Intro:
For those that know me well, you may know that I live on the outskirts of the ghetto. Yes, I live VERY close to the ghetto but I’m not directly in harms way of any crazy mishaps that could be present in the ghetto. So many stories that are hidden within the hood that we on the outside do not know about, like the stories in the 1995 release of Rusty Cundieff’s “Tales from the Hood.”
Dialogue:
Written by Rusty Cundieff & Darin Scott the dialogue in this film flowed great. The lines were clever and witty without being cheesy, which is hard to come by. Now the word “Fuck” is used an unknown number of times, its not overly used to the point where it’s pointless and becomes distracting. It rarely dragged and progressed the story at a good pace.
Acting:
The acting in this one surprised me. I didn’t expect alot of great acting, boy was I wrong. Clarence Williams III really shined in his cryptkeeper type role throughout the film. Anthony Griffith was one who shined in the first segment, however; i wish his role had more screen time, which started strong but became a lesser one as it dragged on. In the second segment the director, Rusty Cundieff, played the role of a supportive teacher greatly, and David Alan Grier really impressed me in the segment. Of course what would any movie be without Corbin Bernsen playing any type of role, as he plays a ex-KKK member turned politician battling voodoo dolls, fun stuff!
Plot:
The plot was very interesting to me. Yet again the standard anthology formula is used, with the wraparound segments features before and after each story. 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. Kudos to the Director!
Music:
Composed by Christopher Young, the music was put together VERY well. I was highly impressed with the scores in this one, very simple yet very effective scores helped this movie ALOT!!!
Overall:
Overall, “Tales from the Hood” isn’t the best anthology film out there, nor is it the worst. This film has something that many of the better anthology films doesn’t though, and thats hidden social messages in the stories. Issues we need to realize are plaguing our communities and how our friends, family, neighbors, or even ourselves could end up like the people in “Tales from the Hood.” Kudos to Rusty Cundieff and Clarence Williams III.
3.5/5 Reels
Squid Rating
Give it a Shot!!!
Trailer:
- Tags: anthology week, summer school
