There’s a danger to anthology films in that the films often lack consistency when it comes to quality. They consist, after all, of multiple short films, each with their own writers, directors, and actors, and that variety can only lead to varying levels of success. So how do you combat the chance some of your shorts might suck?
Make a movie featuring 26 shorts, of course.
The ABCs of Death is an original Drafthouse Films production that gathered 26 filmmakers, assigned each of them a letter of the alphabet and gave them a simple task: make a very short film about death inspired by their particular letter. The roster of directors who answered the call are an international directory of genre fans and masters, and a small sampling includes Jason Eisener, Xavier Gens, Yoshihiro Nishimura, Nacho Vigalondo, Ti West, Ben Wheatley, and more.
The first red band trailer has just appeared online, and you should check it out after the break.
Hard to find anything to quibble with here. The film played at this year’s Fantastic Fest to mostly positive acclaim, and the word was that while it features gratuitous amounts of bodily fluids it’s also loaded with gore, violence, nudity and absolute insanity.
The official synopsis is below.
Twenty-six directors. Twenty-six ways to die. The ABCs OF DEATH is perhaps the most ambitious anthology film ever conceived with productions spanning fifteen countries and featuring segments directed by over two dozen of the world’s leading talents in contemporary genre film. Inspired by children’s educational books, the motion picture is comprised of twenty-six individual chapters, each helmed by a different director assigned a letter of the alphabet. The directors were then given free reign in choosing a word to create a story involving death.”
The ABCs of Death will be available on demand on January 31, 2013, with a theatrical release to follow on March 8, 2013.