Actuakers One of my all time favorites.

Suman Roberson It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

Kaydan Christian A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Kaelan Mccaffrey Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

a_chinn I don't remember this film being much of a hit or being a film anyone took much notice of when it first came out, but I think if it had it come out now it would have garnered more attention. The film is essentially a blaxploitation versions of Tales form the Crypt, telling several horror short stories but with a racially provocative twists. Although I haven't seen the recent horror film "Get Out" it sounds very similar to this one in that it is a well made horror film at it's core, but also features an interesting not so subtle subtext about race, racism, and race relations. Clarence Williams III takes on the Cryptkeeper role as a creepy funeral director who tells three drug dealers he's trapped in his place of business four scary stories, each with a twist. The best two come in the middle of the film, one about a boy who tells a teacher about a monster who lives in his home, which features an uncharacteristically dark role for David Alan Grier, and another story about a racist southern politician, Corbin Bernsen, who gets his comeuppance by a small army of dolls possessed by the spirits of slaves killed on the plantation where he's now set up office. I probably liked the latter best from my obsession with little things attacking bigger things (i.e. Puppet Master, Gremlins, Troll, Ghoulies, Critters, etc.). But as I said earlier, this film came out at a time when films about race were supposed to be high minded ventures like "Do the Right Thing," "Higher Learning" or "Menace II Society," and were not supposed to be exploitative genre films, so I think this film was consequentially not taken very seriously, even though it was produced by Spike Lee. Overall, this isn't a horror classic or even a particularly insightful film about race, but it is one that I think deserves more respect than it's gotten. Christopher Young also provides the film a fine eerie score.

Matt Kracht Yes, it's flawed, and it's cheesy, and it's over-the-top. It's equal parts clever satire, straight-up homage, and occasionally even a parody. There are many horror, exploitation, and black humor elements sprinkled throughout the movie. I just can't understand why this movie isn't beloved by more people. Maybe it's because the cast is mostly black, and the stories revolve around inner city, black youth? Well, as a white guy from the suburbs, I absolutely loved this movie. It's flawed, of course, but when it works, it works better than most other movies of this type.If you're not familiar with it, this is a horror anthology highly influenced by Tales from the Crypt, an old 50s horror comic book series that birthed several spin-off movies and an influential TV series. It also takes ample inspiration from the Twilight Zone, Tales from the Dark Side, and Creepshow franchises. If you're a fan of any of these, I'd have to highly recommend Tales from the Hood, especially if you're also into Blaxploitation, from which it also takes some inspiration.In the time honored tradition of horror/exploitation movies everywhere, the guilty are punished with gory deaths and lessons are learned (frequently too late). Is it preachy, didactic social satire? Perhaps, at times. But it's also entertaining as hell. It has a great cast, some really cheesy, over-top-the-top acting, and was produced by Spike Lee. For me, that makes it almost required viewing.

marymorrissey For all but the last vignette this movie seems to be the occasion for lots and lots of gleeful indulgence in pretty disgusting racist profanity and other really offensive material - eg the violence at home chez monster in the closet which was really really over the top and next to nauseating and all the stuff that comes out of "duke's" mouth as he's chased around by the little dolls. there are lots and lots of roles of the sort that black actors really hate to play and constantly complain of being stuck with the 2 exceptions being those in which CW III and Roger GS are cast, both of them being a little too classy to offer any of the other negative-stereotypical central casting black roles that comprise the rest of the film. The white actors in this film, actually, are subjected to that sort of casting that blacks have to put up with lol so that's kind of funny. Poor Corbin Bernsen not that LA Law was such a great height to fall from but still . . . But it's OK ya dig cause it's directed by a black guy and co written by him with a white guy (let's sing together now, "ebony... and ivory..." etc) Well, it all sort of makes sense when you see the producer is spike lee, and so . . . I mean basically it has the same problem as the other spike lee films I've seen in that it's fundamentally separatist and whites and blacks can both enjoy making boogie men of each other in this movie. lucky audience eh? makes very strange viewing.The last story, though, was pretty cool though and sort of a tour de force all around, even if it was a copy of another film it was certainly freshened up. I would like to see its equivalent in Gay Cinema which is so full of us vs them BS.It was really cute how they made use of CWII's gap tooth smile :)This is a really tough one to rate so I'll give it a 7!

doomchild-635-982234 i watched this movie from start to finish with a few of my friends and i have to say that is a horrible movie. Before anyone says that i am racist i want you to know that i am not. This movie had very poor acting, the stories were very dull, and the ending was a direct rip-off of the ending of the classic Tales From the Crypt. I am sorry but the only thing i could do while i was watching this film was laugh, and not in a good way like with Blood Feast, i was laughing in a way that was saying that it was one of the worst films that i ever saw. I understand that the movie is trying to say some sort of message but come on it is just way to generic. If you want a good film that tells short stories I would recommend Tales From the Crypt, Vault of Horror, Creepshow (both 1 & 2), and Tales From the Darkside,and skip this.