SNOOP DOGG'S HOOD OF HORROR

Snoop Dogg's Hood Of Horror is kind of like the "urban" version of Stephen King's Creepshow in that it's a horror anthology that's supposed to be based on a comic book. HOH contains three horror tales, including an animated introduction, which are introduced by rapper Snoop Dogg himself. The animated intro is about a gang-banger--voiced by Snoop--who accidentally shoots and kills his younger sister. He makes a deal with a demon from Hell that he'll exchange his life for his sister's and in return said gang-banger agrees to be a type of soul collector for Hell for an unspecified amount of time. The first non-animated story is about a graffiti artist named Posie--who witnessed her father kill her mother before he kills himself--who runs afoul of a bunch of street thugs. Afterwards, she gets abducted by this dingy creepy homeless guy--played by Danny Trejo (of Machete fame)--who grants Posie a special power that would allow her to create grand works of street art. Instead, she uses her power to get even with the street thugs she ran afoul of when she discovers that she can kill them when she crosses out their own street art. Posie is confronted again by the dingy creepy homeless man who points out to her that she could've broken the cycle of violence in her area with the power he'd given her. Because she only used her powers to make the violence even worse, he ends up siccing the gang-bangers she killed on her as they end up killing her and using her blood to make a beautiful flower mural. The second story is about a recently deceased father who leaves it in his will that he'll only leave his money to his loutish son if he agrees to spend a month living with his war buddies whom he served with in Vietnam so he can become a better person. However, instead of becoming a better person the way his father wanted, he and his equally-loutish girlfriend--played by former Playboy Playmate (and Hugh Hefner's ex-girlfriend) Brande Roderick (sorry, guys, no nudity from Brande!)--harass and/or humiliate his father's war buddies every chance they get. The war veterans finally reach their breaking point after the son and his girlfriend not only allow one of them to die needlessly but they also murder their beloved nurse and stick her body in the freezer where one of the war veterans finds it. So they kill the son's girlfriend by making her stomach explode by force-feeding her caviar (nice!) and they strap the son to a wheelchair, push him down a flight of stairs and impale him on his Cadillac horns (again, nice!). In the third and final story, an aspiring rapper makes a plea to God while sitting in a church to help make his dreams come true. In return, he promises that he'll use his fame to do good. Of course, he does anything BUT good after he becomes rich & famous like he wanted. He even has his rapping partner killed during a "fake" robbery that he set up. He is confronted one night by this strange woman--presumably a demon--who reminds him of the "promise" he made to God should he become a famous rapper like he's become. Then he's confronted by the "spirit" of his slain partner--with his face half blown off, no less--who informs him that he knew he set him up. He then sets up his murderous partner by killing his accomplice and sets up his former partner to be gunned down by police. (This scene also features a cameo by none other than Jason Alexander--who played bumbling George in Seinfeld--who plays a record label owner complete with cheesy British accent.) The movie ends with Snoop Dogg, after "collecting" the souls of the condemned people in the film, sitting on his throne in Hell--next to a "little person" wearing a cheesy-ass demon mask, no less--and he starts rapping (of course!). Actually, I don't really feel Snoop's presence is really needed in the film as he more or less just plays himself. Frankly, I think the producers of the film just added him on to try to give the film more publicity. I'll admit, I'm not what you'd call a big fan of Snoop Dogg of either his rapping or his acting capabilities of which critics have pretty much found lacking (Soul Plane, anyone?). Other than that, Hood Of Horror---even with Snoop Dogg--is a pretty entertaining horror flick. It WON'T be considered a "classic" like Stephen King's Creepshow, to be sure, but it's still pretty entertaining nonetheless. Fans of movies and/or shows like Creepshow, Tales From The Crypt and Tales From the Hood (which was similar to Hood Of Horror and was released about ten years before HOH) will likely enjoy this flick as well. Welcome to Hell, indeed!