Snoop Dogg's Hood of Horror
Murder was the case that they gave me
Hizzle foshizzle, my bizzle. Yeah, I
have no idea what I just said, but Snoop Dogg might. I don't listen
to hip hop or rap as I much prefer metal, hardcore, and rock, but
Snoop has transcended his genre and become a household name thanks to
his “reality” show and his other projects outside of the music
world. A fan of comic books and scary movies, he's already stepped
into the horror world, starring in the movie Bones. It comes as no
surprise that he would star and contribute music to another horror
movie in the same vein as Tales From The Crypt and Creepshow.
Hood of Horror is a 2006 trio of horror
movies with an urban bent. The movie starts with an animated short
that shows Devon (Snoop Dogg) selling his soul to a demon to bring
back his dead sister, whom Devon may or may not have killed. In
return, Devon becomes a Hound of Hell and narrates our stories. There
are animated shorts connecting each story.
Crossed Out
The first story, entitled Crossed Out,
stars Daniella Alonso (The Hills Have Eyes 2, Wrong Turn 2) as a
graffiti artist named Posie. As a young girl, she saw her father
murder her mother, before turning the gun on himself. She is chased
by a gang led by Noel Gugliemi (Training Day, The Fast And The
Furious). Posie escapes, but is grabbed by the mysterious and
deformed Derelict (Danny Trejo, Machete, Con Air). He grants her
special powers in order to change the hood for the better, but she
uses the powers to cross out the tags of other people, thus killing
them in gruesome fashion. Seeing that she is using the power only to
kill, Derelict takes the power away and raises her zombified victims
to gain their revenge.
The truth about Kool-Aid
The concept for this first story is
decent, though for some reason I feel like I've heard it before.
Daniella Alonso puts on a good performance and it's fun to see Danny
Trejo in just about anything. Even Billy Dee Williams shows up for a
brief appearance. The kills are pretty excellent in a horrifyingly
funny sort of way. For example, a gang member trips and impales
themselves on a 40. Now that's a creative way to kill someone. The
makeup and effects used look good and are convincing. The short
format did hurt the overall product as we're not really given enough
time to connect with the characters and the story is rushed and a bit
nonsensical. It's not really clear why Posie is given powers and why
she decided to just murder the fuck out of people. It's not great,
but it has it's moments.
4.5/10
The Scumlord
The second story is the Scumlord,
starring Anson Mount as the racist Tex Woods Jr. and Ernie Hudson
(Ghostbusters, The Substitute) as Roscoe. Tex has inherited an
apartment from his father, whom he murdered. The apartment is
inhabited by Roscoe and 3 black veterans. Tex and his girlfriend
Tiffany make the veterans' lives hell. Roscoe and crew take out their
revenge on their slumlord with bloody results.
"Okay! George W. Bush ISN'T the greatest president of all time!"
This one probably had the most
entertaining story with the most disappointing ending. It's not a
horror story and I'm not exactly sure what they were thinking. The
acting is good and the story has some funny moments, but it's all
lost with such a weak ending. It's even more confusing when Snoop
Dogg's character just kind of shows up at the end. It comes out of
nowhere and is really unnecessary. It's a shame because the story was
good only to be ruined by half-assing it on the horror front.
5/10
Rapsody Askew
The final story Rapsody Askew is about
the rise and fall of a rapped named SOD (Pooch Hall, Heist, Stomp The
Yard 2). He prays to become a famous rapper and meets Quon (Aries
Spears, MAD TV). At an awards show party, SOD is confronted by a
woman that shows SOD the horrible person he has become since cutting
his deal with God. This includes greed, statutory rape, and having
Quon murdered by their bodyguard Jersey (WCW's Diamond Dallas Page)
in an effort to become more famous. A zombie Quon appears before SOD,
taunting him and driving him insane. Jersey comes into the room, but
does not see Quon. What will happen?
You got a little something on your...eh, nevermind
Rapsody Askew is more of a
psychological horror movie than anything else. It's cool to see Aries
Spears in a semi-serious role, though it is a little weird to hear
him rapping and dropping the n-word when you're so used to seeing him
on MAD TV. It was also fun to see Diamond Dallas Page in a role other
than a wrestler. The makeup used for the reanimated Quon is
top-notch. The story itself is standard stuff with nothing
particularly scary going on. You pretty much know exactly what will
happen from start to finish.
4.5/10
The film ends in another animated short
where all the main characters are taken down to Hell. Hood of Horrors
does not reach the quality of Tales From The Hood, but it's better
than Nite Tales. Each story has it's moments, but they're nothing
spectacular. They are helped along by including well-known serious
actors and some good makeup and effects. The animation is very good
and reminds me of Todd McFarlane's Spawn animated series. Overall,
the movie is watchable, but not unmissable.
5/10
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