Devil Horns Rating:

What’s It About?

BOYZ N THE HOOD meets TALES FROM THE CRYPT in this alternately horrific, funny, and socially conscious anthology film. The four grim vignettes are framed by the tale of three street hoods who break into Mr. Simm’s inner-city funeral home to find a stash of drugs. The mortician puts them off, by telling them a few eerie stories about his “patrons.” (Source)

What’s So Bad About It?

Let me just say right off the bat that I love this movie. I knew I loved it the minute the end credits rolled as I was sitting in the movie theater with my cousin and we both looked at each other with the same goofy grins on our faces because of how awesome we both knew this movie was. However my fondness for this movie does not blind me to the weaknesses that permeate all 97 minutes of it. The biggest weakness and the main culprit that most people point to when badmouthing Tales From the Hood is the heavyhanded nature of the social commentary. There is no subtlety in this movie. Instead the viewer is bashed over the head repeatedly with message (police brutality against black males is an epidemic!) after message (racism is a blight upon society!) after message (gang violence is destroying black neighborhoods!) after message (drugs are bad!). It is not that difficult to see how the message that director Rusty Cundieff wanted to put out there could have been delivered a bit less bluntly. But considering that Rusty followed this film with the clumsily directed romantic comedy SPRUNG I think a lighter touch would have been asking too much of him.