Shocked reaction to gory Kiwi film trailer

A scene from Dogfight in The ABCs of Death. Photo/supplied.

A gory trailer for a New Zealand-produced horror film has been met with shock and dismay after being posted online by a mainstream US film provider.

Yahoo! Movies posted a link to the red band trailer for the anthology film The ABCs of Death on its Facebook page yesterday.

The trailer features a decapitated head, an electrocution, chainsaws and a particularly disturbing dog attack.

Many viewers posted about their shock and anger at the more gruesome scenes.

Cecilia Ramirez-Talancon said: "WTF? and here I thought American Horror Story was twisted! Nothing compared to this crap!"

Sam Pop-Pop Norris said: "I have officially descended into the seventh level of hell."

Stephen Lawless: "Mom! WTF! Get home we have to talk."

Angelica Aguilar called for viewers to boycott the film.

"No way and they said Harry Potter and other magical movies where (sic) garbage with bad spirits. I think not... this is what i call a bad sick movie."

Producer Ant Timpson, a Kiwi film veteran who directs the 48 Hour Film Festival, said the trailer was meant to cause a reaction.

"I'm absolutely excited to be unapologetic."

The trailer was originally meant to be more extreme but had been toned down to comply with US censors, Timpson said.

It may have been shocking for viewers who linked to it from the Yahoo! Movies Facebook post as much of the content on the page was more mainstream, he said.

"It might have been a rude awakening to their very Twilight filled days. It's definitely more of wild trip than a movie that sets out to appall or gross out, but I'm not delusional. It's kind of a niche high concept idea."

The ABCs of Death features 26 death scenes shot by 26 directors from 15 countries.

Each director was assigned a letter of the alphabet and told to make it correspond to a different grisly demise.

The film's tagline is "26 directors, 26 ways to die".

The Austin Chronicle's review said the film achieves "such awesome heights and such tasteless depths".

It is out on demand in the US on January 31 and will be released in cinemas on March 8.