The ABCs of Death 2
Yuck. That's the one thing all 26 shorts in this anthology have in common, they all have at least a moment designed to make the viewer say yuck. The basic premise is the same as the first movie, 26 filmmakers (or filmmaking teams) are each given a letter of the alphabet and tasked with making a short film about death based on that letter.
The shorts here are mostly bad (though in fairness, not as bad as the worst of the first movie in the series) but there are a few bright spots, particularly A, S, W, and Z (especially S, a cleverly constructed piece that was easily my favorite in the movie). Also, I admit I laughed out loud at the last line of M, and as affectedly gonzo as Y was there was something about it that worked, unlike the godawful surrealist Japanese Z from part 1.
I realize that that last paragraph reads like an equation, but I'm being purposefully vague only because one of the few pleasures of the movie is trying to figure out what word the short is building to, as the name of each short isn't revealed until the end of it, usually causing it to act almost as a punchline.
One thing to be wary of, these movies are most assuredly not for the weak of stomach. As each one is building to a death, they can get pretty insanely gory. I don't mind gore when it has a purpose (the first movie's X was one of my favorite shorts in it and I had to look away from the screen momentarily during it) but a lot of it here just comes across as a lazy attempt to shock.
Despite the few good shorts, this was as frustrating and overall disappointing as the original. As with any anthology, your mileage may vary regarding which shorts you like or don't like, but I can't imagine anybody walking away from the movie feeling completely satisfied.
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