Tales from the Hood. 1995. USA. Directed by Rusty Cundieff. Written by Cundieff and Darin Scott. With Corbin Bernsen, Rosalind Cash, Rusty Cundieff, David Alan Grier, Anthony Griffith, Wings Hauser, Lamont Bentley, Paula Jai Parker, Joe Torry and Clarence Williams III. DCP. 98 min.
Rusty Cundieff takes full advantage of the anthology format to present four horror shorts that confront social issues faced by the Black community in the 1990s (and, frankly, today): police brutality, abuse in the home, racist and two-faced politicians, and gang violence. Mileage varies from story to story, but Cundieff hits more than he misses, and the film has attained cult status among horror audiences. Inventive visual effects aide strong performances by Wings Hauser and David Alan Grier, but the show belongs to veteran character actor Clarence Williams III as Mr. Simms, the mortician who gleefully leads the audience through these dark tales.