How sad is this?

Absolutely brilliant

A waste of 90 minutes of my life

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

This was a re-watch for me — the first time was closer to when the anthology was first released — and I definitely enjoyed it, possibly more than most. It consists of 26 different short films from actors spanning 15 different countries, and the only common theme is death.I think it's to be expected that any anthology, but especially one with over 20 installments, is going to be an exercise in hit or miss. Even if you had a line-up of directors and actors with decades of experience, you'd still have some shorts that didn't quite come together… and many of the people involved in these are new to the game. The good news for someone like me with a relatively short attention span is that each short is exactly that — short. It has a total runtime of 129 minutes so each film is an average of 5 minutes long… easy enough to sit through one that doesn't really work. I think the interesting thing — aside from getting a taste of each directors' style — was how differently the theme of death was interpreted. Some went the classic scary route, some went more cerebral, some went funny… literal vs abstract, gritty vs neat. It's a fascinating, brief look into their brain, which is cool no matter the context. It's also fun to watch the short and guess what the word is going to be!** SPOILERS! **There were a few that were interesting but not particularly gripping: Apocalypse (directed by Nacho Vigalondo) was an intense way to kick off the series; Gravity (directed by Andrew Traucki) was a neat little POV adventure; and Orgasm (directed by Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani) was stylish and sleek.There were a few that made me want to see more… ones that worked well in their short timeframe but were intriguing enough to make me curious: Cycle (directed by Ernesto Díaz Espinoza) was a trippy mindfuck; Ingrown (directed by Jorge Michel Grau) was dark and intimate; Pressure (directed by Simon Rumley) played on the underbelly of desperation; Quack (directed by Adam Wingard) was just funny and clever; and Unearthed (directed by Ben Wheatley) was super engaging.Sadly a bunch were just straight up dumb: Bigfoot (directed Adrián García Bogliano, who is ALWAYS hit or miss for me); Exterminate (directed by Angela Bettis) played on the creepy crawly aspect of spiders but was just bad otherwise; Fart (directed by Noboru Iguchi) was just stupid beyond words; Hydro-Electric Diffusion (directed by Thomas Cappelen Malling) was physically repulsive for me; Miscarriage (directed by Ti West) was easily the laziest of the bunch; Nuptials (directed by Banjong Pisanthanakun) was pointless; Removed (directed by Srdjan Spasojevic) was just UGH; Speed (directed by Jake West) tried to be deep but failed; Vagitus (directed by Kaare Andrews) was one of the most technically impressive but terrible otherwise; WTF! (directed by Jon Schnepp) was intentionally a hot mess but so damn lazy); and Zetsumesu (Yoshihiro Nishimura) I just have no words for.A few went the funny route and did it well: Jidai-Geki (directed by Yudai Yamaguchi) was so bizarre; Klutz (directed by Anders Morgenthaler) was so good I want a whole show of it; and Toilet (directed by Lee Hardcastle) managed to be funny, bizarre, and surprisingly gory for claymation.A few were pretty well done but OVER THE TOP shocking: Libido (directed by Timo Tjahjanto) is impressive if for no other reason than its ability to shock at every single turn, and XXL (directed by Xavier Gens) is an intensely dark look at the diet and weight loss industry's impact on society.There were only two that I considered truly awesome: Dogfight (directed by Marcel Sarmiento) was easily the winner of the whole series for me – gripping, intense, gritty, clever, and well shot; and Young Buck (directed by Jason Eisener), just a bizarre adventure overall but weird enough for me to love it.Overall, well worth the two hours, and I'm super excited to watch the second series!

Now I do love an anthology, and a horror movie made up of a sh*t load of shorts is something I just can't miss!Each short is based on a letter of the alphabet... and death. Many of the shorts are interesting and completely out there, some are just WTF and some shouldn't even be classed as any sort of horror. My personal favorites are A, E, L (I know i'm messed up), P and X. The acting is pretty good in each short, but no stand out fails or Oscar worthy performances.Overall I had to give it five because there's so much choice. It's just unfortunate that half of the choices are pretty lame. Give it a go and forward bits that bore you, they probably won't get better.

Having just watched this I wondered how many of the directors had actually forgotten what their short film was supposed to be about, and that this was intended to be a horror anthology. I thought that about five of the shorts could be considered comedy rather than horror, which was disappointing. Although two of the funny shorts I.e. K for Klutz and T for Toilet were funny and entertaining but belonged on a show like Robot Chicken rather than a horror anthology. One other funny short was N for Nuptials which was just so funny and crazy. My personal horror faves of these 26 shorts were D for Dogfight and X for XXL. Both of these were very good indeed with plenty of horror and thought-provoking too. Dogfight was my personal fave and the quality of the visuals was amazing. I was expecting some proper horror and shocks from the Japanese directors involved in the project and I was shocked, but mostly not in a good way. F for Fart (or should that be Farcical) was shockingly bad and I would personally not wish my name, if I had directed it to be linked with such guff. L for Libido was shocking too, but in a good way and was more like what I expected, with its sexual deviancy and all sorts of wrongness. P for Pressure was entertaining and shocking about a woman forced into prostitution to make some money for a birthday present for her daughter, and had a twist I wasn't expecting, which was good. However, overall I found myself disappointed. Too many forgettable shorts, a few lazy ones and just not enough horror. Also a good short can be shocking, suspenseful, and thought provoking, but I would say less than a quarter of this collection managed any of those qualities. Now to watch ABCs of Death 2.

If you are a fan of farts, miscarriages, turds, a human versus dog fight, or a woman indulging a man's crush fetish, than perhaps this movie was made for you. Otherwise, even the most seasoned horror fans are likely to be disappointed with this one. Despite more than 2 hours of run time, each segment feels very brief and unable to create anything of substance. At the same time, many of the segments are so unbearable that the next and possibly less god-awful short cannot come soon enough. I have been a tremendous fan of horror my entire life. As well, I am a proponent of creative integrity and freedom from Hollywood's repetitive idiocy. However, if this is what these directors came up with with "artistic freedom" then perhaps they should try another line of work. I find nothing about this film terrifying, humorous, or entertaining in any way. Rather, each segment was dull, predictable and seemed more interest in pushing the boundaries of the grotesque rather than trying to create something interesting. One can only assume that an incredibly cheap production cost is what lead to a sequel to this disaster of a collection. Hitchcock would be rolling over in his grave if he knew this abomination passed for "horror."