Tales From the Hood is a Socially-Conscious Anthology Film
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Tales From the Hood has great stories and high creep factor, along with social messages to make you think.
Written by BHM Contributor Ronnie Angel
January 10, 2010
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Release: May 24, 1995
Directed by: Rusty Cundieff
Written by: Rusty Cundieff and Darin Scott
Starring:
Clarence Williams III as Mr. Simms
Joe Torry as Stack
De'aundre Bonds as Ball
Samuel Monroe Jr. as Bulldog
Wings Hauser as Strom
Tom Wright as Martin Moorehouse
I just realized how many "anthology" type horror reviews I have done for Best-Horror-Movies.com, and noticed that I have yet to do one of my all time favorites, one of the most overlooked horror movies of the 90s, one that in my opinion is a horror classic, and one of the most socially relevant horror movies of all time. Be you black or white, you can’t help but enjoy:
TALES FROM THE HOOD!!
Tales from the Hood in my opinion was truly a groundbreaking milestone, yet sadly overlooked horror movie. There are such powerful political messages in each story of Tales from the Hood that it’s impossible not to notice. The stories center around three gang bangin inner city youths who make a trip to a funeral home to get a big stash of drugs they heard the 
mortician found in an alley. In one of the best performances I have ever seen, Clarence Williams III plays the creepy, slightly off kilter mortician. He says he will get the men their drugs, but not before giving them a tour of the funeral home and telling the stories of how a few of the poor souls ended up in their coffins.
Story 1- Three racist white cops murder a black politician, who is kind of like MLK almost. A black cop is with them but can do nothing to help due to fear of what the others will do to him. Years later, unemployed and alcoholic, the black cop is being visited by the spirit of the politician he couldn’t save. He then leads the other three cops to the grave of the dead man, who proceeds to get his bloody revenge.
Story 2 - One of the most interesting and most well written stories; A young boy is being terrorized nightly by a monster that lives in his house, coming to school bearing the all too real bruises and cuts. When the boy’s concerned teacher comes to the house to check into the situation, he meets the boy’s abusive stepfather (David Allen Grier) and realizes, sometimes real monsters are not what they seem.
Story 3- A former KKK member turned politician makes a bad move by housing his headquarters into a legendary house where many slaves were massacred during the civil war, and later inhabited by a voodoo queen who
had a collection of dolls supposedly containing those lost souls. Aside from angering the community by being there, the politician also angers the�dolls,�who have been hidden in the house for years. The politician, however, doesn’t let it bother him one bit, chalking it up to local superstition, until his assistant is mysteriously killed in front of him and he starts finding the little slave dolls wherever he goes. Apparently, he doesn’t get the warnings (I would’ve been running for the door!) and stays to meet the dolls who want their own grisly form of reparations. Very, very creepy.
Story 4- After a gangster is arrested and sent to prison for murder, he is offered rehabilitation, ala a very Clockwork Orange-ish rehab in which he is entered into his own personal hell and has to meet every person he has killed in his life. Powerful stuff.
Of course after all the stories are told there is a huge twist of an ending, which may be one of the best I've seen in horror movie twists.
There are so many important issues in society touched upon throughout Tales from the Hood and they are all done smartly enough to be both entertaining and thought provoking. The performances from Clarence Williams and David Allen Grier, among others, are incredible. Though not the scariest movie to come along, it certainly is very entertaining and even lesson-teaching. Questions or comments about Tales from the Hood? Discuss it on The Ossuary Forums!
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