October 2, 2018
Written by: Rusty Cudieff, Darin Scott
Starring: Kedrick Brown, Alicia Davis Johnson, Creighton Thomas
Quote: "Welcome to hell mother fucker!"
Trivia: The director team approached Clarence Williams III to play the story teller again over the years but since the twenty year gap between the first movie and this sequel, Williams did not feel he was up to it.
I cannot express how excited I was to watch this movie when I heard it was coming out. I have a very clear and fond memory of when I was in sixth grade, after a sleepover, watching the first Tales from the Hood on a VHS rented from Blockbuster while eating Chinese food. I don't know why this memory has stuck with me so much over the past twenty plus years but regardless, the movie had a huge impact on me. I immediately loved the movie not just for the gore and for the silliness but also because even then I could recognize that this movie was tackling things bigger than itself. That movie was one of several movies looking at the social and political problems of life in America's inner cities. The rise of gangster rap and the success of Boyz n The Hood and Menace II Society are both symptoms of the myriad problems in America. These movies and the culture become so pervasive that they were even parodied by several comedies, including Fear of a Black Hat (also by the same filmmakers as Tales from the Hood), Don't Be A Menace to South Central.., and CB4. Far from just silly gangster movies, all these movies took hard (and admittedly often silly) looks at the realities that many urban black people were forced to deal with.
Riding the success of Get Out and Atlanta, Tales from the Hood 2 continues the social commentary by once again take a poignant look at American society with four new horror tales. While this movie is updated with new elements of American culture (such as the #metoo movement), it's unfortunate that many of the same problems persist and the stories reflect this fact. With all the heavy social and political commentary, the film is careful not to take itself too seriously and become overly preachy. The film uses the absurd to create really comedic moments while also including enough blood and gore to satisfy the horror crowd.
What is most memorable about the first movie was its storyteller played by Clarence Williams III. Unfortunately Williams did not feel he was up to the task of reprising his role so he was replaced with Creighton Thomas. Although Thomas had big shoes to fill, he does a really great job. He is just as exaggerated of a character as Williams' was and and has some great moments where he lets his own crazy run wild. As the new storyteller, it is his job to introduce the four stories. This time, he tells them as part of a government experiment to create a super soldier to identify crimes/criminals and guard the prison system. The program is ran by a sexist, misogynistic, racist prison director whose character highlights the current problem with the privatization of prisons in America (the desire to fill the prisons in order to make money by any means necessary).
Here's a brief overview of the four stories. The first story involves three college age kids going into a museum that has preserved the racial history of America's past. The kids disregard and disrespect this history and are subsequently punished for it. The second story looks at a group of gangsters whose brazen criminality is a hindrance to the community's ability to uplift itself. After murdering a rising community leader, the group is punished by his ghost in an oddly funny way. The third story looks at technology and the toxicity of rape culture where two sexual predators quickly become the prey. The fourth, and by far the best story, focuses on the political disenfranchisement of blacks and the attitudes of those who take for granted the sacrifices of those who came before them. The characters in this story literally come face to face with their own shared history.
SPOILERS BELOW: I kept the above synopses vague as to avoid spoilers. Below is a bit more in depth look at these stories.
The overarching storyline about the experiment to program a robot to predict criminality, including future crimes adds a touch of science fiction to the film. The idea is that the robot can learn morality and other things from stories, so our storyteller is called in to provide these stories. However as the stories progress, we the audience quickly realize that the storyteller has an agenda: He is programming the robot to identify the vile characteristics that the prison owner himself displays. It is really fun to watch the behaviors of the prison owner worsen, knowing very well that he will eventually get his payback while watching the increasingly intense and bizarre behavior of the storyteller. When one character mentions "the shit," the storyteller continually repeats this phrase raising it to an almost feverish pitch. The climax is a bit disappointing, only in that the robot is really silly looking. It looks kind of like the robot Rocky had in Rocky III. But justice is served with a final but somewhat obvious twist.
The first story "Good Golly," is about respecting the past and addresses the commercialization and ownership of the black image in popular culture. Two friends visit a museum looking for a doll that one of them had as a child, which was comforting to her. When she finds this doll, which is a racist minstrel doll called Golly, she's upset that the museum owner will not part with it and is more angered by the attempted history lesson he tries to impart on them. That night, the two return with a third person (the brother of one and boyfriend of the other) to the museum and break in in order to steal the doll. After the brother and his girlfriend pretend to play sexy master and slave (weird) the doll comes to life and guillotines the girl. He then continually whips the brother until his intestines spill from his body. Finally the doll rapes the main girl and later she gives birth through her stomach to dozens of Golly dolls that she says she loves before she dies. This story has some brutal gore with the continued whipping, intestine spill, and doll stomach rupture. It also is a response to people who don't respect the past or sentimentalize the past in order to suit their current feelings. The girl ignored the historical and social significance of the doll and instead just wanted its comfort, which she got in overabundance at the end.
