Tales from the Hood revisit

I'm trying to keep my Letterboxd reviews short but I still seem to drag on these too long...

Clarence Williams III as a mortician/host for a horror anthology? Hell, yeah! What a fantastic face for a horror anthology, and blowing cigar smoke with that "devilish" smile, Williams is an absolute blast. 

And the stories of the victims in his funeral parlor are just as potent and impactful today as they were in the mid 90s if not even more so if that were possible.

Dirty cops, racism, drugs, gang violence, prison rehabilitation, good and bad politicians, domestic abuse, and confronting the horrors of the past, bringing them to fore, are explored in four tales, lives cut short and appearing in Williams' funeral home. Three drug dealers are looking for some product at the funeral home of Williams III, not realizing their own current situation isn't what it seems...

While the first tale regarding a politician looking to clean up a police department has another memorable nasty role for Wings Hauser as a corrupt cop who is mainly the one responsible for the death of that mayor hopeful returning from the grave to get his revenge, Corbin Bernsen as a David Duke type who moves into a plantation while looking to become governor of his estate certainly represents a less than nuanced character haunted by voodoo dolls designed and created by a little old lady with a certain magic that brings them to life to eventually overwhelm him. David Alan Grier, known for his comedy, definitely achieves what his part describes: the monster a little boy draws on paper, Grier sure embodies that. The abuse to a woman and child by Grier, eventually discovered by a teacher who also suffers his wrath is hard to watch but the little boy's ability to harm by damaging the paper drawings of those who hurt him comes in handy. You literally getting to see a very bad dude twisted into a human pretzel is epic (if the effect makes Grier look like Gumby).

The very last tale where a rehab program used on a drug dealer/killer we see shoot a rival in cold blood then get shot himself by the victim's friends has some really disturbing subject matter (real life lynching photos and drug deals gone horribly wrong as guns hit bodies and blood bursts out in pure red) that might be triggering and overwhelming for some. But I think this is the most important of the stories. It addresses a lot of the past, forcing us to see what has happened in the hopes of avoiding that in the future. That is was more or less in his head right before he dies is a slight bummer because I thought the rehab idea (similar to Clockwork Orange) was interesting, especially since the killer with a chip on his shoulder and attitude to burn rejects any "help" being offered him. Wright's ghoul getting even with the cops who ruined his reputation and killed him in the first tale, has its moments such as the mural in his memory eventually absorbing a police officer unto the wall as a bit of crucifixion art and Hauser literally losing his head. Another rookie cop, with the ability to protect him and turn in the bad cops that eventually  pummeled and killed Wright, not getting off even after obeying the vengeful spirit was a change in the norm...he had to pay a price for being inactive.