TALES FROM THE HOOD (1995)

 

(Director/co-screenwriter: Rusty Condieff, who also appears in the film as Richard, a teacher concerned about one of his students. Co-screenwriter: Darin Scott.)

Storyline

Three drug dealers, trapped in a funeral parlor they’ve broken into, are compelled to listen to a funeral director’s creepy morality tales.

 

Review

HOOD is an entertaining and black-centric EC-Comics anthology whose moralistic tone is well-balanced by good writing and good acting (especially Clarence Williams III as Mr. Simms, the terrifying, crazy-eyed, tale-telling funeral director in the wraparound story “Welcome to My Mortuary”).

The four gory, violent and often pointedly funny stories he tells are equally good.

First up is “Rogue Cop Revelation,” where three racist, killer cops (played played with effective vigor by Wings Hauser, Michael Massee and Duane Whitaker) are haunted by one of their victims, Martin Moorehouse (Tom Wright, CREEPSHOW 2, 1987).

The second microtale is “Boys Do Get Bruised,” where a boy with a special talent is abused by his stepfather (played by David Alan Grier).

Next up is “KKK Comeuppance,” where Corbin Bernsen plays Duke Metzger, an aggressively racist politician stalked by a voodoo doll.

In Mr. Simms’s final yarn, “Hardcore Convert,” a murderous thug may or may not be undergoing A CLOCKWORK ORANGE-style therapy. “Hardcore” has a cheat-style finish (which disappoints) but it’s still interesting and otherwise solid, and it co-stars Rosalind Cash (THE OMEGA MAN, 1971) as Dr. Cushing.

Followed by TALES FROM THE HOOD 2 (2018).