31 Days of Halloween: Tales From the Hood
Day One: Tales From the Hood
In all the years I’ve blogged on the internet I never really put the time in doing a 31 Days of Halloween. I just didn’t have the time or the energy to focus on compiling a list, let alone writing an article a day for the entire month of October. I’ve decided to change that this year and provide a list of the horror films I’ll be watching this month.
My first choice is the 1995 film Tales From the Hood. When it comes to horror films I love watching anthology movies because each story is short and sweet. They are often the playground of horror stories that are unconventional for a feature-length story. They often go for the strange and absurd. Tales From the Hood is unique because it is one of those very rare all Black horror films. It is a tongue-in-cheek subversion of the anthology format and tells horror stories through the lens of African-American culture. Through the horror genre, it explores the topics of racism, police brutality, domestic abuse, and gang violence. All issues that were very prominent when this film was made in 1995. A lot of the subject matter covered in this film is also very much relevant today in this day and age of Black Lives Matter and the protests over various police forces murdering unarmed Black men.
The stories in this movie are bookended by a scene where a trio of drug dealers are buying some found drugs from an eccentric mortuary owner named Mister Simms (played masterfully by the great Clarence Williams III) Before the sale is made, Simms takes the three men around his mortuary showing them his latest customers, setting up each vignette.
Each of these short stories tackles real issues and subverts common horror tropes to discuss the issues. Each story ends with the villains facing some kind of divine retribution for their crimes. It’s a stark difference from the reality where people who often perpetuate these types of bigoted crimes end up getting away relatively unscathed.
Although it is a time capsule of an era where police brutality and crimes again Blacks were all over the news, the movie has stood the test of time because a lot of these issues are, unfortunately, still prevalent today. It is still a relevant film over 20 years after its release. I would say that it is one of the most important horror films of the 1990s.
If you’ve never seen Tales From the Hood or haven’t seen it in a while, now is a good time to check it out. Shout Factory has put out a wonderful blu-ray collectors edition of the film that you should totally check out. As you should expect, Shout Factory has put out the most definitive release of this film to date and put all the love and care into this release as you’d expect from the company.
Coming Tomorrow……
I take a look back at a horror prequel/remake that doesn’t get the credit it deserves. Be there won’t you?
