The ABC's Of Death (2013)

Outrageous, twisted, over the top, sadistic, appalling, and fun as hell! Magnet Releasing and Drafthouse Films' The ABC's Of Death was one of the most anticipated horror films of 2013. Did it live up to the hype? I will let you be the judge.

The ABC's of Death is a fairly simple movie. The concept was give 26 directors a letter of the alphabet, give them 100% artistic and creative freedom, and have them make a short film based a word that starts with the letter they were given. I think part of the reason this film had such hype, is because of the names that were attached to the film. With directer's like Angela Bettis, Yûdai Yamaguchi, Ti West, Adam Wingard, Simon Barrett, Jon Schnepp, Xavier Gens, and Jason Eisener why wouldn't there be a crazy amount of hype for this.

I really enjoyed The ABCs of Death. I thought for the most part, the film was well put together. There are some very outstanding shorts present here, and some that are not. With 26 different shorts present, your probably not gonna like every one of them. At some points I was cringing, at other times I was saying WTF is going on.

ABC's has some very good shorts, I didn't actively make mental note or write down what ones I thought were good. I simply went by what one evicted some sort of emotion out of me. Weather it be cringing, gagging, laughing, ect. I was out to enjoy the film, and went in with an open mind. D is for Dogfight by Marcel Sarmiento was defiantly my favorite, It was shot beautifully, and the use of slow motion was a very nice touch. Jason Eisener's Y is for Young Buck was another stand out for me. I love everything about Eisener's short film, the shooting style, soundtrack, film filters, and of course the absurdity of the whole thing. Eisener is defiantly and upcoming director to look out for.

Other good ones were A is for Apocalypse, F is for Fart, H is for Hyrdo-Electric Diffusion, J is for Jidai-geki, K is for Klutz, L is for Libido, Q is for Quack, S is for Speed, T is for Toilet, U is for Unearthed, W is for WTF, and X is for XXL. All of these shorts were shot well, and were entertaining.

The shorts there were the absolute worst of the bunch were Ti West's M is for Miscarriage, Andrew Traucki's G is for Gravity and Adrian Garcia Bogliano's B is for Bigfoot. I am not sure what these directors were thinking but these shorts were just terrible. Most notable of the bunch is Ti West's M is for Miscarriage, being the shortest and laziest. I honestly felt I could have directed the SAME EXACT thing, shot for shot. I thought it was disrespectful, and the biggest let down of the shorts. I am a rather big fan of Ti's and felt he just didn't care enough to put forth any effort. While these were the biggest flops of the film, it still doesn't take away from the overall picture.

Magnet Releasing has hit the nail on the head once again with The ABC's of Death, proving that they are steadily becoming a force to be reckoned with in the indie horror film world. I have nothing but positive things to say about Magnet, and am very excited to see what else they have in store for us horror fans in the future. The ABC's of Death defiantly lived up to the hype, even though some of the shorts were sub-par. ABC's delivered everything a horror fans salivate over. Gore, Nudity, Absurdity, Laughs, and overall entertainment. GLP gives this blood soaked effort 4 out of 5 stabs. The film was released on 1/31 as a pre-theatrical OneDemand release, which Magnet is defiantly doing right. Although the rental price is a little pricey at $10, its well worth it. Be sure to check out Magnets Facebook page for more information on upcoming horror releases, as well as more information on The ABC's Of Death, and check out the films Facebook page as well. The ABC's of Death will be hitting select theaters on March 8th. Check out the NSFW trailer below.

GLP Rating:

V/H/S (2012)

The hype behind this movie in the horror community was awesome! V/H/S was and still is being hailed as "Best of the year" by Fangoria, "The scariest, rawest horror movie of the year" by Rolling Stone, and Dread Central called it "A Phenomenal piece of work." Needless to say I was very excited to check it out. I had been following news on the film since hearing about it on Bloody Disgusting around the time it hit Sundance, so to finally get to watch it was quite a treat.

V/H/S/ is about a group of jackasses that are hired to steal a vhs tape from some old dudes house in the middle of nowhere. However when they arrive and find hundreds of vhs tapes depicting horrifying tales they realize they may have bitten off more than they can handle. V/H/S is a "found footage" and "anthology" which at first sounds like its gonna be a fucking mess, but the film develops a nice pace and before you know it your sucked into the TV.

All together there are 6 shorts in this film (including the main story). While I liked them all, I found some to be more effective than the others. The first and last stories Amateur Night and 10/31/98 were my favorites! I really feel with the time that each story had the respective directors and writers did a fantastic job. My only beef was with the short "Tuesday the 17th" I felt a little empty as far as the story. It left me with questions and I felt it could have been explained better. Regardless, it still found enjoyment in that short, so I am not extremely disappointed. The other 3 stories were good and I really have no criticisms.

The writers and directors Adam Wingard, David Bruckner, Ti West, Glenn McQuaid, Joe Swanberg, and Radio Silence did a great job overall with their respective shorts. I was really impressed with the special effects of Radio Silence's "10/31/98" and David Bruckner's "Amateur Night". While Ti West's "Second Honeymoon" was a bit slow the ending was awesome. It left me with a chill and eerie feeling throughout.

For the gore hounds out there, there is plenty of the red stuff. Throat Stabbings, disembowelment, decapitations, surgical cutting, and plenty other body parts are removed, chewed, and violently torn off. As for the stories themselves I really liked the diversity, I felt there was something for everyone. Slashers, Monsters, Aliens, Demons, Ghosts and more prove that this film is not just a one trick pony. The found footage aspect was a nice tough, I felt like i was 10 years old again watching my favorite splatter pic on vhs again. I will say though that if you have trouble with dizziness, or nausea with handheld films like Blair Witch, Paranormal Activity and those alike that you may want to take an antihistamine or some sort of anti-nausea medication.

Lastly this film is heavy on the nudity! I for one love a nice T&A shot in a movie, but this film is FULL of them. The guys get about 4 or 5 different beautiful pairs, a full frontal, and some nice thong action. But wait thats not all, Ladies you're in for a treat too. The girls get some dudes with their shirts off, a full frontal male, and a couple of butt shots. Everyone wins!

In short V/H/S lived up to the hype for GLP. while a couple of shorts has some flaws, the film as a whole was extremely entertaining. Magnet Releasing did a wonderful job bringing the fans a worthy film, that will surely be a must have for a lot of collectors. GLP gives this effort 5 out of 5 stabs for originality, special effects, and overall badassery! For more information on the film visit the Official Site, and Facebook. Catch this film as soon as you can on-demand because it is scheduled for its theatrical release on October 5th and will probably be removed at that time. View the NSFW Redband trailer below!

GLP Rating