This is a movie that I learned about when searching for horror films that were either written, directed or featured Black people. The reason being for February and celebration of Black History month. This one had all three and was also a Foray through the Fours movie as well. Other than that, I came in blind, figuring that this would be an anthology film from the synopsis.
Synopsis: a homeless man who sees a murder is forced to entertain his tormentors with three tales of murder, revenge and terror.
We start with what is our wraparound story. J Dog (Corey Shields) is hanging out with Keith (Timothy Eric). They work for Street (Loco). He shows up, asking for his money and they're short. They have until midnight to get it. J Dog picks up his girlfriend, Peaches (Staci Harris) and try to figure out what they'll do. They have a plan that involves murder in an abandoned building. There is a complication. A homeless man, played by Wayne Dehart, was a witness. They're going to get rid of him as well when he offers to tell them stories instead.
Our first story is then called 'The Reckoning'. Jessica (Tenia Yarbrough) and her mother, played by Shirley Whitmore, come home from a funeral for her cousin. Jessica had never seen her mother cry before and it scared her. This younger girl doesn't want to see her mother be that sad anymore. Jessica goes outside where she sees her friend, Judy (Brukie Gashaw). She comes up with her two friends, Demona (Candice Felix) and Tonya (Olivia Reed). This trio is going swimming. Jessica wants to join but can't leave the yard. She does sneak off. The problem is that she cannot swim. Demona pushes her into the pool and this has disastrous results. They get Jessica out of the water, but they leave her there and she passes away. This takes place in 1983 and on the 20th anniversary of her death, Jessica could be back for revenge.
Then up next, we get 'The Clinic'. Jalissa Daniels (Nicole Ford) is there for an abortion. She reveals to the doctor that she had one many years ago when she was 17. She is haunted by this decision and could also be by her unborn child as well.
Our last story before going back to tie up the wraparound is 'Graduation Night'. Bernice (Mykel Gray) is a simple, country girl who is at college. Her roommates are Dora (Candace J. Battle) and Melissa (Aziza Anderson). These two are having people over which include their boyfriends of Harold (Rashad Demond Edwards) and Gerald (Mandell Butler). They're also bringing their friend Big Willie (M. C. Butler) who is an athlete for the college. Should point out that this is set in 1975. They play a drinking game and it gets out of hand with Big Willie taking advantage of Bernice. This causes her to get expelled due to not telling the dean who was behind this get together. Bernice can't deny she was there as she is revealed that she's pregnant. This gets her expelled right before graduation. Her shame causes her to make a horrible decision. She could also be out for revenge.
Now that is where I'll leave my recap of the shorts as well as introductions to our lead characters. Where I want to start with commend the creative team behind this for making a movie. That would include our directors, J. D. Hawkins and Shields, as well as the writing team and all the actors. This does feel inspired by E. C. comics and more recently, Tales from the Hood. We have shorts that are quick hitters, they set up the story and then there's payoff. I will credit them there. We got three stories and the wraparound done in under 90 minutes which I appreciated.
Since we have the same creative team behind all of them, I'm going to just look at this as a movie. I thought that the concepts of these were fine. They are poignant to the title as the set up could happen to us or people we know. The first one has a child drown in a pool. The other kids who caused it did not want to get in trouble, so they left. The second has a young woman faced with a difficult decision and needing to come to terms with it. You can look at this one as not having supernatural elements as well. That is her own guilt causing what she experiences. This is the strongest in my opinion. The last one has plot holes and conveniences in it, but still worked. It feels oddly too close to the first one though. Then our last one has a similar set up and how it plays out like what we got in the original Tales from the Hood. Not exactly, but there are similarities that I noticed.
I do have to say that although I do like what they did here, this falls short with the execution. Part of that is budgetary. They aren't working with a large amount to make things happen to keep the excitement up. I'm not going to hold that against it. They were predictable though. That does hurt it. It struggled to keep my interest due to that though.
Let me then shift away from the stories and go to the acting. The cast is amateurish so I'm not going to harp or pick them apart. I thought that Shields, Eric, Harris, Loco and Dehart were solid for the wraparound. There are a bunch more characters introduced late than I wasn't expecting. That was fun to see to be honest. I'd say all the children in the first story were solid. They seemed like friends. Their adult counterparts matched that. The best performance is in story two with Daniels. The rest of them push her to where she ends up. What I like there is that it might all be in her head, but we see there could be supernatural elements as well. The cast for story three were also fine. No one outside of Daniels stood out, but that's not a slight.
All that is left then is filmmaking. This also could be felt with the budget. The copy on Tubi was a bit muddy so that did affect my viewing a bit. The cinematography is fine. It doesn't do a lot to necessarily stands out. I'd say that the effects were decent. This is something else that the budget isn't helping with. The practical effects work and I'd say the computer effects we got were on par. Other than that, the soundtrack fit for what was needed without necessarily standing out.
In conclusion, this is a movie that I want to commend this team to get together and make. This is held back its budget. It is going for that E. C. comic vibe but doesn't pack the punch that those tend to have. The writing isn't helping as the stories were predictable in my opinion. The acting is amateur so that is all I'll say there. I'd say that their filmmaking aspects show promise. They were just limited in what they could do. Not one that I'd recommend unless you're a fan of microbudget cinema.
My Rating: 3 out of 10.
