“26 Directors. 26 Ways to Die.” Even the tagline doesn’t come close to accurately describing the bloody carnage that is the first trailer for horror anthology The ABC’s of Death.

Inspired by children’s learning books and co-produced by New Zealand’s own master of all things incredibly strange, Ant Timpson, the film tasked both established and upcoming directors with creating a short film about death based on an assigned letter of the alphabet. Each was given 6 months, 6 weeks and 6 days to complete their segment – and boy did they go to town!

The full list of directors and depraved segments is as follows:

Nacho Vigalondo (A for Apocalypse)

Adrian Garcia Bogliano (B Is for Bigfoot)

Ernesto Diaz Espinoza (C is for Cycle)

Marcel Sarmiento (D is for Dogfight)

Angela Bettis (E is for Exterminate)

Noboru Iguchi (F is for Fart)

Andrew Traucki (G is for Gravity)

Thomas Malling (H is for Hydro-Electric Diffusion)

Jorge Michel Grau (I is for Ingrown)

Yudai Yamaguchi (J is for Jidaigeki)

Anders Morgenthaler (K is for Klutz)

Timo Tjahjanto (L is for Libido)

Ti West (M for Miscarriage)

Banjong Pisanthanakun (N is for Nuptials)

Bruno Forzani, Héléne Cattet (O is for Orgasm)

Simon Rumley (P is for Pressure)

Adam Wingard, Simon Barrett (Q for Quack)

Srdjan Spasojevic (R is for Removed)

Jake West (S is for Speed)

Lee Hardcastle (T is for Toilet)

Ben Wheatley (U is for Unearthed)

Kaare Andrews (V is for Vagitus)

Jon Schnepp (W is for WTF)

Xavier Gens (X for XXL)

Jason Eisener (Y for Young Buck)

Yoshihiro Nishimura (Z is for Zetsumetsu)

The likes of Ti West (The Innkeepers), Jason Eisener (Hobo with a Shotgun), Xavier Gens (Frontiers) and Ben Wheatley (Kill List) will be familiar to horror/thriller aficionados; with the new talent keen to show us their directorial chops and become the next ‘one to watch’.

The ABC’s of Death will be released On Demand everywhere on January 31, 2013 and then placed in cinemas from March 2013 – for those who demand their blood and guts on a big screen.

Be warned: this is not for the faint-hearted or those with manners mild.

http://youtu.be/UFgrFENQ4oQ

In a word: INSANE!

For those mentally unstable people (like me!) who will watch this, we might well be advised to prepare ourselves for this cinematic mind-f**k before entering the cinema or clicking play.

The recent indie hit V/H/S tried this horror anthology style on for size with mixed results – but a couple of segments were outstanding. I imagine this will be very much the same; the gems making it worth wading through the rest – scenes you’ll talk about long after leaving the cinema.

So are you dying to see this… or would you rather be put to death?

A 26-chapter anthology that showcases death in all its vicious wonder and brutal beauty.

The anthology is directed by Nacho Vigalondo, Adrian Garcia Bogliano, Ernesto Diaz Espinoza, Marcel Sarmiento, Angela Bettis, Noboru Iguchi, Andrew Traucki, Thomas Malling, Jorge Michel Grau, Yudai Yamaguchi, Anders Morgenthaler, Timo Tjahjanto, Ti West, Banjong Pisanthanakun, Bruno Forzani, Héléne Cattet, Simon Rumley, Adam Wingard, Simon Barrett, Srdjan Spasojevic, Jake West, Lee Hardcastle, Ben Wheatley, Kaare Andrews, Jon Schnepp, Xavier Gens, Jason Eisener, Yoshihiro Nishimura.

The ABC’s of Death will be released On Demand everywhere on January 31, 2013 and then placed in cinemas from March 2013.