Popular reviews

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  Review by k(arst)en ★★★★½ 11

  Genuinely? One of my favorite anthology films and EASILY the best horror anthology I’ve seen. Hilarious that I JUST saw Dead of Night last night and this (I think) pays homage to that (scary puppet!) or at least follows the same format.

  Amazed at how creative it goes about telling such heavy stories. At any given moment this is either funny, horrific, powerful, or incredibly unique. You truly can’t lose here.

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  Review by nathaxnne [hiatus: blast injury] ★★★★★ 14

  A 1970's Amicus/E.C. portmanteau reconstituted in 1990's horrorcore, Tales From The Hood is conceptually and structurally unified to a much greater extent than most anthology horror films, finding real terrors within citizens murdered at the hands of police, domestic violence, white supremacist politicians, the prison system, gang warfare. Tales From The Hood is most notably a classical horror film, directly in keeping with its Dead Of Night/Tales From The Crypt/Creepshow lineage, without throwaway segments or overreliance on comedic relief. Pointedly, the wraparound is set in a funeral home, allowing for the stories of the dead to be retold. Tales From The Hood is agitprop horror, direct in its anger, finely crafted in its effects. One of the great works of 90's horror, my only regret is that there weren't more of these such that Clarence Williams III's Funeral Director could not have had another shot at becoming the masscult horror host/icon as so obviously and desperately required.

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  Review by Ian West ★★★★★ 1

  An all timer if you ask me, I love every segment and how there’s nothing subtle about this bold, loud, slice of 90’s Fire. Unlike many, 90’s horror is actually one of my favorite things... and Tales From the Hood is one of the decades Crown Jewels—delivering the goods (the shit!) in droves. 

  Might be my favorite anthology and easily has my favorite cryptkeeper. 

  Modern classic.

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  Review by Ian West ★★★★★ 7

  Rest In Peace Clarence Williams III ❤️❤️❤️ 

  
  You will always be… THE SHIT.

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  Review by Darren Carver-Balsiger ★★★½ 4

  Hooptober X

  A now-classic horror anthology, Tales from the Hood is a loud and brash collection of disturbing tales. Horror anthologies can be a mixed bag but this is a surprisingly consistent effort. The first and final stories most worked for me, but they're all pretty good. Tales from the Hood is also a socially conscious work, dealing with police brutality, gang warfare, domestic violence, and broader racial issues. It's not always a pleasant film, but then again neither are the topics being dealt with. Yet what most perseveres in Tales from the Hood is a sense of perverse fun. It's often a cathartic fantasy of wrongdoers being punished in a horror setting. There are some darker twists but the film is more enjoyable than punishing. It's a very entertaining horror effort. Tales from the Hood is unsubtle and weird, but it's a great time and very likeable.

  My Top Horror Films

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  Review by anna nomaly ★★★★ 2

  Deserves much more credit than it gets for both anticipating and influencing the wave of social horror we’ve witnessed over the past decade. Thrilling, thoughtful, and nasty where it counts. Clarence Williams III’s performance is legendary.

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  Review by CinemaVoid 🏴‍☠️ ★★★★ 3

  This is America
  Don't catch you slippin' now
  Don't catch you slippin' now
  Look what I'm whippin' now

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  Review by Rafael "Parker!!" Jovine ★★★★ 7

  I think the best anthologies are not only those that have a good story, direction, and performances, but those that have something that makes them unique and set them apart from the rest. As a viewer, my favorite part of this film was not just that each of the stories had the same level of nuance and impressive plot twists as the best "Twilight Zone" episodes, but also how in the end, it all makes sense and each story plays a wonderful role in telling our main story of our gangsters seeking out the drug, rather than feeling disjointed as sometimes happens in anthologies where the stories basically serve as a loosely connected tissue.

  Executive produced by Spike Lee and…

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  Review by Liz ★★★★★ 1

  The anthology horror equivalent of a Public Enemy record. It's LOUD, in your face, and not afraid to make you feel uncomfortable -- and rightfully so. I'm sure some people hate this because of just how un-subtle it is, but how else could you possibly tackle issues like child abuse and police brutality?

  I always brushed this one off because of the goofy poster art, but now that I've finally seen it, I've fallen hard. In a decade where the genre was either self-reflexively ironic or stupidly comedic, Tales from the Hood and Candyman stand out because they actually have something to say. It's one of those rare anthology films where each of the segments feels essential -- none of…

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  Review by Ian West ★★★★★ 4

  If you haven’t scene this yet and you’re looking for an anthology to check out… watch this. It’s still relevant years later and features what may be my favorite of the ‘cryptkeeper’ characters from any horror media.

  The stories are great and Clarence Williams III rules.

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  Review by Blaze the Action Junkie ★★★★½

  This horror compilation from the 90's is every bit as entertaining as these average reviews suggest. It's every bit as bold as executive producer Spike Lee's films are known to be, and it's completely unapologetic in that regard. It's labelled as a 'Dark Comedy' in many online articles, but for some reason letterboxd and TMDB doesn't give this one the comedy tag. Each short story this one is comprised of had its own merits and was good, but I think the 'Plantation Dolls' bit was my personal favorite. Even Clarence Williams III here as Mister Simms gives the original Crypt Keeper a run for his money, he's perfect in his role. This is a great one if you're a fan…

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  Review by Sean Fennessey ★★★½ 2

  I’ve been dabbling back into CHAPELLE’S SHOW, and thinking about Rusty Cundieff. I hadn’t seen this since high school, and while it’s still a conventional horror anthology, it’s also still way ahead of the curve. Often mislabeled as a comedy, it’s essentially Carpenterian—socially audacious, angry, surprisingly brutal, and well-crafted.