There are some movies in this world that are just badly made (like Manos: The Hands of Fate) or misguided (like Plan 9 from Outer Space) that make it really difficult to get incessantly angry at their shear awfulness. And this particular one can evoke both laughter and anger; but never fear, which I assume is what the premise is set on (It should evoke some form of tension as is the tradition of many other horror movies. Some can be interesting from a historical perspective like, say, "Dracula" 1931, but some are just lost in their own silliness. This movie is the epitome of that).
If you ever come across this movie on Netflix, it is just best to just avoid it at all costs. How it managed to get on there is the biggest mystery to me, but I am at least happy that I didn't need to shell out money just to satisfy my owncuriosity. The title of the film does indeed entice the viewer, but it almost feels like it is delving into snuff film territory, much like the infamous "Faces of Death" (a film that I just can't stand for the life of me). But it is nothing of the sort. As the title suggests, each letter of the alphabet represents a form of death. Apparently, the film was handled by a whole bunch of different directors who were given their own individual letter to work with. Thus creating a mishmash of stories and styles that rarely seen to correlate, bringing creedance to the idea that it was handled by loads of other people. While it seems like an interesting idea for a movie, it really becomes tired after 30 minutes. You will get the odd story that you can't help but laugh at like the story for 'G' that takes an unexpected turn for the worst, and an animated feature which harkened back to "Eraserhead" and "Nightmare before Christmas". However, the stories got so mind numbingly tedious after 'J' (trust me when I say that the reveal for 'J' is really asinine) that I just switched the movie off, and let it simmer in my mind for a while. What did I watch? How come only some of the scenes were memorable, yet others were plain forgettable? I have rarely watched a film that bored me, annoyed me and made me laugh simultaneously. And if you find the structure of this film to be entertaining, then by all means watch it, because there are some creative elements thrown in there, and some of the guesswork for the letters may be intriguing to some.
However, it only succeeded in taking me in and throwing me out. And at a point, I was more than happy to let it fall into oblivion. If you want a film with an interesting set up much like this, but with better execution, then "Creepshow" might be your cup of tea.
