ABCs of Death 2.5

The challenge was to make a horror short of three minutes or less, inspired by the letter 'M'. Over 500 entries were submitted from around the globe, of which 26 finalists were compiled to make The ABC's of Death 2.5.

With such a short run-time in which to try and tell a story, the majority of 2.5's episodes prove predictably insubstantial, mere excuses for the film-makers to be as bizarre or outrageously gross as possible ('M is for Munging' being the winner there!). And as much as I enjoy the occasional spot of weirdness or gratuitous splatter, this rapid-fire collection left me longing for something a little more coherent.

Of the 26 entries, only a handful manage to impress: opening effort 'M is for Magnetic Tape' delivers a fun premise and some great special effects, 'M is for Malnutrition' ends with a neat Twilight Zone style twist, 'M is for Morman Missionaries' has a warped EC comics style payoff, and 'M is for Mother' features a big-ass spider.

The rest of the entries left me either disappointed or scratching my head in bewilderment.

This was a major disappointment. If you're going to compare this one to the other two, you will be let down tremendously.

Everything in this movie looked very ameture. It's almost as if the scenes were the ones that didn't make the cut for the other ABCs of death. Everything was cheesy and very low budget. The other two movies made you at least cringe, had you overly disgusted, or were laughable. All I could do with this movie is roll my eyes.

I do not recommend this movie if you've happened to see parts one and two.

Technically, this shouldn't be counted as one of the pieces of the original series cause there are a couple of reasons backing up this verdict. For one, this time the shorts are collected from fan entries around the globe as opposed to submissions from professional filmmakers. And two, it doesn't obey the alphabetical pattern of the last two; instead, they have decided to only employ the letter 'M'.

Not only did this particular decision influence the established format of this conception, but it also constrained all the creators from an artistic point of view as well as from boundlessly exhibiting their skills and creativeness. While the clips themselves aren't anything terrible, it's rather the quality on a collective level that took an apparent hit this time around as the gradual degradation in their typical standards is quite observable.

This is not for people who like a typical horror movie from start to finish. If you thoroughly enjoyed the ABC's of Death 1 and 2 you will like a lot of the films in this one. Granted, each one is different and I don't think it's possible to love each one the same if at all and that should be expected by viewers. The producers tell you what you're going to get and there shouldn't be any surprises. I really love the fact that they had such a respect for the people who made these films that they did something with them. That being said, a couple of the shorts I straight up didn't like at all but it didn't deter me in the least bit. There were others that I just loved and found clever, strange or downright hilarious. This is a great one to rent if you have a small group of friends over and can watch it together.

ABCs of Death 2.5 is a production created by Drafthouse Films. The good people at Drafthouse Films invited directors from all over the world to submit a short film (sometimes less that 2 minutes long)about their take on dead. Out of the 500 films submitted ABCs of Death 2.5 is a compilation of the best 26 shorts submitted. Just when you think it couldn't get any better each short film begins with the letter 'M'.

The film is basically like Rob Zombie and Quentin Tarantino both got together, got drunk and then make a completely over the top compilation of the weirdest ways to kill people, or kill themselves in some cases.

Even for the content there's nothing too gory here if you seen either one of their movies but I wouldn't bring the kids.