‘Tales From the Hood 3’ Movie Review: Reapshow
Tales From the Hood has proven to be far more consistent than other horror anthology series. Creepshow, VHS and ABCs of Death segments vary wildly. In Tales From the Hood 3, premiering Oct. 17 at 9 p.m. on Syfy, tells four new horror stories that all deal with issues relevant to the Black community, with somewhat different subgenres of horror, too.
William (Tony Todd) and his daughter Brooklyn (Sage Arrindell) are on the run in the woods. She tells him stories while they wait for the coast to clear. It’s not a funeral director anymore, but Brooklyn still delivers stories all the same.
‘Tales From the Hood 3’ begins with a subtle tale
In the first new tale, an arsonist burns down an apartment killing the Black family inside. The landlord (London Brown) keeps getting phone calls with the sound of the child’s bouncing ball, and apparitions appear before him.
That’s not as outrageous as the Golliwog dolls or the abusive stepfather getting bent backwards, but it still punishes the landlord for his negligence. It gets pretty relentless with these righteous spirits coming after him in every empty hall or room.
‘Tales From the Hood 3’ hopes racism will become fiction
The second segment of Tales From the Hood 3 is the most optimistic. Denton Wilbury (Cooper Huckabee) is living in a bunker, resisting the eminent domain takeover of his land. He broadcasts on the radio and really hits every racist belief in his diatribe.
Denton also has a collection of sex dolls, and not the fancy kind but the cheap inflatable ones. They’re donated by the same people who leave food for him, and he also dresses the dolls in racist stereotypes. Rest assured, Denton will get what’s coming to him too, in a way that offers hope that perhaps one day, racism like Denton’s will just be an artifact for movies.
This heroine almost remains innocent
The third segment in Tales From the Hood 3 is the closest to a potentially innocent heroine. Chela Simpson (Savannah Basley) is an aspiring singer. The legend Ms. Benoit (Lynn Whitfield) gives her some harsh criticism and that’s when Chela crosses the line.
Chela conspires with Miles Park (Jaime M. Callica) to poison Ms. Benoit’s blood and killer her. Once she makes an evil decision, Chela has dreams and visions, creepy occult type visions and personal nightmares.
The final ‘Tale from the Hood’
The Punch and Run Bandit (Patrick Abellard) steals the wrong pair of golden kicks. The shoes stick to him so he can’t take them off. Unremovable shoes can make life very difficult for a criminal in perhaps the most outrageous, extreme episode of Tales From the Hood 3.
It’s great that writer/directors Rusty Cundieff and Darin Scott created a horror franchise for all Black stories, but their greatest success may be even broader. Each Tales From the Hood story centers around wrongdoers taught a karmic lesson. That makes each tale satisfying and ultimately positive, no matter how extreme and violent it gets.
