Tales from the Hood

A tribute to movies like "Dr. Terror's House of Horrors" and "Tales from the Crypt", "Tales from the Hood" presents some horror vignettes centering on life in the black ghetto. Some drug dealers go to a funeral home to pick up their "s**t", only to have the eccentric owner (Clarence Williams III) tell them about the fates of some recent customers...with a twist at the end. At once a fun horror flick and also warning about getting mixed up with the wrong people, this is a cool one. A particular scene in the fourth vignette appears to be a tribute to "A Clockwork Orange". All in all, a real credit for director Rusty Cundieff and executive producer Spike Lee.

Featuring Tom Wright (the hitchhiker in "Creepshow 2"), David Alan Grier, Corbin Bernsen and Rosalind Cash (in her final role).

I saw this for the first time recently as i am planning to check out the 3rd part. This one aint scary but some segments r entertaining n at the same time it showcases the problems faced by a community.

The first one bah rogue cops - This one's ur typical revenge of the ghost, a dead fella comes back to take revenge.... The second one bah monsters - This one's a creative one, it potrays the destructive powers of grief with a dash of Cellar Dweller. Mayb Babadook got inspired by this one. The third one bah racism - This one's bah miniature dolls wreaking havoc on a racist neo nazi. Its a bit gory. The last one bah another chance - This one's the best. Inspired by Jacob's Ladder mayb.

I had to wait more than 10 years to finally see this one. Not one single copy seemed to be available over here in Europe. That was until 2007, when I finally got my hands on a Region 1 DVD copy.

If you like anthology movies, then you have no excuse for not seeing this one. One of the best anthology movies of the 90's (it's up there with "Tales From The Dark Side: The Movie" and "Necronomicon", if you ask me). And probably the best horror movie from the hood with a nearly all Afro-American cast ever made (because I can't really say I've ever seen a ghetto-horror flick that was actually any good). Three hood-rats, out to collect some 'shiiit', visit a freaky coroner who tells them 4 terrifying tales of the supernatural.

The first tale is about three corrupt white cops who had it coming... Wings Hauser is especially enjoyable in this one. He already evoked my interest at the time after having seen his enjoyable performance in "Night Shadows" (AKA "Mutant"). And by know I simply love the man. Second story is about a boy and his bruises, which are being caused by... a monster supposedly living in his house. Great and fascinating conclusion this one had. The third tale has some killer-puppet action going on in it of which Charles Band could easily be very jealous. Corbin"The Dentist"Bernsen stars in this segment that revolves around voodoo and slavery. The fourth and last segment gives a big nod to Kubrick's "A Clockwork Orange". Enough said about that one. The wrap-around story wraps it all up nicely, and has a very satisfying conclusion.

"Tales From The Hood" is actually more than 'just a horror movie'. With Spike Lee being executive producer, you can rightfully expect that this movie will carry important themes & topics like racism, politics, police brutality, guilt, child abuse, brothers killing brothers, etc. The message always comes across, but possible statements & points of view never become too dominant. This film's primary goal is to entertain a horror audience. And it splendidly succeeds in that. The filmmakers also clearly know the rules of the horror-anthology-genre as well as the tricks of the trade, all to great success. Need I even say that the make-up and special effects are darn excellent too? The tales from this hood, are all winners.

Tales From the Hood, another horror anthology film dripping with EC comics-style ghoulishness, strings together four stories told by a wild-haired, macabre funeral director (Clarence Williams III) to a trio of gangbangers seeking their missing drug stash in a mortuary. Virtually all of the tales are familiar -- walking corpses and voodoo dolls are staples of the format -- but director Rusty Cundieff makes every effort to inject the proceedings with social morality. Child abuse, racism, and police brutality each get a pretty heavy-handed treatment, but the last story, involving a voluntary "behavior modification" technique for an unrepentant killer (ala A Clockwork Orange) explodes off the screen. In the film's most powerful sequence, Cundieff serves up a quickly cut montage of unsettling images culled from a number of state historical archives depicting vicious, stomach-churning lynchings meant to deter the rapacious young killer from wanting to harm any more people. It's potent stuff, and makes one wish the rest of the film had this kind of intensity.

"This ain't no funeral parlor. This ain't the terrordome. Welcome to HELL mothaf*#%@!" In not too many words I want to express my respect for one of the most underrated horror movies of the 90s. Like The Twilight Zone it is a segmented film (although all directed by Rusty Cundieff) that spans across a good variety of horror genres. The real horrorshow here, though, is the domestic/racial issues against the black community. Cleverly (and without being preachy or offensive to white people), Cundieff disguised his agenda with rich characters and a bone chilling conclusion.

The HIGHPOINT of this movie for me is the film's proverbial ringleader- a funeral parlor director. The man, brilliantly and hilariously underplayed by a bug-eyed Clarence Williams III, finds a stack of drugs he wants to sell to three young hoods. As you watch you begin to wonder what eerie agenda he really has in store. These scenes tie all the vignettes together.

Also, the final segment is a very profound statement on gang violence (although beware, this is the preachiest segment). I like to call it A Clockwork Black because it applies Anthony Burgress's idea of reversing violence onto the offender onto a gang leader called Krazy K. Those K's in his name aren't a mistake either! Cundieff underlines a necessary argument about between black-on-black violence by comparing K to a neo nazi.

Like any memorable work of horror, Tales remembers to keep its monsters metaphorical. Police brutality, domestic violence, racial profiling, and gang violence are the most hideous creatures found here. I complement Rusty Cundieff on a job well done there. Excessive campiness and at-times generic camera work keep this from being great, but nothing stops its relevance in the genre.

STAR RATING: *** out of 4.