I liked the original ABCs of Death. I loved the idea, and have seen quite a few of the directors' work. Unfortunately, it seems some of the directors approached didn't get the memo, and gave very little effort in their submissions. G for Gravity and M for Miscarriage spring to mind. Then you have your wild/crazy efforts like F,J,W and Z which I wasted minutes of my life watching.
The good news is that the ABCs of Death 2 is far more consistent in the quality. It starts strong with 'A' by E.L.Katz, an amusing tale of a hit-gone-wrong (or has it?) and carried on with great gusto and a well-paced mix of both fun ('B') and dread ('C' and 'D'). In fact, by the time you get to 'Q' during the second half of the film, the quality is almost totally improved and maintains a high level until the film ends.
And what an ending.
'Z' is not just (in my humble opinion) the best short film of the bunch, but also one of the best short films I've ever seen. I wouldn't eat during this one if I were you, and I'd turn all the lights out as well. Be prepared to be thoroughly shocked. It's not quite as disgusting as 'L for Libido' from the first film (my favourite short of that bunch), but is a quite unique take on motherhood and features some quite remarkable, and disgusting, special effects, all of which I think I believe were done by the director in his own living room!
I'll summarise the Good, the Bad and the Ugly, so to speak:
The Great: AZ The very Good: BCFJKRSV The OK: DEGHIMNOQTUWXY The downright ugly: LP
So for your money, you get 2 excellent shorts, 2 awful ones, and the rest are all decent. That's a pretty good run for an anthology-style film like this, I think. :)
