The New Drafthouse Film: THE ABCs OF DEATH!

I may be a little biased here, but I think that The ABCs Of Death, an anthology movie from Drafthouse Films, Timpson Films and Magnet Releasing, is going to be fucking AWESOME.

Here’s the concept: 26 of the coolest, most unique genre filmmakers come together, and each is assigned a letter of the alphabet and a word that goes along with that letter. They must make a short film using that word as a way to explore the topic of death, whether it be murder, old age, accident or anything in between (actually I think those three pretty much sum it up. Maybe illness too). And the announced line up so far is killer. Check this out:

Banjong Pisanthanakun (Shutter, Alone)
Angela Bettis (Roman)
Adrian Garcia Bogliano (Cold Sweat)
Jason Eisener (Hobo With A Shotgun)
Ernesto Diaz Espinoza (Mirageman)
Bruno Forzani and Héléne Cattet (Amer)
Gadi Harel (DeadGirl)
Thomas Malling (Norwegian Ninja)
Yoshihiro Nishimura (Tokyo Gore Police; Frankenstein Girl Vs. Vampire Girl)
Simon Rumley (The Living and the Dead; Red, White and Blue)
Tak Sakaguchi and Yuji Shimomura (Yakuza Weapon)
Marcel Sarmiento (DeadGirl)
Srdjan Spasojevic (A Serbian Film)
Timo Tjahjanto (Macabre)
Andrew Traucki (Black Water, The Reef)
Nacho Vigalando (TimeCrimes)
Jake West (Doghouse, Evil Aliens)
Ti West (The House of the Devil, The Innkeepers)
Ben Wheatley (Down Terrace, Kill List)
Adam Wingard (Pop Skull, A Horrible Way To Die)

I love that the list is so international, and that the directors are all so very, very different. What’s really cool about this as well is that the nature of the beast - 26 shorts! - means these will have to be fairly short shorts.

The concept originated with the remarkable Ant Timpson, New Zealand’s greatest weird film lover. “This project was inspired by my young sons being introduced to the world through their ABCs books,” adds Timpson, “The idea of subverting that format to reveal a study in all the dastardly and humorous ways a person can leave this world appealed on multiple levels. And it was somewhat fitting to learn that the earliest forms of the ABCs books actually did use fear of punishment to teach the young.”

And one more cool thing: Ant and Tim League will get together 25 filmmakers, but they’re going to do a global contest to find the 26th. Yes, that means you could be one of the directors of this film. I love that aspect, as it really plays into the spirit of Fantastic Fest, which is always looking for new talent.

So start thinking about what your short film would be, because you could end up contributing to the ABCs of Death.