All Rise...

Judge Patrick Naugle's life is like a box of dark chocolates.

The Charge

Learning has never been so deadly.

The Case

Twenty six filmmakers are bringing you twenty six ways to kick the bucket in The ABCs of Death 2. From the horrible to the comedic, the tragic to the bittersweet, the disgusting to the giggly, you'll find out that every letter in the alphabet holds a deathly fate in The ABCs of Death 2.

I saw through the first installment of The ABCs of Death about a year ago on Blu-ray and was not impressed. I thought that the idea was interesting but the execution less so. Stringing together 26 vignettes alphabetically didn't leave much room for anything beside grizzle and gore. While a few of the short films were entertaining, I recall much of the film feeling very artsy and experimental, which just doesn't work for a horror film about the glorious ways man can shift this mortal coil. Needless to say, when I heard that there would be a sequel forthcoming I wasn't all that excited. What more could possibly be done with this format? To my surprise, the second film was the exact same format as the first film: over two dozen shorts from A to Z.

Some of the vignettes hold promise, while others flounder. "A is for Amateur" features a hitman who imagines a classic hit and how smoothly it will go, but the way it actually goes down is far more realistic (and deadly) than he could have imagined. "G is for Grandad" features a grandfather and his grandson (straight out of a Coen brothers/Tim Burton mash up) who have a spat that ends with a tool for opening shellfish and missing gentiles. Some of the short films are tongue-in-cheek ("E is for Equilibrium") while other feel deathly serious ("J is for Jesus"). There are brain transplants using gorillas, Russian roulette, zombie cures, snorting of bath salts, and all other sorts of oddities peppered throughout the film.

The films run the gamut from live action to animated (writer/director Robert Morgan's "D is for Delusional" is the best and weirdest of the animated segments). Some have dialogue in English, some utilize subtitles, some are even silent movies. With The ABCs of Death 2, you get a variety of different kinds of mini-movies, each at the whim of the director. I can't really review this on the basis of character or plot because the films contained within are so short that there's no time for deep storytelling. Each of these shorts is designed to get the viewer from point A to point B (point B being a gruesome end to one or more of the characters in each segment). To that end, the films are successful because there are some pretty grisly ways the actors are dispatched. From being eaten by an unseen and clearly monstrous underground badger to a truly disturbing beheading with an axe by two amateurs, The ABCs of Death 2 has something for everyone, assuming everyone loves a good vivisection.

Surprisingly, I found myself enjoying (if that's the right word, which I'm not sure it is) The ABCs of Death 2 more than the original ABCs of Death; It felt a little less avant-garde than the first film and more interested in being purely a bunch of little horror movies. Some of them fall flat while others are wildly creative and amusing. If you have nothing to do this coming Friday night, you could find a lot worse time wasters than The ABCs of Death 2.

Magnolia's The ABCs of Death 2 (Blu-ray) is presented in 1.85:1/1080p HD widescreen. Because these shorts were filmed using different cinematographers and directors, each varies wildly. Some of the transfers look great while others appear gritty or rough (an artistic choice). So, The ABCs of Death 2 ends up being quite a mixed bag. The soundtrack is presented in DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Surround in English with Spanish, German, Hebrew, Portuguese, and Arabic in certain segments. There is some decent dynamic range to be found here and a few well placed directional effects. Also included on this disc are English, Spanish, and French subtitles.

Extra features include a commentary by various filmmakers who worked on The ABCs of Death 2, a host of short 'making-of' featurettes, a production stills gallery, photo galleries for various segments, story boards, an audition tape, and trailers for other Magnolia features.

While some vignettes were great and others flat as a pancake, I was rarely ever bored during The ABCs of Death 2. Horror buffs will find a lot to like here, even if it does wear out its welcome a good fifteen minutes before the final short film wraps up. Magnolia has done a decent job with the audio and video transfers and the extra features will most certainly provide fans with some extra gristle to chew on.

The Verdict

Not for the squeamishly illiterate.

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