The horror anthology is really coming back, and if things work out well Drafthouse Films, with Timpson Films and Magnet, might be right at the forefront of the mini-trend with a new project called The ABCs of Death. This is a massive anthology inspired by kids ABC books, in which twenty-five directors and one contest winner will each "be assigned a letter from the alphabet that represents a word to act as a springboard for a short. It will be up to each filmmaker to interpret, from accidental deaths to murders committed in cold blood."
In other words, this might be a bit like Edward Gorey's The Gashlycrumb Tinies. But with directors like Jason Eisener (Hobo With A Shotgun), Yoshihiro Nishimura (Tokyo Gore Police) and Srdjan Spasojevic (A Serbian Film) making the shorts, it could get a lot crazier than that. The full director list and a cute teaser poster is after the break.
Producer Ant Timpson said,
This project was inspired by my young sons being introduced to the world through their ABC's books. 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.
Production should begin next month, and ideally things will be wrapped up early next year for release later in 2012. Variety broke the news late last night. Here's the full director list:
Banjong Pisanthanakun (Shutter), 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), Simon Rumley (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), Nacho Vigalando (TimeCrimes), Jake West (Evil Aliens), Ti West (The House of the Devil), Ben Wheatley (Down Terrace), Adam Wingard (A Horrible Way To Die).
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