43
Metascore
16 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 80SalonAndrew O'HehirSalonAndrew O'HehirThe ABCs of Death is one-stop shopping for deviant cinema, a Pu Pu platter of perversity. It made me laugh hysterically, shout with outrage, wince with discomfort and yearn to hide under the sofa, all by the halfway mark.
- The end result provides a range of quality, from the inspired and creative to the lazy and insipid, but one that horror fans will certainly devour.
- 63Slant MagazineSlant MagazineTellingly, this horror anthology's finest entries convey how real horror comes in more than shades of red, and how it lives inside us all.
- 58Film.comWilliam GossFilm.comWilliam GossEven at thirty seconds a piece, 26 shorts would feel, fittingly, like overkill. The ABCs of Death has no shortage of inventive, ironic and gruesome sketches, but the novelty of its successes just barely outweighs its stillborn stuff.
- 50McClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreMcClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreAn instant midnight movie, a morbid mishmash of styles and filmmaking formats – 26 films, 26 filmmakers from the four corners of the horror globe, all making short films about death. It’s not for everyone.
- 50Boston GlobeBoston GlobeDo your tastes delve into the sick, ultra-violent, and disturbing? Then you may find The ABCs of Death, an anthology of about two dozen short films, inventive and funny. Otherwise, as you consume this serving of alphabet soup, “A” may as well stand for “atrocious,” “B” for “bloodbath,” and “C” for “check, please.”
- 50The New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisThe New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisAt its best when merging shocks with social commentary, this halting compilation improves significantly as it nears the end of the alphabet.
- 42The A.V. ClubTasha RobinsonThe A.V. ClubTasha RobinsonMany of the shorts are visibly impressive, given their scant budgets, and there’s no end of visual and thematic creativity stretched throughout the anthology; there are, after all, a million horrible, memorable ways to die.
- 40Time OutJoshua RothkopfTime OutJoshua RothkopfOnly Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani, directors of 2009’s stylish Amer, emerge intact with “O Is for Orgasm,” a surging montage of fluid colors and moans.
- 30Village VoiceMark HolcombVillage VoiceMark HolcombWhat's unexpected is how thoroughly The ABCs of Death's ample duds overshadow its treasures, and how uninspired it feels as a whole.