The ABCs of Death (2012) Released as an anthology film, featuring segments depicting various
subgenres of horror that were directed by twenty-six of what the studio described as "the world's leading talents" in contemporary
indie-filmmaking. With a premise inspired by
ABC educational children's books, the movie is made up of twenty-six individual segments directed by a different director, who was assigned a specific letter of the alphabet; and given the task do develop a story and film a
short that explores a death associated with that letter of the alphabet. The studio allowed each director creative freedom in choosing the word, and developing the segment around their choice. The result includes provocative, shocking, and comedic exploration of the reality of death. The film depicts the range of diversity within the modern horror movie genre.
Fangoria described the product as: "a stunning roll call of some of the most exciting names in horror across the world." Producer Ant Timpson later stated that the movie made a significant amount of income from
video on demand (VOD) means, though he nor the studios would reveal those financial figures. Though the movie was met with much more critical praise than the first installment, the film suffered greatly financially due to the
illegal pirating. ''ABC's of Death 2½'' was described as separate from a planned third installment, and critics described the result as a mixed bag of product created by runners-up of the prior competition. The variety of segments once again explore various genres and styles of horror, all centered around a designated letter of the alphabet. Independent filmmakers created the stories and shorts with creative freedom, choosing the word that starts with the letter "M" associated with death, that they wanted the segment to center around. Ant Timpson and Tim League who served as producers on the first two feature films, served as executive producers for this
straight-to-consumer release.
Potential sequel During the final clip of the end credits to
ABCs of Death 2, a teaser statement for a third installment read as: "
ABCs of Death 3: Teach Harder, coming 2016". Despite the successes of the previous two movies, producer Ant Timpson stated in March 2015 that the box office performance of the second film was affected dramatically by pirated viewings. At that time, the producer stated that he and Tim League were looking at the financial figures, and will approach Magnolia Pictures to continue working on the project. In August of the same year, producers Ant Timpson and Time League posted on the official social media page of the franchise, requesting suggestions for directors that fans would like to see create segments of the upcoming project; while confirming that they would once again include a segment created by an amateur filmmaker, submitted through a contest. When ''ABC's of Death 2½
was released in 2016 it was described as a spin-off, while the introductory statement of the film clarifies that it "is not the ABCs of Death 3''", indicating that the third movie was still in development at that time. ==Cast and characters==