The second and third stories were directed by Darin Scott and are not as strong as the first and last stories but they are still fun and carry a social message. The second story is called "Medium" and looks at how individuals in black communities can make it difficult for the community to help itself. This theme is a similar theme to one that the filmmakers looked at in the first Tales From the Hood where a white supremacists thanks a gangbanger by helping his cause by killing so many black people. With so many obstacles working against a community, the community shouldn't attack itself. Anyways, it begins with three drug dealers holding a guy hostage trying to figure out where a bunch of money is hidden, money the guy was going to use to create a magnet school with scholarships for community children. One of the gangsters gets heated and ends up shooting him in the face leaving them stuck with how are they ever going to find the money. Hard cut to a tv performance of a phony psychic and there is their answer. After forcing the psychic to channel the guy at gunpoint the dead man's ghost comes back inhabiting the psychic's body but now with supernatural powers he uses to murder each of three gangsters.
The third story called "Date Night" is the weakest. It looks at technology and rape culture. After claiming to be film execs on tinder, two dumb college kids find two girls to hookup with. At the girl's house they play games and have a great time getting to know the girls. Before anything sexual can happen, the guys drug the girls and proceed to try and film themselves raping them. However, the camera won't show the girls' bodies because.. wait for it.. they're vampires. The hunter has become the hunted. After draining them of their blood, the girls lock these sexual predators up with a bunch of other zombified guys who proceed to tear them apart. Time's up.
The fourth and final story is called "The Sacrifice" and is by far the best story. If the filmmakers wanted, it could have been a really great standalone film. This story focuses on two narratives simultaneously. One is the modern day story of a black man, Henry, who is married to a pregnant white woman, Emily, and works for a white politician with racist leanings and a desire to close down voting areas in black neighborhoods. He is chastised by his mother for not doing more for his people and has to endure some very awkward moments as his boss says some off color remarks about black people. The other narrative takes place in 1955 and is about a boy being captured and beaten by a white man. As both stories progress, it becomes more and more obvious that there is some connection between the captured boy and the world of Henry and Emily. More characters claim to be able to see the boy from the past in Henry's yard but Henry refuses to talk to him. At one point Henry's world changes. He is now looked down upon by the family doctor, isn't recognized by his wife, and is being hunted by a group called the Klan Police. Eventually Henry agrees to talk to the boy and we find out he is the historical figure Emmett Till, whose face, after being brutalized by white racists, helped start the civil rights movement. He is later joined by the girls who were killed in the Birmingham church bombing, the ACLU workers who were killed, and Martin Luther King Jr himself. Because Henry took their sacrifices for granted, Emmett no longer wants to go through his murder anymore. Until Henry can respect the sacrifices, he doesn't want to die and therefore the civil rights movement would never have taken place allowing Henry the life he was living. Henry eventually does learn to "respect the sacrifices" and he himself becomes a sacrifice to save the life of his baby. As the story ends, the beautifully melancholy song "Strange Fruit" by Billie Holiday plays. This story reminds me of the works of Octavia Spencer with her use of the interaction between multiple timelines. It is both heartbreaking and eyeopening. A reminder to all of us, black or white or whatever, to respect the sacrifices of those who came before us for which, for which we would not be who we are today.
I know a lot of the time movies can be an escape. I think horror movies in particular offer a great escape. It is a chance for us to ignore the problems in the world and in our lives by watching fictionalized and sensationalized version of life. Although this film forces viewers to confront the world with all the social and political messages, it really is a fun movie. The filmmakers do a great job of packaging these heavy topics in entertaining stories. I'm sure there will still be people upset about the messages, but I guess this film just isn't made for them. Or maybe it's made exactly for them.
...what's your thoughts?
Here's a brief overview of the four stories. The first story involves three college age kids going into a museum that has preserved the racial history of America's past. The kids disregard and disrespect this history and are subsequently punished for it. The second story looks at a group of gangsters whose brazen criminality is a hindrance to the community's ability to uplift itself. After murdering a rising community leader, the group is punished by his ghost in an oddly funny way. The third story looks at technology and the toxicity of rape culture where two sexual predators quickly become the prey. The fourth, and by far the best story, focuses on the political disenfranchisement of blacks and the attitudes of those who take for granted the sacrifices of those who came before them. The characters in this story literally come face to face with their own shared history.
SPOILERS BELOW: I kept the above synopses vague as to avoid spoilers. Below is a bit more in depth look at these stories.
The overarching storyline about the experiment to program a robot to predict criminality, including future crimes adds a touch of science fiction to the film. The idea is that the robot can learn morality and other things from stories, so our storyteller is called in to provide these stories. However as the stories progress, we the audience quickly realize that the storyteller has an agenda: He is programming the robot to identify the vile characteristics that the prison owner himself displays. It is really fun to watch the behaviors of the prison owner worsen, knowing very well that he will eventually get his payback while watching the increasingly intense and bizarre behavior of the storyteller. When one character mentions "the shit," the storyteller continually repeats this phrase raising it to an almost feverish pitch. The climax is a bit disappointing, only in that the robot is really silly looking. It looks kind of like the robot Rocky had in Rocky III. But justice is served with a final but somewhat obvious twist.
