Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.5

Tales from the Hood Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman July 25, 2017

Four short films comprise Tales from the Hood, all brought together under the pretense of a drug deal that seems to be headed down the wrong path when three armed youths (Joe Torry, De'Aundre Bonds, and Samuel Monroe Jr.) confront a creepy mortician (Clarence Williams III). The film, from Director Rusty Cundieff (Sprung) and Executive Producer Spike Lee (Do the Right Thing), explores timely issues in the black community -- police brutality, racism, violence in the home, and black-on-black violence -- with a pinch of dark humor, a sprinkling of the supernatural, and a whole lot of purpose.

Below is a brief plot overview of each tale.

Tale 1: A community activist named Martin Moorehouse (Tom Wright), despised by the police for his anti-corruption rhetoric, is pulled over. Three white cops -- Newton (Michael Massee), Billy (Duane Whitaker) and Strom (Wings Hauser) -- severely beat him while a rookie black officer, Clarence (Anthony Griffith), watches in horror. The white cops eventually end Moorehouse's life, injecting him with drugs and pushing his car into water. A year passes. The truth behind the incident has not been revealed. Clarence has quit the force and taken to drowning the painful memories with alcohol. One night on a binge, he believes the late Moorehouse's spirit calls him to bring the officers to his grave. He does so, and bloody chaos follows.

Tale 2: A young boy named Walter (Brandon Hammond) has just transferred to a new school. He's beaten on the playground and saved by his kindly teacher Richard (played by Director Rusty Cundieff). But the school nurse notices that Walter bears wounds not sustained on the playground, bruises that are several days old. He confides in his teacher that he fears "the monster," a creature he draws in class and claims is responsible for his injuries. Richard confronts Walter's parents but doesn't discover what he expected.

Tale 3: A racist gubernatorial candidate named Duke Metger (Corbin Bernsen) is running on a platform that's anti-affirmative action and anti-reparations. His sycophantic aide is killed, seemingly by random happenstance, but Duke soon realizes that a black-skinned doll was at the scene and appears to be following him. It turns out that the doll is part of a large painting depicting a hoodoo witch that seems to have a grudge against him and his racist ways.

Tale 3: A hardened young black criminal named Jerome (Lamont Bentley) is no stranger to murder and violent crime. His bullets have found many targets, but his violent tendencies finally land him behind bars. His sentence is nontraditional, however. He's transferred into a radical new conditioning center where he is forced to come to terms with what he has done.

Tales from the Hood might play with an occasionally, and rather mild, humorous bend, but its stories are fairly dark in terms of structure and darker in terms of the social issues they tackle in each film's own roundabout way. Violence and hate are certainly at the center of each, in some form of fashion. Each segment engages the supernatural, whether in literal manifestations of something from a dark beyond, the figurative demons one faces or creates, or some hybrid thereof. The filmmakers certainly do not hide intent in the stories; each one is straightforward in narrative posture, clear even through what is sometimes a jumbled mass of violence, mischief, and mayhem. Each one encourages the viewer to think beyond the crudities of the stories and contemplate the very clear real-world parallels that abound in each.

Entertainment value beyond the thematic currents is rather high. The film never shies away from excess and occasionally enjoys dramatic novelty. Some of the stories lack ingenuity, but the compact runtimes, quickly developed characters, and rapidly unfolding scenarios keep the audience interested and engaged. The second segment -- the story of young Walter, an abuse victim at the hands of a "monster" -- is easily the finest of the four. It's a Shyamalan-esque tale with a unique twist ending that could have easily been expanded into a feature film. Performances are good all-around. The cast, tasked only with relatively brief work but sometimes extensive emotional or physical challenges, performs universally well, expanding beyond the script and bringing out the best (or worst, as the case may be) of every player in the film.

Tales from the Hood Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Tales from the Hood features a satisfying 1080p transfer that could sometimes stand a little more of a natural filmic quality to it but that more often than not pleases. Grain retention is inconsistent, appearing evenly distributed in some places, a little heavier and snowier in others, and almost nonexistent in still other scenes. Never does the movie appear too smooth or lacking detail, though. Generally, in a broader sense of what the transfer has to offer, most details are fine, sharp and revealing across the board, from staples like skin and clothes to various environments under a number of lighting conditions. Indeed, the film can be, and mostly is, fairly dark. Nighttimes exteriors and lower-light interiors define much of the film. The most colorful and most evenly lit comes during the Duke segment, where daytime exteriors and well lit interiors, along with an ample amount of color, define the short. Blacks are always deep and dense throughout the entire film but do enter crush territory on occasion. Colors are stable, cheerful and accurate in that aforementioned Duke sequence and holding firm even in poor light. A bit of noise and macroblocking are evident in darker corners, but the transfer is otherwise free of serious blemish, whether source or encode.

Tales from the Hood Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Tales from the Hood arrives on Blu-ray with a pair of English language DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 lossless soundtracks, one listed as "alternate." There's not a major difference to be heard between the two. Playing primarily the main (top listed) track and switching over to the other to resample various scenes that might shed some light on the matter -- more intensive bits of action or music, for example -- yields little change. Listen hard and one might be able to make out a faint improvement in fullness and depth to the primary track, but generally speaking there seems to be no real reason to choose one over the other. Regardless of which track one chooses, the two-channel presentation is quite good, full and detailed and never wanting for significantly more stage presence than it already enjoys. The track yields several surprisingly intense effects, such as when Walter's "monster" attempts to get into his room. It's loud, intrusive in a good way, and detailed even with its aggressive posture. Gunshots, explosions, and other high power elements produce high-yield results. Music is likewise excellent, playing with impressive stage width and a fair amount of clarity throughout the range, from sharper highs to thumping lows. Ambient effects enter and define a number of environments in the film. Dialogue is well positioned in a phantom center placement with only a few occurrences of less-than-ideal clarity.

Tales from the Hood Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Tales from the Hood contains several supplements, including an audio commentary track and a lengthy new retrospective. The package also features reversible cover art.

• Audio Commentary: Co Writer/Director (also Actor) Rusty Cundieff covers the film in detail. Much of the information repeats from the excellent retrospective (see below), but there's much more new here as well. Both are well worth the time.
• The Making of Tales from the Hood (1080p, 56:13): A new and lengthy retrospective that analyzes the film in detail: themes, purpose, scriptwriting, real-life parallels, characters, visuals, and more, breaking down by story and collectively alike. A very high quality piece.
• Vintage Featurette (1080i, 6:04): A much more condensed, basic, and less interesting look at the movie.
• Theatrical Trailer (1080i, 1:41).
• TV Spots (1080i, 3:26 total runtime).
• Photo Gallery (1080i, 9:46): Sketches, behind-the-scenes stills, images of props, and promotional materials.

Tales from the Hood Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Tales from the Hood remains an entertaining and relevant film more than two decades after its release. It has aged well, a few visual effects notwithstanding, and that it hasn't lost its darkly humorous but timely edge says much on society but also the film's relative failure to make much of an impact. Still, it means well, it plays well, and both longtime fans and newcomers alike should find Shout Factory's Blu-ray a worthwhile addition to their collections. Solid video and audio are complimented by a healthy allotment of generally good bonus content. Recommended.