Some quick thoughts on Snoop Dogg's Hood of Horror (2006)

You can't blame Snoop for trying. This three part horror anthology means well, but can't quite pull ahead of being merely high contrast slickly shot splat, much like the rapper's other hike into the genre with the preachy Bones from 2001. Naturally, this film can't help but be compared to Rusty Cundieff's Tales from the Hood. Shame it's nowhere near as good.

The three stories aren't terribly interesting with none of the cultural bite present in all four stories in Cundieff's earlier '95 anthology. They're either too scattershot, goofy, or poorly developed to be effective as a whole. Though perhaps this is desired, as the film is rather coy with its deployment of "actual" horror, being used more as an excuse to mount quite a number of well done practical gore effects. The proceedings never get too brutal or confrontational even when trying to deliver a more serious point. So don't expect any vaguely concealed commentary on corrupt cops, abusive fathers, or black-on-black violence.

The last story even riffs off the last (and best) story from Tales from the Hood. It's a story of a rapper who betrays his partner with a planned robbery gone wrong resulting in his solo rise to fame and enormous success. He's soon visited by a female "arbiter" between reality and the afterlife who attempts to teach him a lesson of his evil ways with his dead partner coming back to haunt him. This certainly should sound familiar to anyone whose seen Tales..., as it mimics the outline of that film's final tale, but doesn't carry any of the poignant impact on the viewer.

Still, like before you can't blame Snoop for his fondness of horror. Here he basically portrays the Mr. Simms character (played by Clarence Williams) from Tales... in the wrap around segments. Problem is these segments don't quite "wrap up" and again echo Tales... with an inevitable (albeit animated) trip to Hell. It's worth seeing really just for the sake of the splattery effects (well, and all the recognizable faces), otherwise go watch Tales from the Hood. Hood of Horror is currently available on Fear.net On-Demand, both in SD and (great looking) HD versions.

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