 |
| From https://i.ytimg.com/vi/PugqJgYFgyc/maxresdefault.jpg |
[To read Part 1, follow the link HERE]
M is for Multinational
The anthology starts to build
momentous when its international directors start to appear, having a greater
impact on this sequel as much because many aren't household names, coming from
far afield in national cinemas obscure still for many viewers. Ironically, cult
audiences have the same curiosity as art film fans do in how we are as
fascinated with other cultures, making a horror film from a place like Turkey
to Serbia, not necessarily known for such films in the wider public knowledge,
more appealing. Arguably, there are points where cult fans go further than even
art house fans in their desire to learn of other cultures whose cinema is not
as known, probably having more knowledge from their willingness to dig out the
obscure likes of Nigerian cinema to bizarre Filipino rip-offs of James Bond as
they are internationally promoted titles.
Where else do you have an obscure
Filipino director, Erik Matti, stand
equal among bigger names with I, his
Evil Dead-like tale of a mother who
just refuses to die, or for that matter Austrian filmmaker Marvin Kren, whose R I
cannot spoil when I reveal its full name is R is for Russian Roulette as that doesn't give away how that turns
out. Sadly it's not all beds and roses, even if its merely one segment, as
Argentine director Alejandro Brugués
lets the non-English language contingent down. After the interest in Juan of the Dead (2011), his
immediately follow up here with F is
a botch, a Gilligan's Island tale of
romantic triangle with a sour tasting "bros before hos" conclusion.
T for Thoughtful
Thankfully you also have Aharon Keshales and Navot Papushadomaking, the directors of Rabies (2010), making F which is an example common this
anthology series where directors I have had cold feelings towards, as I didn't
like Rabies, nonetheless show
virtues that win me over. A tale of a female Israeli soldier stuck in a tree,
with a young Palestinian male on the ground below with a rifle, it emphasises
that unlike the prequel film, where there was a few attempts, more directors within
the sequel are tackling real life subjects, the drama here (not horror)
balanced and the death pure accident. Brazilian director Dennison Ramalho for J
follows a gay man being forced to "turn" straight by two preachers,
starting as an extreme but potentially profound take on gay spirituality as,
even with the violence and torture involved, it brings in literal metaphysical
as the victim starts seeing the preachers as horrifying demons and stigmata is
involved. Sadly Ramalho brings in
revenge angle which undermines the morality, an immense shame to witness. More
elusive and effective is female Lithuanian director Kristina Buožytė who, co-making K with Bruno Samper, presents
a curious but memorable segment of a young woman witnessing mass murders
suddenly take place in the next tower complex next to her, the meaning of the
ending as her menstrual blood mixes with an alien black liquid up in the air,
but striking as the whole segment feels like a dream in structure.
P is for Personal Favourites
One I was the most interested in
was L, directed by one of the first
Nigerian "Nollywood" directors, the magnificently named Lancelot Oduwa Imaseun. Maybe its bias
on my part, aware the editing's choppy and there's the very fake CGI of many
Nollywood productions, but it was profound to seen an African director,
probably with a budget higher than some of his features, direct a segment with
international availability. One showing local Nigerian actors, dressed in
traditional dress, for a tale (in an unknown period) where not following
through with a blood sacrifice is a very bad idea. One with folklore, even if
simplified, you rarely get in wide distribution in a location rarely seen. In
itself the ABCs of Dead 2 was a
success just for this cultural communication...that and I like the cheesy
Nollywood CGI as shown here, especially the heart ripping moment.
And there's X, another pair of directors in Julien
Maury and Alexandre Bustillo I haven't liked the work of, hating Inside (2007) in the day and not fond
of Livid (2011), redeeming
themselves. Despite a premise of a grandmother snapping which could be seen as
offensive, because it involved a small child, they make one of the best
segments just for casting Béatrice Dalle and relying on her acting without
words. It is not to insult any performance in the segments, very strong in
most, but Dalle is a legitimately
cinematic icon with a magnetism to her, able to act out this segment without
dialogue and give it depth just through her facial expressions.
 |
| From http://cdn2us.denofgeek.com/sites/denofgeekus/files/styles/ main_wide/public/d_is_for_deloused.jpg?itok=R8zOi34D |
J is for Japan
If you look back to the original ABCs of Death, the most divisive
additions were the Japanese one. All from Sushi
Typhoon, who were a trend back then, the shorts reflecting Nikkatsu's desire, who set it up, for
marketing to the West a perception of Japanese cult films being intentionally
strange and full of elaborate, gory and sexually perverse moments. Many of
these productions were not very well structured as cult films, instead a series
of wacky events, and it led to a flood of releases that dissipated in a short
time space.
