1/5 Z-level B-movie
  by Roland E. Zwick (Valencia, Ca USA)
*1/2

The "trilogy of terror" has been a horror movie staple ever since Vincent Price made a name for himself in the 1960's starring in all those Roger Corman adaptations of Edgar Allen Poe short stories. Now, 40 years later, director Stacy Title is attempting to carry on that tradition with "Snoop Dogg`s Hood of Horror," as dimwitted and cheapjack a B-movie travesty as we`ve come across in quite some time.

Acting as a sort of gangsta' rap version of Elvira, Snoop Dogg serves as the host of the show, introducing us to the three stories, then providing a sermonizing moral as wrap-up when each of them is finished. The first episode, entitled "Crossed Out," tells of a young woman given the power to supernaturally exterminate all the graffiti artists in her neighborhood simply by spray-painting a giant red x through their work. The second entry, "The Scumlord," is a parodic tale of a group of grizzled Vietnam vets who turn the tables on their racist landlord. The third, "Rapsody Askew," is a confused account of a rap star forced to face divine judgment for the error-filled life he's led.

Despite the movie's title, there isn't a single suspenseful moment in any of the segments, which, when taken together, feel like a trio of under-conceived and under-nourished rejects from the old "Twilight Zone" series. As the two "name" players in the cast, Billy Dee Williams and Jason Alexander are literally the only things separating "Hood of Horror" from your average amateur movie shot in someone's backyard on 8-millimeter. Even the gore is remarkably over-the-top and cartoon-like in nature, the kind of thing one would expect from a group of precocious high school students in their first experience with a camera.

As uninteresting as it is uninspired, "Hood of Horror" gives anthology films a bad name.

4/5 Don't Believe the Haters - It's All Good in the Hood
  by Rod Hansen (Goffstown, NH)
OK, ya gotta keep it in perspective when viewing a movie like this: The creators of a film calling itself SNOOP DOGG'S HOOD OF HORROR probably aren't wondering which outfits they'll wear to the Academy Awards ceremony.

Now here's a shock, and for some it might even be a spoiler: As intentionally cheap and tawdry as this film is, it's a good movie overall, and one of its three chapters is flat-out great.

Set up as a "Tales from the Crypt"-style anthology, the movie's prevailing moral theme (and, yes, there is a prevailing moral theme to SNOOP DOGG'S HOOD OF HORROR) is that a person's actions on Earth, in the 'hood, can effect their existence in the afterlife.

The first of the episodes is about a female grafitti artist who takes revenge on some neighborhood roughs through supernatural means. Daniella Alonso shines in the leading role. She has confidence and screen presence, and delivers her lines with the clarity of a true pro. However, the segment suffers from shoddy special effects, and could confirm viewers' suspicion that this is a direct-to-video quality release. Still, when one thug impales his own head on a 40-oz. bottle, it's pretty hilarious to hear Alonso intone, "What a waste...of beer."

The second chapter, titled "The Scumlord," is a first-rate social satire with performances that actually do deserve the Oscar consideration they will never get.

The story involves Tex Jr., the spoiled son of a real estate tycoon who inherits (through patricide) his father's property. In this role, Anson Mount is sheer comic genius, delivering polically incorrect lines that will literally make you gasp before laughing your head off.

Tex Jr. is now the landlord of a building housing a group of African-American Vietnam War veterans. He brings along his wife Tiffany (Brande Roderick, who also gives an inspired performance), and essentially uses his aging tenants as slave labor to renovate the house. Tex Jr. is unabashedly racist, regularly refering to his black tenants as "boy." Ernie Hudson, as the outraged tenant Roscoe, turns in a heartfelt performance that resonates with dignity and class.

View HOOD OF HORRORS for no other reason than "The Scumlord," which is a genuine must-see.

The third and final chapter concerns a rap duo similar to OutKast, where the tubby yet prodigiously talented half receives far less adoration than his sleeker, sexier partner (aw, jeeze, the scriptwriters might as well have CALLED this band "OutKast".) Jason Alexander turns up as a label executive (possibly to prove that not ALL ex-Seinfeld cast members are racist pigs), but the segment as a whole is probably the worst of the bunch.

I would recommend HOOD OF HORRORS solely on the strengths of "The Scumlord," though the entire movie is fun to watch and allows those of us in lily-white suburbia a chance to pick up some fly gangsta slang.


3/5 E-Z Math#
  by erickufo (el paso, texas United States)
What happens when you combine: Creepshow+Rob Zombie(wanna be)with a twist of camp snoopy on halloween season = Snoop Dogg's Hood Of Horror!
Overall..O.K FOR A BORING WEEKDAY.

1/5 A big dissapointment ! What was Snoop THINKING ???
  by Barbara L. Morris (Toledo Ohio USA)
I thought this movie was terrible, and I LOVE horror movies of all kinds.

The film contains 3 short stories of "horror in the hood" with the first and last being better than the second story (which is not saying much.)
I just thought Snoop had better taste than this.
You expect to see killing in ANY horror flick, but the second story shows them abusing a Chihuahua NEEDLESSLY, I thought.
It didn't even fit in the storyline,and was SOOOO sickening !!!

First, the dog's owner gets killed by blowing up her stomach with cavaier which is being pumped into this woman through a vaccum cleaner, and if THIS wasn't enough, they put the dog on top of her to eat the gore of what was left of his mistress on the bed....after she exploded on it :(

THEN... we flash ahead in time, and the dog is living with it's new owners, and Snoop comes in and blows the little Chihuahua away! For no reason at all !!!
If he thought this was funny or cool in ANY way, he was SO wrong !

It totally turned me OFF on Snoop altogether.Animal abuse in any form is NOT funny. It was pretty sickening...among OTHER things in this big FLOP of a badly directed, acted and edited movie.

In short, Hood of Horror ... SUCKED.

1/5 Hood of Horrors!
  by Robyn Kay (Oakland, Ca United States)
This movie sucked big time! B-rated actors and B-rated acting. The storylines were terrible, the special effects cheap and homemade and the actors awful. Don't waste your money on this one. This DVD belongs in the dogg house.