THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, May 31, 1995 TAG: 9506010630
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E5 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Movie review
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, MOVIE CRITIC
LENGTH: Medium: 75 lines
THE 'HOOD OF ``Tales From the Hood'' is more the neighborhood of ``Creepshow'' or its wisecracking antecedent, ``Tales From the Crypt,'' than any realistic urban realm.
Here, in a low-budget entry full of humorous but primitive special effects, are four stories that deal with racism.
As directed and co-written by Rusty Cundieff, the episodes clearly are more than just entertainment. In rapid order, the stories hit such important social issues as drugs, police brutality, child abuse, racism and gang killings. That's a tall order for any film.
Cundieff softens, and almost destroys, his power in each case by going for cheap laughs. It is doubtful that anyone will be frightened by ``Tales from the Hood.''
The set-up has four street thugs entering a funeral parlor in search of drugs they hear are hidden there. The mortician slows them down by telling them creepy stories about four bodies housed there. That role is a ham's paradise for Clarence Williams III (of TV's ``Mod Squad'') who has a great time impersonating Vincent Price on a bender. Williams pops his eyes, screams and gestures. It holds our attention and often sparks laughter.
The first story deals with a group of white rogue cops, clearly meant to suggest the Rodney King criminals. They brutalize and murder a black politician. After making it look as if he were involved with drugs, they are terrorized by his ghost. After the set-up, it's too bad the writers couldn't come up with something more original than just another evil ghost.
The second story is perhaps the closest to real-life. It deals with a small boy who tells his teacher about a green monster that comes at him nightly from the closet. The monster, actually, is his mother's abusive lover. As usual, things of this world are scarier than imagined traumas. Again, though, the finale is somewhat weak. Still, this is a very real, very disturbing segment, particularly since it is seen through the eyes of a child.
The third story is the weakest. It concerns a former KKK member who is running for governor of a Southern state. A puffy and overweight Corbin Bernsen wraps himself in an American flag when pesky little dolls from another world attack him. Moviegoers have seen devil dolls before.
The finale is a gang warfare spinoff in which a murderer is deprogrammed to suggest that it would be better to murder people of other races than any of his own - a racist suggestion if there ever was one. The ``deprogramming'' smacks of ``A Clockwork Orange'' and features Rosalind Cash in an impressively righteous characterization.
All four stories are interesting and the film deserves more than a little credit for its attempt to adjust social issues to its entertainment format. But it goes more for laughs than points. Cundieff seems to be pandering to the very elements he is trying to change. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
SAVOY PICTURES
Anthony Griffith as Clarence and Tom Wright as the deceased Martin
Moorehouse co-star in ``Tales From the Hood.''
Graphic
MOVIE REVIEW
``Tales From the Hood''
Cast: Clarence Williams III, Corbin Bernsen, Rosalind Cash, Rusty
Cundieff, David Alan Grier
Director: Randy Cundieff
Screenplay: Randy Cundieff and Darin Scott
MPAA rating: R (violence, profanity, adult themes)
Mal's rating: Two stars
Locations: Circle 6, Main Gate in Norfolk; Columbus, Kemps River,
Lynnhaven Mall in Virginia Beach
by CNB