ABCs of Death 2
by E.L. Katz, Julian Barratt, Julian Gilbey, Robert Morgan, Alejandro Brugues, Aharon Keshales, Navot Papushado, Jim Hosking, Billy Plympton, Erik Matti, Dennison Ramalho, Kristina Buozyte, Lancelot Oduwa Imasuen, Robert Boocheck, Larry Fessenden, Hajime Ohata, Todd Rohal, Marvin Kren, Rodney Ascher, Jen Soska, Sylvia Soska, Vincezo Natali, Jerome Sable, Steven Kostanski, Julien Maury, Soichi Umezawa, and Chris Nash
Two years ago, a horror anthology was created around the premise of the scariest thing imaginable, the letters of the alphabet. Some of the segments were brilliant and memorable like A is for Apocalypse and D is for Dogfight. Some were terrible and downright insulting, specifically, M is for Miscarriage. A lot of the segments were unremarkable and completely forgettable. Then, a chosen few were very weird and no words could describe, I'm looking at you at F is for Fart. As a whole, I was disappointed with the entire finished product. The movie just felt like a chore that I was forced to do, rather than something I wanted to do. The sequel came out recently, and to my total surprise, it's actually much better and quite enjoyable.
Without further ado, I present to you: The ABCs of Death 2.
A is for Amateur is the tale of a wannabe assassin, who imagines the career to be much more glamourous than it really is. B is for Badger follows a film crew led by a cocky host documenting the disappearance of the local badger population. A man is forced to confess to the disappearance of a missing girl and subsequently sentenced to execution in C is for Capital Punishment. D is for Deloused tells the surreal story of a man, with the aid of a bug, getting vengeance on his killers. Two men living on a deserted island are driven apart by the arrival of an unexpected third castaway in E is for Equilibrium. In F is for Falling, an Israeli woman is stuck in a tree in Palestine, after crashing her parachute, and a young boy hopes to take the credit for her capture. G is for Grandad is a bizarre short about a grandson and a grandfather, each believing the other to be a burden on their respective lifestyles. H is for Head Games is another surreal animation about kissing with summarize-able plot. A family tries to kill a wealthy relative for inheritance but she won't stay dead in I is for Invincible. J is for Jesus follows a man that is tortured for being gay. Mankind is driven crazy and homicidal and a woman can do nothing but sit by and watch in K is for Knell. A monster violently attacks a small village after the villagers commit a human sacrifice in L is for Legacy. M is for Masticate is about a man in a zombie-like state attacking people on the street. A series of intertwining stories end in tragedy on Halloween night in N is for Nexus. Zombies put a woman on trial for the murder of other zombies during the outbreak in O is for Ochlocracy. P is for P-P-P-P SCARY! focuses on three men recently escaped from prison who stumble upon a strange dancing man. A man is offered a new unethical employment opportunity after performing exceptionally well in a test in Q is for Questionnaire. For unknown reasons, three people play Russian Roulette in R is for Roulette. A man's family is brutally murdered mid-call with his wife in S is for Split. In T is for Torture Porn, a woman is auditioning for pornography but manages to turn the tables on the cast and crew. A man is ostracized for being subpar in a perfect society in U is for Utopia. A man video calls his girlfriend, while he's on vacation, and his friend reveals what they've truly been up to in V is for Vacation. Two children are sucked into an 80's toy commercial in W is for Wish. X is for Xylophone tells the tale of a woman driven insane by a child playing with her xylophone. A teen girl, after being mistreated by her family, finally decides to take her life into her own hands in Y is for Youth. Last but not least we have Z is for Zygote, a woman delays her pregnancy for years using a special root waiting for her husband to return.
My personal favorites consist of, first, C is for Capital Punishment, it's pretty brutal. It definitely takes a more realistic approach to decapitation and by not glamourizing it like many other movies do. It's oddly similar to O is for Ochlocracy, except about zombies. Capital was definitely the better of the two. Both do a decent job of creating an impending sense of doom. We hold a small shred of hope for the victims, but we all know it's not going to go well. Next, out of all the animated sequences, D is for Deloused is by far the best. I love the dark surrealistic nature of this particular short. It's very unnerving, I'm not squeamish but it made me cringe. It reminded me of the works of David Firth, the creator of Salad Fingers and many other strange flash cartoons. M is for Masticate was a film that I didn't really care for until like the last five seconds. It seemed to be like a zombie version of D is for Dogfight, and that was a bit off putting. However, the last few seconds put the rest of the short into perspective and made it quite funny.
Then, P is for P-P-P-P Scary! I can tell is not going to be for everyone. It's an homage to old black and white comedies like the Three Stooges. They even use make-up, and other effects, to make the characters more cartoon-y to emphasize the style. I like it because it was so bizarre and minimal that it was actually kind of creepy. This particular short is definitely not for everyone, so be wary. T is for Torture Porn isn't really my thing but that doesn't mean it was bad. It's definitely a shock film. I know, people love being shocked and grossed out so I'm convinced others will get much enjoyment out of it. It's one part Parallel Monsters and one part tentacle hentai. If genital horror isn't your thing, just fast forward this segment. W is for Wish is hands down my favorite short. As a boy who played with tons of action figures, I kind of always wished my toys would come to life. However, it's not as glamourous as it seems. When children get caught in the war between two different factions of action figures, it can only spell death. Finally, Z is for Zygote is probably the most original of all the shorts. This may sound weird, but I have always wondered what would happen to a woman if she never gave birth to her child. There are definite cringe-worthy moments here, like seeing a woman pregnant, with a thirteen year old, crawl around on the ground. The short also does a great job of making you empathize with the mother. She's so terrified of being left alone that she refuses to give birth to her child. However, she can't hold her baby back forever.
Compared to the last movie there were fewer terrible segments. F is for Falling was one that really didn't fit in with the rest of the shorts. It wasn't really horror-ish at all. It was more of a socially conscious drama about relations between Israel and Palestine. That's not to say it was bad per say, but it just didn't belong here. G is for Grandad was just too weird for just the sake of being weird. Even the last few seconds just served as nothing but gross out factor. L is for Legacy was no doubt the worst short of the entire movie. It doesn't even do good job of explaining the plot. They're sacrificing a guy, but then they aren't supposed to or something. So then, a monster begins to kill people. It had the most laughable effects out of all the other shorts. Compared to what W is for Wish did with their budget, how could the director in good conscience submit L is for Legacy? It was even poorly shot; it was like they didn't even hire a cinematographer, but instead hired the director's mother who doesn't have any film experience. This entire segment just felt like a money grab.
The ABCs of Death 2 is a definite improvement over the first movie. Unlike most of the segments from the first film, none of these segments are particularly forgettable. In fact, most of them were quite good, to my surprise. The directors seemed to have more social messages than the first film as well. If you look at most of the shorts they actually have a message, be it about homosexuality or even the porn industry. They balance the fine line between entertainment and social awareness. Some movies try to pound the message into your skull and it becomes so boring in the process. ABCs of Death 2 certainly was not boring. In general, this movie managed to surprise me at every turn. I have not heard of a single one of these directors and I like to consider myself pretty versed when it comes to horror movies. There were only a couple I actually knew. Either way, creating a movie with twenty-six directors is no easy feat, and making them feel like they belong together is even harder.
Also, stay-tuned for a post-credit sequence staring Lauren R. Harvey from The Human Centipede films. I highly recommend this to people who enjoyed the first and even those who hated it because this was much better. I sincerely hope The ABCs of Death 2 will spell nothing but a good time for you.
Billy Wayne Martin, HMS