The ABCs of Death

Even the best film anthologies can be inconsistent, so the producers of this bold project were certainly taking a risk when they asked 26 directors from across the globe to make a short film about death according to a letter assigned to them. Inevitably, the quality across this alphabet of doom is patchy, varying as much as the subject matter. The content ranges from urban myths (Bigfoot, Exterminate) and animated yarns (Toilet) to the bonkers (Fart), the surreal (Orgasm), the darkly comic (Quack) and the downright disturbing (Ingrown, Libido). Gore is not necessarily the prime mover in many of the segments; indeed, the better ones have an interesting story to tell (the utterly bizarre Hydro-Electric Diffusion, in which an anthropomorphic cat and dog tangle during the Second World War and Dogfight, with its brilliant use of slo-mo). British talents Simon Rumley, Jake West and Ben Wheatley also produce fascinating work, with Sightseers director Wheatley's unique slant on a vampire hunt in Unearthed especially effective. The whole may not add up to the sum of its parts, but it's a mixed bag that at least has a few choice gems to show for its ambition.