Blu-ray Review: ABC's OF DEATH 2 (2014)

ABCs OF DEATH 2
Directed by:  Multiple Directors
Distributed by Magnolia Home Entertainment

  2012's ABCs OF DEATH was one of my favorite horror films of recent years.  I loved the concept of 26 directors each taking a different letter of the alphabet and making a short film about death based on one word (or short phrase) that starts with their given letter.  It seemed like a very tough project to put together, but it was worth it for sure.   Well, 26 new directors are back for a 2nd go around in the ABCs OF DEATH 2.   I honestly didn't think part 2 would be as good as the first one, but I am happy to report that I think it wasn't just as good, I think this 2nd installment even surpasses the first film.

Here is a complete list of directors and a plot synopsis for each of their segments from the film's Wikipedia page:

A is for Amateur (directed by E. L. Katz)
A hitman's meticulously planned hit doesn't go quite as planned.

B is for Badger (directed by Julian Barratt)
A wildlife documentary goes awry when the team encounters a giant badger.

C is for Capital Punishment (directed by Julian Gilbey)
A man is violently beheaded for a crime he didn't commit.

D is for Deloused (directed by Robert Morgan)
A stop-motion animated short about a large bug that helps an executed man get revenge on his killers.

E is for Equilibrium (directed by Alejandro Brugués)
Two castaways have their friendship tested when a beautiful woman washes ashore.

F is for Falling (directed by Aharon Keshales and Navot Papushado)
An Israeli woman is caught in a tree by her parachute and is found by a hostile Palestinian boy.

G is for Grandad (directed by Jim Hosking)
A young man discovers his grandfather has been sleeping under his bed.

H is for Head Games (directed by Bill Plympton)
A man and woman kiss, which turns into a surreal power struggle.

I is for Invincible (directed by Erik Matti)
A family tries to kill the matriarch for her inheritance.

J is for Jesus (directed by Dennison Ramalho)
A young man is violently martyred for being a homosexual.

K is for Knell (directed by Kristina Buozyte and Bruno Samper)
A woman experiences the effects of a black liquid that turns people into killers.

L is for Legacy (directed by Lancelot Odawa Imasuen)
A ritual sacrifice goes horribly wrong.

M is for Masticate (directed by Robert Boocheck)
A man runs down a street in slow motion, attempts to eat someone, and is shot by police. It's revealed that he did bath salts 34 minutes earlier.

N is for Nexus (directed by Larry Fessenden)
A man hurries to meet his girlfriend on Halloween.

O is for Ochlocracy (mob rule) (directed by Hajime Ohata)
A woman is sentenced to death by a courtroom full of zombies.

P is for P-P-P-P SCARY! (directed by Todd Rohal)
An homage to black and white comedy in which three prisoners encounter a strange man and a baby.

Q is for Questionnaire (directed by Rodney Ascher)
A man takes an intelligence test on the street, juxtaposed with footage of the man's brain being transferred to a gorilla.

R is for Roulette (directed by Marven Kren)
Two men and a woman play Russian roulette while hidden in a basement.

S is for Split (directed by Juan Martinez Moreno)
A woman is attacked in her home while on the phone with her husband.

T is for Torture Porn (directed by Jen and Sylvia Soska)
A woman (Tristan Risk) is treated misogynistically at an audition, but when asked to strip, reveals tentacles where her vagina should be.

U is for Utopia (directed by Vincenzo Natali)
An unattractive man is singled out in a mall full of seemingly perfect people and publicly executed.

V is for Vacation (directed by Jerome Sable)
Two men are killed by a prostitute they hired while on the phone with one man's girlfriend.

W is for Wish (directed by Steven Kostanski)
Two kids wish themselves into a fantasy world, only to be violently taken prisoner by the villain.

X is for Xylophone (directed by Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo)
A babysitter (Béatrice Dalle) is emotionally affected by a child's xylophone playing.

Y is for Youth (directed by Soichi Umezawa)
A young girl violently fantasizes about the deaths of her abusive family.

Z is for Zygote (directed by Chris Nash)
A pregnant woman has been staving off birth for 13 years and living with a 13-year-old inside her stomach.

  While most all of the short films are excellent, just like the first film there were a handful that I just didn't care for at all.  Overall though, this is one of the best films I have seen this year (Ok, so it's just January 31st, but I have a feeling I would still say that even if it were later in the year)! 
  This is one you will definitely want to check out and add to your DVD/Blu-ray collection!  ABCs OF DEATH 2 is available Tuesday, 2/3, from Magnolia Home Entertainment and contains tons of special features, including "Behind the Scenes", "Making Of" and "Still Galleries" for almost every letter/segment!


CLICK HERE to watch the Red Band trailer
CLICK HERE to purchase the DVD
CLICK HERE to purchase the Blu-ray