Just what I expected

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Vignette Horror is one of my favourite types, it's not just the accessibility of the format, but the deftness and wit that is required to create a sequence of short stories usually bypasses the problems which certain horror films have in terms of an overstayed welcome. The structure used in Tales From The Hood is the classic one which was perfected by the Amicus and Hammer studios in the 1960′s and 1970′s, only minus Joan Collins.The 'cryptkeeper' in this case is played by Clarence Williams III, who is a drastically underused actor and always a delight to see on screen. He draws the attention of three local gangstas through the promise of a large amount of drugs which have come into his possession. The catch being that they must first listen to him tell several stories relating to the bodies which currently lie displayed within his funeral home.It only has a running time of 98 minutes which is part of the reason why it is so successful and enjoyable. I am very much of the opinion that a great deal of horror movies now unnecessarily approach the 120 minute (and beyond) when they could have been infinitely more successful if shortened. There are four stories on show here, each relating to a particular hardship or struggle faced by the African American communities of the early 1990′s.It's important to remember that this was an America which was still sore after the chaos of the LA Riots and the exposure of a crooked police force through the Rodney King videotape leak. Once you see that Spike Lee was drafted in as an executive producer, the social elements of the movie become contextualised to a greater extent.The topics of the cautionary tales cover areas such as police brutality and racism withing law enforcement (Rogue Cop Revelation), domestic abuse against women and children (Boys Do Get Bruised), racism within politics (KKK Comeuppance) and the futility of gang culture and the violence it creates (Hard Core Convert). All are delivered with a supernatural twist which places the movie strongly into the horror genre and making it not only groundbreaking, unique for it's time, but also helps it to maintain a strength when watched today.I was aware of the soundtrack before I was aware of the film itself as it was given to me shortly after its release in 1995, it would be a couple of years before I was able to track down a VHS copy. The OST features some fantastic tracks by Gravediggaz, Wu Tang Clan and a brilliant Ol Dirty Bastard track and is well worth locating a copy of.When one considers the depths to which 'hood' based horror movies became after this ('Snoop Dogg's Hood of Horror' and 'Leprechaun back 2 Da Hood' being just two examples), it is all the more reason to revisit Tales From the Hood. There's something about it which will greatly appeal to a certain horror fan, particularly those fond of the genre output of the early 90′s.I'd tell you to go to your local video store to acquire a copy, but there probably isn't even one left in your town. Get it whatever way you can, you won't regret it.Read more at zombiehamster.com

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 wrote a review for this on Amazon a couple years ago, I figured I'd do one here as well. The first time I saw this, I expected a comedy, boy! I was dead wrong! To be honest, the first two stories were so freaky, I had my mom turn it off. Obviously, I'm a lot harder to scare now and like it overall, despite the constant language. It's kind of a social commentary with realism and supernatural overtones mixed together. This was my first horror anthology, followed by several others It's got a decent script, even though some will say 'I've seen all this before' but to me, clichéd doesn't have to mean bad, if the right people are in it/behind and in front of the camera, this was also my first Spike Lee film, so I won't judge it on those merits. I know he didn't direct it, but I've heard about a lot of his movies, some look pretty good. By the way, I'm not black either, but I have a large amount of respect for them. I'm getting off track here, bottom line: if you like horror stories with some semblance of reality, you'll probably enjoy this too, but you'll have to overlook the language.

As Mr.Simms says......ahhh....the s***. I really liked this movie.When I first saw this movie I was 15 yrs old and it scared the crap out of me.Especially the first story where those cops beat up Mr.Moorhouse and drove him to the deck and the cops put him in his car and drove his car into the water after they had over dosed him with drugs and after that he was calling out for Clarence to bring the cops to him and when the police came and that one cop whizzed on Moorhouses grave and he made his other partner whiz on the grave too and Moorhouse grabbed the cop and pulled him in the grave and tore his heart out and they showed Moorehouse standing there holding the cops beating heart and then he went after those other 2 cops.I didn't sleep for 2 weeks.I kept thinking I was gonna see Moorhouse standing over my bed or something when I woke up.I liked the story about the the boy who was being abused by his step dad and he said his step dad was a monster.And the one about the dolls was good too.