Day 24

Tales From The Hood (1995)

Directed by Rusty Cundieff

When a group of drug dealers stop by a funeral home to pick up a package of illicit substances, they meet an odd funeral director, who weaves four tales of murder, pain, and vengeance for the hardened group. These tales cover a wide range of topics; police corruption, domestic violence, institutionalized racism, and gang violence are all covered, but what is interesting about all of these stories is how these topics don’t feel tacked on or cheesy, but like real topics that many people deal with on a daily basis. It helps that the stories themselves are each very different, the first is about a black rookie cop who sees something terrible on his first patrol, the second is about a teacher who notices alarming bruises on one of his students, the third is about a racist politician, and the final tale concerns a gang member forced to face his crimes against his own community. 

Like in all of these anthologies some stories are better than others, my personal favorite is the opening one about cops, all of these stories have aged pretty well but that one in particular is still so relevant right now. My least favorite is probably the one about gang violence, but I wouldn’t even say it’s because of the story, it’s more because of how tired I am of hearing the phrase, “But what about black on black crime?” whenever police violence gets brought up. It was definitely smart to have these two segments at the opposite ends of the anthology to try and avoid that direct comparison. They’re all solidly made shorts though, all with good acting, good visuals, and clear passion behind each story that elevates everything here. We’d definitely recommend this anthology and it is perfect for a Halloween viewing!