshihiro Nishimura, and Ben Wheatley.

There’s quite a bit of sick humor on display here, so bear that in mind, although some of the most effective work in the film is deadly serious. All in all, I enjoyed this a lot more than some reviewers, but I may have mental problems.

For example, I can’t wait for next year’s The ABCs of Death 2!!!