Review of "Tales from the Hood 2" by The Headless Critic

Tales from the Hood 2 – 2018
Production by: 40 Acres and A Mule Productions, Hood Productions, Universal 1440 Entertainment
Distribution by: Universal Pictures Entertainment



Dumass Bich Industries are about to unveil their newest corrective technological advancement, the Robot Patriot. A robotic police officer that will fill the corporation’s prisons faster by predicting crime before it happens. This isn’t artificial intelligent, it’s real intelligence. In order to work out the kinks, they bring in a storyteller to quickly test the robots learning abilities. Here to test your intelligence is the greatest storyteller of all time Portifoy Simms (Keith David) to bring us a new set of Tales from the Hood. I assure you all, no one tells stories as well as he does.

The first tale is of criminal behavior and how one black life mattered.

Good Golli:
Preppy blonde Audrey (Alexandria DeBerry) drags her best black friend Zoe (Jasmine Akakpo) to the obscure and forgotten Museum of Negrosity, A Healing Place for a Blackened Soul where no bad idea ever dies it only lies dormant until the pungent rains of the demon spring. God bless this hell… The curator of this history of racism (Lou Beatty Jr.) is the keeper of The Puppets and he’s not parting with his dolls to any collector, for any cost. Some rich white girls just can’t take no for an answer. Audrey’s love for golliwog dolls (Kenneth Kynt Thomas) takes a literally sense as she breaks into the museum after hours opening a door, a doll case and herself to a level of racism her love just can’t bear the fruit of. Fucking white women and having babies but how dare they call you a stereotype? You’re just a creation they designed you to be.
The tale is successfully stored in the Patriot’s memory.
Written & Directed by: Rusty Cundieff

This next tale begins as many Tales in the Hood do, with a violent beatdown.

The Medium:
Booze (Kendrick Brown), Brian (Martin Bradford) and Gore (Chad Chambers) are three high priced thugs laying a beatdown on a pimp gone straight who’s supposedly hiding millions. Reformed pimp Cliff (Creighton Thomas) is willing to die before his gives up his charitable funds. These thugs aren’t willing to let him get off so easy. What do you do when you need to know the hiding spot of a dead pimp's money? Kidnap television’s most notorious psychic medium of course. John Lloyd (Bryan Batt) is a man who gets paid because he can really talk to dead people. Now which one of you motherfuckers wants to go first?
The tale is successfully stored in the Patriot’s memory.
Written & Directed by: Darin Scott

Next, how about a story that deals with three favorite human pastimes, sex drugs and the crazy idea of bro’s over ho’s. This one begins as most modern romances do with technology.

Date Night:
Kahad (Greg Tarzan Davis) and Ty (Alex Biglane) just picked up a couple of hot girls online. Headed to their house they play a few games, have a few drinks, slip them a few roofies to have their way with them on camera to post on the internet. Carmen (Alexandria Ponce) and Liz (Cat Limket) just picked up a couple of hot guys online. They invite them over to play a few games, have a few drinks and join them for dinner. This date night isn’t going to go how someone expects. Two sets of predators, one will fall victim to their prey.
The tale is successfully stored in the Patriot’s memory.
Written & Directed by: Darin Scott

Do we have time for another tale?

The Sacrifice:
The history of the oppression of black Americans is lined with the bodies of dead, immense in numbers and all too often unmarked. Those remembered have set roots as deep and more tragic than anything this country has grown from. What would happen if those who died for the betterment of their race decided they died in vein? What if they saw their descendants weren’t worth it and they took their death back?

Henry Bradley (Kenrick Cross) is a black republican who was raised as a free thinker enough that he doesn’t follow the party of his own progressive people. His pregnant wife Emily (Jillian Batherson) who has miscarried before feels she’s being haunted in her dreams by the past. A young black man Emmett Till (Christopher Horne) who was killed by racist white men a number of years ago is visiting her in her dreams and she feels he’s shrinking the baby inside her. A tragedy of the past has dire consequences on its future.
The tale is successfully stored in the Patriot’s memory.
Written & Directed by: Rusty Cundieff

In 1995 the original Tales from the Hood made a cultural statement with a group of gangbangers facing their sins in death. Twenty-three years later the creators of those tales Rusty Cundieff and Darin Scott haven’t lost a step, returning for another Spike Lee produced production. The sequel comes out of hell to take a political stance which may be appropriate for the times but is also slapping you in the face with their message. These Tales from the Hood play on stereotypes as blatantly as their corporate name Dumass Bich Industries, with their Donald Trump-esque leader Dumass Bich (Billy Martin Williams). In an ever growing PC world, these stereotypes are refreshingly excruciating to watch.

The original Tales from the Hood is an underrated horror anthology I always enjoyed. Some budgeted CGI is used that I feel really isn’t necessary making this anthology sequel look cheap at first. The opening credits are about the extent of the CGI though. From there Keith David takes over as the perfect successor to the late Clarence Williams III in the memorable role of Mr. Simms. David’s version of the storytelling devil may get a little caught up in over eccentric shit but the unique voiced actor still hits the mark as over-the-top perfect as Clarence Williams III did in the original.

Tales from the Hood 2 made me feel like I slipped back into the 90’s which is a compliment to a quality of filmmaking that’s changed and almost forgotten today. Good Golli is so ridiculous I love it. Lou Beatty Jr. and Alexandria Deberry both give Tales from the Hood worthy over-the-top performances. My favorite performance overall may have been Creighton Thomas with his crack whore jokes in The Medium. The Medium himself Bryan Batt impresses as well. Martin Bradford's facial expression as also priceless. Very few sequels live up to the original but this throwback to the 90's certainly comes close.

Available Now on VOD & DVD

3 out of 5 Headless Critics