I liked those shorts in the first
ABCs of Death, but no one would deny
the two Japanese entries here, whilst they are as eccentric, are some of the
best shorts from the sequel and are definitely the superior set to last time. O by Hajime Ohata is rightly praised, though it deserved to be a longer
short away from the anthology, of a zombie outbreak where medical technology
has allowed the undead to gain their minds back, deciding to set up kangaroo
courts to punish the living for killing their own, in some ways the defendants
deserving the punishment when they gleefully killed said undead rather than for
the sake of protecting themselves. Y
by Soichi Umezawa is underrated and
my favourite of the two, and not just because Asuka Kurosawa from A Snake
of June (2002) stars in the segment, a tale of a young teenager girl living
with her abusive mother and step father going through all the things she has
had to endure, depicted in the same crazy prosthetic effects like Sushi Typhoon but with greater
purpose and imagination, before she decides to put her foot down. It's a bitter
sweet segment, again emphasising that this sequel is openly including
non-horror shorts, whilst it also works for cult film audiences still because
of the bizarre sights within it like a man eating burger or a person turning
into a dog.
W is for Weird
Sadly, unlike the prequel, there
are fewer abstract entries. Thankfully the two that are here are some of my
personal favourites. P by Todd Rohal will be hated by many. It
should be the kind post-internet, post-surrealist comedy I'd hate yet
inexplicably I do like it immensely, probably because of how utterly peculiar
it is, Rohal visibly influenced by
the kind of pre-sixties comedy that few people would take reference from, which
he turns into this odd duck of a short. Following three escaped prisoners in a
black void, in comical stereotype prison uniform and exaggerated prosthetic
noses, it's a melding of the antiquated with the strange as they meet a man
with a baby. Oil lamps are blown out, there's tap dancing and creepy digital
distortion of faces. Most will find it perplexing, and yet I love it so after
multiple viewings.
The other short, D by animator Robert Morgan, cannot be argued as anything else as a living
nightmare. He's an idiosyncratic choice to include as few would know of him,
but it was because of this short I discovered him, an English animator who
produces one of the most disturbing segments. To describe his aesthetic style,
alongside Bobby Yeah (2011) [REVIEWED HERE], is that of grotesque
stop motion with tactility used to skin crawling detail. Body horror, possibly
from the same camp as Screaming Mad
George rather than Cronenberg,
with his obsession with infected forms and dream logic found. Morgan, in his tale of a humanoid
getting revenge from the dead only with a price involved, has an additional
freakish factor in his work that he uses materials usually seen as
"cute" in other contexts. Bobby
Yeah crosses uncomfortably phallic meat shapes with pink furry walls, D with a panda-head eater hybrid with
giant denture teeth that would traumatise children if they were to see it on a
shelf outside the animation studio. Again, I had never known of Robert Morgan weren't it not for his
inclusion in this anthology, a success on the producers part for bringing
attention to these figures selected. Whether he'd ever move to feature
filmmaking I have no idea, but I wish he was more well known just for the fact
he already has a style as an animator entirely of his own.
C is for Climax
Finally, whilst the Z of the prequel was memorable, Yoshihiro Nishimura's entry in the
prequel is a random mess, done with the excuse of being deliberately offensive
and getting away with material Japanese censorship wouldn't allow in terms of
full frontal nudity. Whilst it had Japanese Dr. Strangelove, a character I will
always remember from that prequel, it's a segment looked down upon with understandable
reason. No one could argue Chris Nash's
Z in the sequel wasn't the superior
ending short, a period Americana tale that leads to moments which are so
uniquely horrifying, with an image or two you've never seen in other horror
films, that it's a perfect way to end the film and arguably one of the best shorts
of the whole anthology.
Abstract Spectrum: Dreamlike/Grotesque/Psychotronic/Surreal/Weird
Abstract Rating (High/Medium/Low/None):
D (Dir. Robert Morgan): Medium
P (Dir. Todd Rohal): Low
Personal Opinion:
As with the prequel, mileage will
vary in whether you like The ABCs of
Death 2 or not. Which is the best between the two? If these are the last
two, baring ABCs of Death 2.5, than
I'd still go with the original for its energy. That's not to dismiss the
sequel, which for me is an anthology which stands out the most for its
multicultural involvement of very unique and idiosyncratic filmmakers from
around the world, the international contributors providing a great deal. Their
importance, alongside the willingness to include animation, are really the most
rewarding aspects of The ABCs of Death films,
for any faults always defendable because they had this concern of showing the
span of cult cinema globally. Noticeably, whilst I lament the loss of The ABCs of Death, The Field Guide to
Evil (2018) which reduces the number of segments, gives them more time to make
a story within, and emphasising the international directors chosen with native folk
stories their subjects, rose from the ashes and kept this virtuous flag flying
proudly.
 |
| From https://dailydead.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/ 10/L-is-for-Legacy-1024x576.jpg |
No comments:
Post a Comment