The first story "Good Golly," is about respecting the past and addresses the commercialization and ownership of the black image in popular culture. Two friends visit a museum looking for a doll that one of them had as a child, which was comforting to her. When she finds this doll, which is a racist minstrel doll called Golly, she's upset that the museum owner will not part with it and is more angered by the attempted history lesson he tries to impart on them. That night, the two return with a third person (the brother of one and boyfriend of the other) to the museum and break in in order to steal the doll. After the brother and his girlfriend pretend to play sexy master and slave (weird) the doll comes to life and guillotines the girl. He then continually whips the brother until his intestines spill from his body. Finally the doll rapes the main girl and later she gives birth through her stomach to dozens of Golly dolls that she says she loves before she dies. This story has some brutal gore with the continued whipping, intestine spill, and doll stomach rupture. It also is a response to people who don't respect the past or sentimentalize the past in order to suit their current feelings. The girl ignored the historical and social significance of the doll and instead just wanted its comfort, which she got in overabundance at the end.
The second and third stories were directed by Darin Scott and are not as strong as the first and last stories but they are still fun and carry a social message. The second story is called "Medium" and looks at how individuals in black communities can make it difficult for the community to help itself. This theme is a similar theme to one that the filmmakers looked at in the first Tales From the Hood where a white supremacists thanks a gangbanger by helping his cause by killing so many black people. With so many obstacles working against a community, the community shouldn't attack itself. Anyways, it begins with three drug dealers holding a guy hostage trying to figure out where a bunch of money is hidden, money the guy was going to use to create a magnet school with scholarships for community children. One of the gangsters gets heated and ends up shooting him in the face leaving them stuck with how are they ever going to find the money. Hard cut to a tv performance of a phony psychic and there is their answer. After forcing the psychic to channel the guy at gunpoint the dead man's ghost comes back inhabiting the psychic's body but now with supernatural powers he uses to murder each of three gangsters.
The third story called "Date Night" is the weakest. It looks at technology and rape culture. After claiming to be film execs on tinder, two dumb college kids find two girls to hookup with. At the girl's house they play games and have a great time getting to know the girls. Before anything sexual can happen, the guys drug the girls and proceed to try and film themselves raping them. However, the camera won't show the girls' bodies because.. wait for it.. they're vampires. The hunter has become the hunted. After draining them of their blood, the girls lock these sexual predators up with a bunch of other zombified guys who proceed to tear them apart. Time's up.
The fourth and final story is called "The Sacrifice" and is by far the best story. If the filmmakers wanted, it could have been a really great standalone film. This story focuses on two narratives simultaneously. One is the modern day story of a black man, Henry, who is married to a pregnant white woman, Emily, and works for a white politician with racist leanings and a desire to close down voting areas in black neighborhoods. He is chastised by his mother for not doing more for his people and has to endure some very awkward moments as his boss says some off color remarks about black people. The other narrative takes place in 1955 and is about a boy being captured and beaten by a white man. As both stories progress, it becomes more and more obvious that there is some connection between the captured boy and the world of Henry and Emily. More characters claim to be able to see the boy from the past in Henry's yard but Henry refuses to talk to him. At one point Henry's world changes. He is now looked down upon by the family doctor, isn't recognized by his wife, and is being hunted by a group called the Klan Police. Eventually Henry agrees to talk to the boy and we find out he is the historical figure Emmett Till, whose face, after being brutalized by white racists, helped start the civil rights movement. He is later joined by the girls who were killed in the Birmingham church bombing, the ACLU workers who were killed, and Martin Luther King Jr himself. Because Henry took their sacrifices for granted, Emmett no longer wants to go through his murder anymore. Until Henry can respect the sacrifices, he doesn't want to die and therefore the civil rights movement would never have taken place allowing Henry the life he was living. Henry eventually does learn to "respect the sacrifices" and he himself becomes a sacrifice to save the life of his baby. As the story ends, the beautifully melancholy song "Strange Fruit" by Billie Holiday plays. This story reminds me of the works of Octavia Spencer with her use of the interaction between multiple timelines. It is both heartbreaking and eyeopening. A reminder to all of us, black or white or whatever, to respect the sacrifices of those who came before us for which, for which we would not be who we are today.
I know a lot of the time movies can be an escape. I think horror movies in particular offer a great escape. It is a chance for us to ignore the problems in the world and in our lives by watching fictionalized and sensationalized version of life. Although this film forces viewers to confront the world with all the social and political messages, it really is a fun movie. The filmmakers do a great job of packaging these heavy topics in entertaining stories. I'm sure there will still be people upset about the messages, but I guess this film just isn't made for them. Or maybe it's made exactly for them.
...what's your thoughts?
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