This one can best be described as a cross between Do the Right Thing and Blacula, with a side order of Tales From the Crypt. This is a horror anthology containing four separate tales and a framing device. The horror is from a black American perspective. Unlike the blaxploitation horror films of the seventies, this one takes itself very seriously.
Like most horror anthology movies, Tales From the Hood opens with a tale that acts as a springboard to the film's other stories. Three young street toughs pay a visit to the Simms Funeral Parlor. It seems Mr. Simms found some drugs that belongs to these young entrepreneurs and they want the goods. The funeral director, played with manic gusto by Clarence Williams III (The Mod Squad, Twin Peaks), promises to lead them to the stash. Along the way he stops at four different coffins and relates the story behind each of his clients.
The first story stars Wings Hauser as Officer Strong, a crooked drug-dealing white cop. Frankly I think this guy should try playing a priest or a scout master some time just to balance out his resume. Anyway, Clarence, a rookie black cop, watches as Strong and some of his cronies brutally beat and kill Martin Moorhouse, a black political leader with a particular dislike for crooked cops. Clarence can't find the strength to break the code of silence and turn in Strong and company, so he quits the force and seeks solace in a bottle. A year later he begins hearing Moorhouse's voice urging him to seek revenge. This all culminates in a "rotting corpse gets even" sequence that could easily have come straight from the pages of an E.C. comic.
Next up is Walter's tale. Walter is the new kid in school. He's an easy target for bullies, but his teacher notices that Walter is sporting some bruises that he could only have gotten at home. When asked who hurt him, Walter replies "It was the monster." Walter gets the idea that if he draws a picture of whatever hurts him then destroys the picture his troubles will go away. This notion is reincforced when Walter crumples a picture of a school yard bully, and the bully is found with all four limbs broken. This power takes on particular importance when we learn that the monster from Walter's drawings is in fact his mother's abusive boyfriend.
Tale number three stars Corbin Bernsen as Duke Metger (obviously inspired by the real life David Duke), a former KKK member running for governor of an unnamed southern state. He's taken up residence in a mansion that was once a plantation on which many slaves were slaughtered. Several dolls are buried on the premises, dolls that contain the souls of the murdered slaves. The dolls, represented by outstanding stop motion animation, set out to show Metger the error of his ways. The result is predictably gorey.
Finally we have Jerome's story. Jerome is on death row for multiple homicide, but he's offered a chance at freedom if he agrees to take part in an experimental rehabilitation program. The project, lead by Dr. Cushing (Cash of Omega Man fame) is an exercise in mind control reminiscent of A Clockwork Orange. Jerome finds himself confronted by the people he's killed, but despite this he refuses to take responsibility for his actions. The ending will come as no surprise to those who have read Ambrose Bierce's "Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge."
Tales From the Hood takes the classic horror revenge fantasy and applies it to issues affecting black Americans. This is an angry film at times, but it makes its point very well. Racism, child abuse, and black on black violence are the real subjects of this film, not reanimated corpses or killer dolls.