26 films shot all around the world, each containing some type of death. Sounds like a magnificent concept that would make a great, exciting, if messy movie. Well, in execution the idea doesn't work out as well as it sounds, but it still leads to some brilliant shorts. Unfortunately, for every brilliant short there are twice as many bad ones, but for every bad short there are three times as many okay/pretty good ones. The following contains a brief summary of my opinion of each short:"A"-decent if a little confusing; I liked the cheesy gore effects and subtle black humor. "B"-it starts off being somewhat "cute" in an oddball sort of way, but progressively becomes much darker and more gruesome, while still retaining a unique sort-of charm about it. "C"-a creative and interesting concept that is not pulled off as well as it could have been, but is still very fun."D"-definitely one of the very best shorts in the collection. The editing and filmmaking skills here are wildly impressive, and the concept is both hilarious and disturbing. An intense, clever, and visually stunning horror short. "E"-right after one of the very best in the collection, we get...this. Ugh...when the stock suspense music that I've used on amateurish videos as a JOKE kicked in during this """professional""" short, I cringed. The "story" is stupid, the acting is atrocious, and it's simply not funny. Not to mention, the CGI effects are so awful it's hard to even laugh at them. "F"-and here's where I begin to understand the hate towards this movie. One trashy short is bad enough, but two of these train wrecks in a row is unspeakable! Plus, how come the filmmaker chose FART out of every single word beginning with an F. There are plenty of words to choose from. Frankly, immature gross out potty humor is not my thing."G"-an extremely mild improvement over the past two. This is so short that I can't really complain about it, but it's still not very good. I get the idea behind it but it's not executed in a particularly effective way. It's just...THERE. "H"-I still don't know exactly HOW I feel about this one. At first, it just felt like stupid unfunny furry fanfiction on film, but then it turned into a series of gore effects and Nazi imagery and it made me quite confused, if somewhat humored. "I is for Ingrown"- barely payed any attention to this one. It was mostly just kind of "meh". "J"-now we're back on track! This one was pretty absurdist and surreal, but not too over the top, making it an enjoyably comical ride."K"-oh..so I guess we aren't back on track. More stupid potty humor. This makes me concerned for the human race. When I think of the word "klutz" I don't think of a living sh*t. Who decided this was at all presentable?!"L"-HOLY SHIFT IN TONE!!! This one was messed up to the max. It contains tons of masturbation, graphic deaths, and even some pedophilia. Very intense and mostly successful despite the ickiness of the whole thing."M"-directed by Ti West, this may be the shortest of all the films, but that doesn't mean it's any good. I cannot believe that a well liked horror filmmaker like West decided to create this simplistic mess. NOTHING about it is any good!"N"-kind of funny, although the "death" angle at the end was totally random and served no real purpose to the actual story."O"-This short is actually brilliant! The visuals are beautiful, colorful, erotic, intense, vibrant, and disturbing-it's a feast for the eyes and ears and mind that is as provocative as it is creepy! It's a thrilling work of experimental madness! "P"-I see what they tried to do here, but it just doesn't really work. The editing is more obnoxious than it is engaging or unique, and the story is definitely surprising and shocking, but that's about it. After the initial shock, you are left unaffected. "Q"-indie filmmaker Adam Wingard helps elevate this film's sense of humor much further with this hilarious and clever little meta movie. The dialogue is laugh out loud funny, the concept is classic, and the presentation is almost pitch perfect. A whole lot of fun! "R"-more shock value. Yes, it's gross, but it's mostly forgettable if occasionally somewhat clever in its visuals. "S"-WOW! What a twist! But, the twist doesn't make up for how silly the overall short is. "T"-the only mildly-potty-humorous one that does things RIGHT, and that's mainly because much of the humor doesn't have anything to do with mere gross out type stuff. It's just a demented series of horrific claymation visuals expertly pulled off by one of today's best animators, Lee Hardcastle. "U"-another film by a notable filmmaker. Ben Wheatley has made many acclaimed works, and, while it is no masterpiece, this short definitely shows off some skill. "V is for Vagitus"-a creepy dystopia portrayed with some cool visuals, but is not as compelling as it wants to be."W"-similar to "Q is for Quack" in its meta-concept, but much more wild and off the walls "crazy". It tries a little too hard, but I enjoyed it."X"-gory and a bit disturbing/depressing, but it's unfortunately another film that only serves the petty purpose of being"shocking". "Y"-weird, creepy, gross, and pretty intriguing."Z"-I think this was supposed to be a satire of Japanese nationalism or something, but it was too over the top and confusing to tell. It's absurd and wacky and, for the most part, kind of enjoyable.

The concept was interesting, but having so many stories mean they're short. Some stories worked well, but others were terrible. Some come off as some kind of weird soft porno, while others are stupid. The handful of stories that were good are worth watching. It's just too bad that you have to sit through the weaker, stupid stuff to view them. The titles of the alphabet stories appear at the end and, frankly, some of the titles were really stretching it. In this type of collection, I would expect some humor or irony. This was not so. I particularly enjoy the one for W because it was creative and funny. Some stories are in different languages, so there are some subtitles, but not too much. I don't mind subtitles. I wish I could give it a higher score, but the bad bits were really that bad. I won't discourage people and say don't see it. As long as you know what you're in for, go for it. I've seen worse.

