“A short story is like a quick kiss in the dark from a stranger.” –Stephen King

26 directors. 26 letters of the alphabet. One wild movie.

The producers gave each filmmaker one letter of the alphabet, five thousand dollars, three minutes of screen time, and complete artistic freedom, as long as their short film had something to do with death.

26 short films. 26 different visions. 26 quick kisses in the dark.

Libido

This movie is a hoot. I loved every weird, freaky, bloody, perverted minute of it. Now, that’s not to say every segment is great; some are terrific, some are good, some are barely tolerable, and some should be buried in a salt mine.

But I actually love this format. I love that if an entry comes along that is ridiculous, stupid, or boring, I just have to wait around for 3 minutes to get an entirely new one. New director. New characters.

Dogfight

I marvel at the originality of the whole thing. Not the idea of an anthology, those have been around for decades. I just am really overwhelmed (but sometimes just whelmed) at the high weirdness on display in these 26 terror tales. The dark, disturbing places the directors take us–well, they took that creative freedom that was offered and ran like a bat out of hell with it. If Oscars could be awarded for “Freakiest Freak Flag Flown,” a lot of these directors would be renting tuxedos.

Hydro-electric Diffusion

Some directors opted for comedy. “N is for Nuptials,” by Banjong Pisanthanakun, in which a marriage proposal is ruined by a blabber-mouthed bird, and “Q is for Quack,” a wry take on the ABCs movie itself, are among the funniest.

Toilet

Some of these shorts, though, really were disturbing, thought-provoking, shocking, and sometimes in very bad taste. These were my favorites.

D is for Dogfight, by Marcel Sarmiento, is one of the best. It manages to be funny, poignant, and surreal all at once. A tale of loss, revenge, and redemption, all set in super-slo-mo. And, frankly, that dog just might be the best actor in the whole film.

L is for Libido, by Timo Tjhajanto, might be the straight-up most weird, perverted and un-erotic film about sex I’ve seen since A Serbian Film, and it does it all in just 3 minutes. Amputee? Check. Children? Check. The death penalty for finishing second? Check. It made me feel ill-at-ease, but I also couldn’t look away, the mark of a very effective horror movie.

X is for XXL, by Xavier Gens, features a great performance by Sissi Duparc as an overweight, middle-aged woman who desires a slimmer, more svelte body. And she gets it, in one of the most impressive and gruesome set-pieces I’ve ever witnessed. Very effective and creepy.

Some of the shorts are, to put it bluntly, the bad apples at the bottom of the barrel. Ti West’s M is for Miscarriage wants to be shocking and ironic, but it’s just tedious. G is for Gravity, by Andrew Traucki, is a POV of a surfer heading into the surf, but just ends without actually having a satisfying ending.  Jake West’s entry, S is for Speed, is just an obvious metaphor that takes itself too seriously.

There are so many crazy, different takes on the subject of death here, you’re bound to find a few that tickle your fancy, a few you’ll want to skip, and a few that will have you saying, “WTF?” Including, W is for WTF?  It’s definitely worth a look-see.

Uncle Mike sez: check it out.