Runtime:
129 minutes
Directed
by: 27 different directors! This is a film of 26 different shorts,
after all
Starring:
A whole slew of people, none of whom you've heard of before
From:
Drafthouse Films
This
is a movie I have referenced before, as I have known about it for who
knows how many months now, and it's quite the concept and it is
impressive they were able to pull in all those people for the
project. You can look at IMDb to see all the talent but there are
some big names present, especially if you follow the recent horror
scene closely. I saw this via Xbox Video and as it's apparently
getting a limited release soon (it's played at some random screenings
in the past) the price was 800 Microsoft Points, definitely more than
usual. I paid up and watched it that way.
The
gimmick: 27 different directors (that includes a duo that works as
one) were given 5 thousand dollars each and were given a letter of
the alphabet, and they had to make some sort of horror short that was
5 minutes or less. Otherwise they coulld do whatever the hell they
wanted to. This is why you have a great variety, from Claymation to
animation, slasher to satire, gore to bathroom humor, and seemingly
everything in between. More than one of them I am not even sure are
really horror movies.
Unfortunately,
I thought that the majority of the shows were C as in Crap!
I
won't be discussing each of the 26 segments, as that'd take forever
and I don't know if anyone cares that much for such an extensive
breakdown. But, I say that there are some real good segments and a
few that were alright. The rest of them, though... they were a mix of
confusing, pointless, insulting, WTF (and not just the segment
entitled W as in WTF), complete nonsense, offensive, or a mix of all
of them. Lord knows I am not the only one who thinks that the
majority of the segments are misses, whether or not they are film
critics, horror website reviews, or fan opinions. Sure, there's
definitely some disagreements as to which ones are the best, but the
point stands. Personally, two of my favorites were a segment that
pretty much involves furries (yes; it was like a Tex Avery cartoon,
believe it or not) and another one that was in there because the guy
won a contest. Oh, and there was another one that pretty much
entirely is about masturbation!
The
worst one (and there are several contenders for this) has to be Ti
West's segment, M is for Miscarriage. It's obvious what it is about,
but it's completely lazy and uninspired. That is even worse than the
offensive nature of the short. I mean, there are definitely some
offensive material in this movie, to make it clear. While I say that
there are more misses than hits, at least with many of them there
were attempts at creativity. It definitely does not always work but
there were attempts at least. West's short was just awful in every
way. Between that, his segment in V/H/S and The House of the Devil,
why does he have so many fans? At least it seems like there's a
backlash against him now amongst more than a few in the horror
community.
I
would say not to watch this on Xbox Video or in a theatre or later on
DVD; wait until Netflix Instant or Redbox. Unfortunately, that is
about as much as this failed experiment is worth. I really do with
that this and V/H/S would have been better, as I usually think that
independent/foreign horror is a lot more interesting than the staid
and weak mainstream horror we have usually gotten in recent years. It
was a greatly ambitious idea that sad to say did not live up to its
premise. If you do see it you can decide for yourself which segments
are your favorite.
I'll
be back Saturday afternoon.
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