This was a re-watch for me — the first time was closer to when the anthology was first released — and I definitely enjoyed it, possibly more than most. It consists of 26 different short films from actors spanning 15 different countries, and the only common theme is death.I think it's to be expected that any anthology, but especially one with over 20 installments, is going to be an exercise in hit or miss. Even if you had a line-up of directors and actors with decades of experience, you'd still have some shorts that didn't quite come together… and many of the people involved in these are new to the game. The good news for someone like me with a relatively short attention span is that each short is exactly that — short. It has a total runtime of 129 minutes so each film is an average of 5 minutes long… easy enough to sit through one that doesn't really work. I think the interesting thing — aside from getting a taste of each directors' style — was how differently the theme of death was interpreted. Some went the classic scary route, some went more cerebral, some went funny… literal vs abstract, gritty vs neat. It's a fascinating, brief look into their brain, which is cool no matter the context. It's also fun to watch the short and guess what the word is going to be!** SPOILERS! **There were a few that were interesting but not particularly gripping: Apocalypse (directed by Nacho Vigalondo) was an intense way to kick off the series; Gravity (directed by Andrew Traucki) was a neat little POV adventure; and Orgasm (directed by Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani) was stylish and sleek.There were a few that made me want to see more… ones that worked well in their short timeframe but were intriguing enough to make me curious: Cycle (directed by Ernesto Díaz Espinoza) was a trippy mindfuck; Ingrown (directed by Jorge Michel Grau) was dark and intimate; Pressure (directed by Simon Rumley) played on the underbelly of desperation; Quack (directed by Adam Wingard) was just funny and clever; and Unearthed (directed by Ben Wheatley) was super engaging.Sadly a bunch were just straight up dumb: Bigfoot (directed Adrián García Bogliano, who is ALWAYS hit or miss for me); Exterminate (directed by Angela Bettis) played on the creepy crawly aspect of spiders but was just bad otherwise; Fart (directed by Noboru Iguchi) was just stupid beyond words; Hydro-Electric Diffusion (directed by Thomas Cappelen Malling) was physically repulsive for me; Miscarriage (directed by Ti West) was easily the laziest of the bunch; Nuptials (directed by Banjong Pisanthanakun) was pointless; Removed (directed by Srdjan Spasojevic) was just UGH; Speed (directed by Jake West) tried to be deep but failed; Vagitus (directed by Kaare Andrews) was one of the most technically impressive but terrible otherwise; WTF! (directed by Jon Schnepp) was intentionally a hot mess but so damn lazy); and Zetsumesu (Yoshihiro Nishimura) I just have no words for.A few went the funny route and did it well: Jidai-Geki (directed by Yudai Yamaguchi) was so bizarre; Klutz (directed by Anders Morgenthaler) was so good I want a whole show of it; and Toilet (directed by Lee Hardcastle) managed to be funny, bizarre, and surprisingly gory for claymation.A few were pretty well done but OVER THE TOP shocking: Libido (directed by Timo Tjahjanto) is impressive if for no other reason than its ability to shock at every single turn, and XXL (directed by Xavier Gens) is an intensely dark look at the diet and weight loss industry's impact on society.There were only two that I considered truly awesome: Dogfight (directed by Marcel Sarmiento) was easily the winner of the whole series for me – gripping, intense, gritty, clever, and well shot; and Young Buck (directed by Jason Eisener), just a bizarre adventure overall but weird enough for me to love it.Overall, well worth the two hours, and I'm super excited to watch the second series!

One of the benefits of having so many short films is that maybe there is something for everyone in this bunch. I am not sure if I can call this an anthology, it is mostly a collection of 5 minute (or less) short films. There are so many different approaches and so the movie is fascinating.One main thing I noticed is that there are way too many films with scatological themes. I have not seen so many movies dealing with such themes in a horror anthology before. It is plain weird to see a short film about farting. The Japanese films were overall weird but the farting one takes the cake. I just don't see how this is appropriate for a horror anthology. In any case, most of the films were only borderline horror. Another striking aspect is the inclusion of taboo subjects which may not be included on other anthologies that much. For example, I have not seen many taboo subjects on VHS or the other anthologies. I was disturbed quite a bit, maybe they could have been avoided.My favourites are Dogfight, Jidai-geki, Libido, Pressure, Toilet, XXL and Zetsumetsu. Dogfight was incredible because it dealt with one of my greatest fears - Dogs! I was so terrified throughout this one, it is visually striking. They should make more horror movies about dogs. Jidai-geki was hilarious, I was laughing at the various faces and the special effects. Libido was absolutely intense. Apparently this is the same guy who was behind the Safe haven segment in VHS2 as well so I am not surprised by the intensity of this segment. Pressure was hard to watch. But here people were complaining about the animal abuse but for me personally, it is the human story that struck me. I don't care about cats but I do care about the woman in the story who goes through various difficulties. This is a serious entry in a mostly comedic over the top anthology. Toilet was also interesting because of the clever premise and lines. The ending was also hilarious! XXL was shocking with its brutal violence. Apparently the French horror wave is not over yet. In usual French style, they try to include some social commentary in the midst of the brutal violence. And frankly many times I have felt the same way as the girl since I have had weight issues. Zetsumetsu at the end is also funny. I have been a fan of Tokyo gore police so this is pretty much similar to that style.It is funny how many of the directors in this anthology have made short films similar to their own previous films. I am surprised by the Ti west short film though, it is not that good. Fart, Gravity, Exterminate, Hydro electric diffusion, Quack, WTF are terrible. Speed and Vagitus were somewhat interesting, they have good endings. The remaining stories are not excellent either.Still they were entertaining somewhat in their weirdness. I rate it a 7/10.