''The ABCs of Death'' is a 2012 American

comedy horror Comedy horror, also known as horror comedy, is a literary genre, literary, television genre, television, and film genre that combines elements of comedy and horror fiction. Comedy horror has been described as able to be categorized under three ty ...

anthology film An anthology film (also known as an omnibus film, package film, or portmanteau film) is a single film consisting of several shorter films, each complete in itself and distinguished from the other, though frequently tied together by a single theme ...

produced by international producers and directed by filmmakers from around the world. The film contains 26

short Short may refer to: Places * Short (crater), a lunar impact crater on the near side of the Moon * Short, Mississippi, an unincorporated community * Short, Oklahoma, a census-designated place People * Short (surname) * List of people known as ...

s, each by different directors spanning fifteen countries, including

Nacho Vigalondo Ignacio Vigalondo Palacios (born 6 April 1977), better known as Nacho Vigalondo, is a Spanish filmmaker. Career Vigalondo's first film was the 2003 Spanish-language short film '' 7:35 in the Morning'', about a suicide bomber who terrorizes a ca ...

Kaare Andrews Kaare Andrews is a comic book writer, artist and filmmaker from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. His work includes '' Spider-Man'', '' Iron Fist'', '' Renato Jones'', and '' Incredible Hulk''. Andrews has a diverse drawing style, which ranges from hyper ...

Adam Wingard Adam Wingard ( ; born December 3, 1982) is an American filmmaker. He has served as a director, producer, screenwriter, editor, cinematographer, actor, and composer on numerous projects. Following an early career as a member of the mumblecore ...

, Simon Barrett, Banjong Pisanthanakun,

Ben Wheatley Benjamin Wheatley (born 7 May 1972) is an English filmmaker and screenwriter. Beginning his career in advertising, Wheatley first gained recognition and acclaim for his commercials and short films, before transitioning into feature films and tel ...

Lee Hardcastle Lee Hardcastle is a British clay animator. Life and career Hardcastle studied at the Northern Film School of Leeds Beckett University and started to release clay animations on YouTube in the mid-2000s. Hardcastle was selected as the 26th directo ...

Noboru Iguchi (born June 28, 1969) is a Japanese film director, screenwriter and actor. He has worked as a director in adult video (AV) as well as in the horror and gore genres. Life and career Iguchi was born on June 28, 1969. In an interview he said he wa ...

Ti West Timon C. West (born October 5, 1980) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, editor, cinematographer, and occasional actor, best known for his work in horror films. He directed the horror films ''The Roost'' (2005), ''The House of ...

, and Angela Bettis. It premiered at the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a permane ...

in 2012. In 2013, it was released on VOD January 31 and in theaters March 8. The end credits of the film feature Australian band

Skyhooks Skyhook, sky hook or skyhooks may refer to: Fiction * 'Skyhooks' or 'Skyhooks II', parts 1 and 8 respectively of the Adventure Time Elements (miniseries), Elements miniseries. * ''Sky Hook'', a Hugo-award nominated science fiction fanzine * Sk ...

' 1974 song "

Horror Movie Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, ap ...

". A sequel, ''

ABCs of Death 2 ''ABCs of Death 2'' is a 2014 American comedy horror anthology film produced by Ant Timpson and Tim League. It contains 26 different shorts, each by different directors spanning various countries. It is a sequel to the 2012 film '' Th ...

'', was released in late 2014 and a second sequel, '' ABCs of Death 2.5'' in 2016.

Background

The film is divided into 26 individual chapters, each helmed by a different director assigned a letter of the alphabet. The directors were then given free rein in choosing a word to create a story involving death. The varieties of death range from accidents to murders. A contest was held for the role of the 26th director. The winner was UK-based director

, who submitted the

claymation Clay animation or claymation, sometimes plasticine animation, is one of many forms of stop-motion animation. Each animated piece, either character or background, is "deformable"—made of a malleable substance, usually plasticine clay. Tra ...

short for T.

Plot

The film begins showing a close up of a funnel with blood pouring ominously from it. The blood proceeds to fill up various rooms inside of a house before filling up the interior of a small room containing letter blocks. The room floods as the blocks float to the top spelling out the title. Throughout the film, the blocks spell out the titles to all the segments with each of the segments ending and beginning with a focus on, or a fade into, the color red.

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

reports that 37% of critics gave the film a positive review and an average score of 4.8/10 based on 68 reviews. The consensus says the film "is wildly uneven, with several legitimately scary entries and a bunch more that miss the mark". ''

Nerdist Nerdist Industries, LLC is part of the digital division of Legendary Entertainment. Nerdist Industries was founded as a sole podcast (The Nerdist Podcast) created by Chris Hardwick but later spread to include a network of podcasts, a premium conte ...

'' calls it "a midnight movie for folks with a sick sense of humour". ''

The Austin Chronicle ''The Austin Chronicle'' is an alternative weekly newspaper published every Thursday in Austin, Texas, United States. The paper is distributed through free news-stands, often at local eateries or coffee houses frequented by its targeted demogr ...

'' says it "soars to such artistic heights, and such tasteless depths, on a global scale, no less, bodes well for the future of cinema fantastique and otherwise", while Inside Pulse says the movie has a "brilliant concept but not great execution". Many reviewers criticized the film shorts' unevenness.

Dread Central Dread Central is an American website founded in 2006 that is dedicated to horror news, interviews, and reviews. It covers horror films, comics, novels, and toys. Dread Central has won the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Award for Best Website f ...

gave a mixed review for the film, saying the film is "full of installments that are more bad than good" but that it was an "easy watch" overall.

Film School Rejects Film School Rejects is an American blog devoted to movie reviews, interviews, film industry news, and feature commentary. It was founded by Neil Miller in February 2006. The site was nominated for Best News Blog by ''Total Film'' magazine and na ...

gave ''The ABCs of Death'' a B rating, praising ''D is for Dogfight'' while saying that "''M is for Miscarriage'' is almost insulting in its laziness". Screen Crush gave an overall positive review, saying that it was "a good time at the movies". Dave Canfield writing for film magazine ''Magill's Cinema Annual'' said of the film: "The ABCs of Death is for anyone who loves horror since it is easy to skip through segments that are not to taste. Any viewer should be prepared to laugh pretty hard; feel tense; get grossed out like they would at any halfway decent horror film. But that same viewer now has a chance to find out about some of the best directors working in horror today."

Sheila Kearns case

After showing the film to a group of high school Spanish students, former Ohio substitute teacher Sheila Kearns was found guilty of four counts of disseminating matter harmful to juveniles. As of Thursday, January 16, 2015, Kearns was convicted, and on 5 March 2015, she was sentenced to 90 days in jail and probation for three years.

Notes

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Abcs Of Death 2012 films 2012 black comedy films 2012 comedy horror films American comedy horror films American black comedy films American independent films Bigfoot films Films based on urban legends American horror anthology films American supernatural horror films American splatter films Films directed by Jason Eisener Films directed by Noboru Iguchi Films directed by Jake West Films directed by Ti West Films directed by Xavier Gens Films directed by Yoshihiro Nishimura Films scored by Simon Boswell American vampire films American monster movies American serial killer films Films about child sexual abuse Films with screenplays by Keith Calder Films with screenplays by Simon Barrett (filmmaker) Films directed by Anders Morgenthaler American exploitation films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films