E is for Exterminate
Directed by (the lovely and awesome) Angela Bettis (who starred in the titular role in the horror classic, May)
I love Angela Bettis, so it hurts me to say this, but her piece about bugs that infiltrate a man’s ear colony and then hatch and cover his face just felt like a simple commercial to me. I know she knows horror from the inside, and having been in the Sick Girl episode of Masters of Horror, I know she knows her way around an insect, but regardless, “Exterminate” just fell flat. I like Bettis so much I almost didn’t go with this, but I gotta keep shit real.
G is for Gravity
Directed by Andrew Trauki, whom we all know nothing about.
“G is for Gravity” is told in such a convoluted way that I had to ask Nato to tell me what happened. It is all shot in the first person, but unlike “Unearthed,” that style does nothing to further the story. Instead, it just leaves us with more questions. Did this guy just paddle out on his board and then drown himself? Why are there burn marks on a surfboard? What is it we see in the water when he is looking down? This felt more like a cry for help than a film that deserved a place among some of these others.
How about G is for Gremlin, or Graveyard, or Grouch. Gimp. Grandpa. There are so many ways they could have gone. This was a fail.
And one High Art winner – O is for Orgasm
Though many found it strange, I have made it clear with my love of Beyond The Black Rainbow that I like horror disguised as high art, and that is just what “O is for Orgasm” was. I know absolutely nothing about the two filmmakers responsible for the short, but I found it visually enthralling.
Overall, The ABC’s of Death was a strange ride, but one I encourage any horror fan take. Not all the twisted roads go somewhere, but the journey is one hell of an experience, regardless.