T is for Toilet – Winner of the 26th ABC’s of Death

PRODUCERS FOR ‘THE ABCs OF DEATH’
ANNOUNCE WINNING FILM FROM
WORLD-WIDE CONTEST

25 of Today’s Leading Genre Filmmakers Select Contest Winner
To Complete 26-Part Horror Anthology Film

AUSTIN, TX – Tuesday, November 15, 2011 – Drafthouse Films, Magnet Pictures and Timpson Films have announced T IS FOR TOILET by Lee Hardcastle as the winner of their contest to find the “next great horror filmmaker,” which finalized the lineup of their international co-production of THE ABCs OF DEATH – a highly anticipated anthology film featuring segments directed by over two dozen celebrated filmmakers in what Fangoria calls, “a stunning roll call of some of the most exciting names in horror across the world.” Inspired by children’s educational books, the feature is comprised of 26 individual chapters, each helmed by a different director assigned a letter of the alphabet. The directors were given free reign to choose a word to represent a form of death based on their letter. THE ABCs OF DEATH will be released through Magnet Releasing in 2012.

T IS FOR TOILET was an early submission to the contest setting the benchmark for future entries and has since become a viral sensation from reporting genre websites and blogs. UK based Lee Hardcastle utilized claymation to tell the nightmarish tale of a frightened young boy and his first attempt using the bathroom all by himself. The short can be seen via THE ABCs OF DEATH contest page: http://26th.theabcsofdeath.com/t-is-for-toilet/. Submissions for the contest closed on October 1st, with 170 submissions from all over the world and over 50,000 votes cast from the public. After the public vote narrowed the field to 13 finalists, the 25 additional filmmakers of THE ABCs OF DEATH voted on the winning film.

“We are delighted that T IS FOR TOILET was as popular with the other directors as it was with the public,” says co-producer Ant Timpson, “and we are thrilled that Hardcastle’s work will be seen alongside modern horror’s greatest filmmakers.” Co-producer Tim League added, “We are extremely happy about the quality of many of the shorts and were impressed with the emerging talent in the genre scene.”

The competition was neck and neck to find the winning film with four outstanding runners-up that included in 2nd place “T is for Talk,” by Peter Haynes, 3rd place “T is for Turbo,” by François
Simard, Anouk Whissel and Yoann-Karl Whissel, 4th place “T is for Table,” by Shane Free and 5th place “T is for Termite,” by Steve Daniels. Finalists will be invited to be included in the DVD/Blu-ray release for THE ABCs OF DEATH.

For more information and to view submissions, go to: — http://26th.theabcsofdeath.com/

The following is the list of participating directors, along with their countries of origin and reference titles from each of their filmographies:

Kaare Andrews (Altitude), USA
Angela Bettis (Roman), USA
Ernesto Diaz Espinoza (Mirageman; Mandrill), Chile
Jason Eisener (Hobo With A Shotgun), Canada
Bruno Forzani & Héléne Cattet (Amer), Belgium
Adrian Garcia Bogliano (Cold Sweat), Mexico
Xavier Gens (Frontiers; Hitman), France
Jorge Michel Grau (We Are What We Are), Mexico
Noburo Iguchi, (Robo Geisha), Japan
Thomas Malling (Norwegian Ninja), Norway
Anders Morgenthaler (Princess), Denmark
Yoshihrio Nishimura (Tokyo Gore Police), Japan
Banjong Pisathanakun (Shutter), Thailand
Simon Rumley (Red, White & Blue), UK
Marcel Sarmiento (Deadgirl), USA
Jon Schnepp (Metalocalypse; The Venture Bros.), USA
Srdjan Spasojevic (A Serbian Film), Serbia
Timo Tjahjanto (Macabre), Indonesia
Andrew Traucki (The Reef), Australia
Nacho Vigalondo (TimeCrimes), Spain
Jake West (Doghouse), UK
Ti West (House of the Devil; The Innkeepers), USA
Ben Wheatley (Down Terrace; Kill List), UK
Adam Wingard (A Horrible Way to Die), USA
Yudai Yamaguchi (Yakuza Weapon), Japan