Honourable Mention: ABCs of Death 2 ½

I like the ABCs series, but for those who are unfamiliar with the series I should explain that the first two films gave us 26 short films by different directors with each short being named for a consecutive letter of the alphabet and with a theme of death. Within these the first contained a vampire short (U is for Unearthed) and the second an aswang short (I is for Invincible).

This 2016 release is not ABCs 3 (which the title should make self-evident) but the top 26 shorts from a “Filmmaker Frenzy” competition and all the films are named for the letter M. It has its moments, most definitely (there are certainly two very worthwhile zombie shorts), and I did rather like the vampire short we are looking at here – entitled M is for Mailbox.

Trick or treat?

The Dante Vescio and Rodrigo Gasparini directed section starts with a trick or treater (Wallace Stuani) at the door of a house. Inside a man (Ênio Gonçalves) sits in his wheelchair as his wife (Iná de Carvalho) and adult daughter (Fernanda Gonçalves) answer. The trick or treater holds up a sack for his candy swag and the mother heads to the kitchen to get some sweets. The daughter asks the trick or treater is he is meant to be a vampire and he nods in the affirmative.

Wallace Stuani as the Vampire

Suddenly he has a blade and attacks the daughter, not just slitting her throat but decapitating her. He is then on the mother, revealing black eyes and fangs. The child truly is a vampire but what will the wheelchair bound father do? I won’t spoil that or the reason for the name of the short. The short is in Portuguese with English subtitles and hails from Brazil and the directors manage the difficult task of cramming a story into three minutes.

ABCs of death 2 ½ is available to rent and buy via Vimeo but M is for Mailbox is also on Vimeo for free.

The imdb page is here.