‘Tales From the Hood 2’ Debuting at Fantasia International Film Festival

Capitalizing on the popularity of the anthological Tales from the Crypt TV series, the 1995 horror film Tales from the Hood delivered audiences a compelling and fresh take on a variety of horror tales. The original director, Rusty Cundieff, confirmed earlier this year that he was working on a sequel, which will see its premiere at the Fantasia International Film Festival in July.

An official Twitter account for the film launched earlier this year, though the above teaser is the first hint at the new endeavor.

The festival describes the film, “The sequel to the groundbreaking original film Tales from the Hood reunites Executive Producer Spike Lee and writers/directors/producers Rusty Cundieff and Darin Scott for an all-new gripping, horrifying, and oftentimes devilishly comical anthology. This next installment will keep viewers on the edge of their seats, as they course through several stories that explore socially relevant topics from the past and present.”

In the 1995 original, a creepy mortician, Mr. Simms (Clarence Williams III) tries to scare a drug-dealing teen named Stack and his two friends that he has trapped in his funeral home. The four urban-themed horror stories Simms tells center around themes and concepts such as police brutality, domestic abuse, racism and gang violence. Of course, being a horror film, things don’t work out so well for the three drug dealers. Turns out they’re not trapped in the funeral home, they’re dead and in Hell and the stories Simms – who is actually Satan himself – wove lead up to the reveal.

Films like Creepshow, Twilight Zone: The Movie, and Tales from the Darkside: The Movie showed the effectiveness of bringing together a variety of horrific vignettes to create a diverse set of horrors to viewers. The storytelling format died down after Hood, though it is considered by many to be one of the better examples of the structure.

In 2012, the found footage anthology V/H/S helped revive the concept, which has seen multiple different incarnations over the last few years. That film scored two sequels, while also inspiring the ABCs of Death Films, which each consists of 26 shorts that take inspiration from a letter of the alphabet. Last year saw the release of XX, an anthology film featuring horror tales crafted by female filmmakers.

The world of filmmaking has changed drastically in recent years, with budding directors having easier access to equipment while the internet allows them to get their work out to wide audiences. One bonus of an anthology is that multiple filmmakers can come together to offer viewers a unique vision on relatively small budgets, making it easier to recoup funds with distribution.

Stay tuned for details about Tales from the Hood 2.

Are you a fan of the original movie? Let us know in the comments below or hit up @TheWolfman on Twitter to talk all things horror and Star Wars!

[H/T Twitter, FromTheHoodFilm]