TALES FROM THE HOOD 3 (2020)

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Directed/Written by Rusty Cundieff (“The Mouths of Babes and Demons” (wraparound), “The Bunker,” “Dope Kicks”), Darin Scott (“Ruby Gates,” “Operatic”).
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Somehow, I missed TALES FROM THE HOOD 2, but since this is an anthology, I don’t think it matters what order I review this series in. All that matters is that the first TALES FROM THE HOOD was a wonderful little piece horror, assembling Black filmmakers and stars to tell stories centered on the Black experience, specifically in the US. This second sequel, TALES FROM THE HOOD 3…not so much, but it isn’t without its interesting moments. Let’s look at each story.

Story One “Ruby Gates” comes from Darin Scott who co-wrote the first two TALES FROM THE HOOD films, as well as WAIST DEEP, SPRUNG, and FROM A WHISPER TO A SCREAM. He also wrote and directed segments in the second TALES FROM THE HOOD, CAUGHT UP, and A DARK HOUSE. “Ruby Gates” centers on a building owner who tries to close down an apartment complex in order to build condos, but one family refuses to leave because their kid has cancer. The owner hires a lunatic to burn down the building, the family is caught in the blaze, and when the owner comes to inspect the damage, he encounters the vengeful ghosts of the family. This is your typical tale of vengeful ghosts, so typical its downright predictable from the get-go. While there was nothing particularly wrong with it, this one just didn’t have enough original ideas to interest me.

“The Bunker” is the name of the second story. This one is from the director of the first two TALES FROM THE HOOD films, Rusty Cundieff. This is by far the most nuanced story of the bunch, as it depicts what looks to be a standoff between one white man (played by THE FUNHOUSE’s Cooper Huckabee) as he broadcasts his racist gospel from his bunker against the police gathered outside and the culture of non-whites that he deems to be inferior. This one has a real TWILIGHT ZONE feel to it and is the smartest story of the bunch. Huckabee does a wonderful job of convincingly saying some truly ugly things. I won’t reveal the twist, but it’s one that would make Rod Serling proud.

Story three is handled by Darin Scott again, and this one is slightly better than the first segment. “Operatic” is about an ambitious singer (Savannah Basley) who cares for an elderly opera star (Lynn Whitfield) who says she can hone the singer’s voice into the perfect instrument. This one had some flair at least and delivered some solid acting, though still somewhat predictable.

Cundeiff returns for story four, “Dope Kicks,” about a true degenerate who goes around sucker punching people and then robbing them. After killing one of his victims, the victim’s daughter puts a curse on him. This curse comes in the form of the uncontrollable shits, which is, fucking gross. This whole segment made me nauseous. From the over-attention to feces to the fact that it tries to humanize someone who randomly victimizes innocent, unsuspecting people. It feels morally wrong from beginning to end and while a comeuppance occurs to this scumbag character, it’s played for potty humor laughs and the road to his punishment isn’t satisfying enough for the horrible crimes he committed.

The wraparound is by Cundieff as well. It features Tony Todd as a traveler through a post-apocalyptic world of ruin who passes the time by listening to a young child telling all of these stories. While it’s not the smoothest of ways to present an anthology, it gets the job done. It doesn’t compare to the original’s truly effective wraparound with Clarence Williams III, but Todd adds some dramatic heft to the connective tissue of TALES FROM THE HOOD 3. Again, it pales in comparison to the original but still has a few segments that are smartly written and capably made. It seems that with this third installment, the budget has been cut exponentially, but even a low budget can’t hide interesting ideas and stories.