Tales from the Hood 2 is a 2018 American black horror anthology film written and directed by Rusty Cundieff and Darin Scott, executive-produced by Spike Lee, and starring Keith David, Bryan Batt, Lou Beatty Jr., Alexandria DeBerry, Bill Martin Wililams, Martin Bradford, and Kendrick Cross. The film is the sequel to Cundieff and Scott's 1995 horror anthology Tales from the Hood and tells the story of Mr. Simms acting as a consultant to a prison operator who's developing "Robo-Patriots" as he hears different stories from Mr. Simms to help determine which criminals they should go after. The segments "Good Golly", "The Sacrifice", and "Robo Hell" were directed by Rusty Cundieff. The segments "The Medium" and "Date Night" were directed by Darin Scott. The film met with positive reviews.
Plot
"Robo Hell" (beginning) At some time in the not too distant future, a racist and sleazy prison operator named Dumass Beach (Bill Martin Williams), is working with his aides Grant (Jay Huguley) and Kelly to lead a team to construct an army of AI "Robo-Patriots", which can learn from firsthand experience as well as from secondhand stories and function as law enforcement officers. He recruits the great storyteller Mr. Simms (Keith David) to fill their heads with information from his stories to help them better determine who is a criminal and thereby fill his prisons, suggesting "Black Lives Matter" as the theme. With that in mind, Simms tells the first story that he calls "Good Golly".
"Good Golly" White siblings Audrey (Alexandria DeBerry) and Philip (Andy Cohen) and their black friend Zoe (Jasmine Akakpo) take a vacation together. While Philip is hiking, Audrey takes Zoe to visit a place called the Museum of Negrosity. Inside, the two discover that the museum houses an assortment of racist propaganda such as posters, books, and dolls (including the doll from the "KKK Comeuppance" segment of the first film). Meeting with the curator Floyd (Lou Beatty Jr.), Audrey explains that she wants to buy a golliwog doll named "Golly Gee" for her collection. Floyd informs them that nothing in the museum is for sale and that the doll is a tool of racial propaganda that carries over 100 years of racism inside it. That night, the girls return with Philip, who also happens to be Zoe's boyfriend, and break into the museum to steal the doll. They end up breaking its glass display case when they knock over a whipping post. The three of them find a book titled Golliwog Goes to Hell, but notice that all of the pages after the first page are blank. The Golliwog (Kenneth Kynt Brown) comes to life and grows to human size. It kills Zoe by using the doorway of a Coon Chicken Inn as a guillotine and Philip by whipping him with a bullwhip until he is disemboweled. Audrey tells Golly Gee that she loves him and expresses her desire to simply stay with him and ends up having sex with the doll. Months later, Audrey is ready to give birth and tells Floyd, dressed in surgical apparel, that she wishes to go to a hospital for the delivery for the sake of the child. Floyd says that he would not be able to explain the situation. Multiple miniature golliwog dolls then burst out of her stomach. Floyd commiserates with Golly Gee, back to doll size and in his repaired display case, telling him "How dare they call you a stereotype? You're just the creation they designed you to be!" As more golliwogs are born, Audrey dies.
"Robo Hell" (wraparound #1) Dumass enjoys the story, but questions Mr. Simms if he has any stories from a more criminal standpoint. He offers to tell a story about gangsters to honor Beach's request that he calls "The Medium".
"The Medium" Cliff Bettis (Creighton Thomas), a notorious pimp-turned-legitimate businessman, is kidnapped and tortured by Brian (Martin Bats Bradford), Booze (Kedrick Brown), and Gore (Chad L. Chambers), a trio of thugs who seek to take the five-million-dollar fortune he possesses. Cliff refuses to surrender the money, explaining that he has used it to establish two magnet schools and several workplaces, to help give jobs and sponsor scholarships to improve life for the next generation. Unfortunately, Cliff is beaten to death by one of the thugs for insulting him, jeopardizing their plans. Meanwhile, phony TV psychic John Lloyd (Bryan Batt) records the chatter among his studio audience before the show and uses the notes provided by his staff to present the illusion of channeling spirits. The robbers see the show and hatch a new plan. They kidnap Cliff's girlfriend, singer Sandra Blake (Sandra Gutierrez), and bring her to Lloyd's house. Under their orders, she seduces him into opening the door for them to enter. They tell him to channel Cliff, using Sandra as a bargaining chip for him to tell them where the money is. When John rhetorically asks what would happen if he explains that he isn't actually psychic, the thugs say that they would kill him and rob his house so that their mission isn't a complete loss. Terrified for his life, John agrees to channel Cliff. When John begins to act out a séance, he finds himself actually possessed by a series of different spirits accusing the robbers of unjustly killing them. Ultimately, Cliff begins to speak through John to the robbers and they threaten to kill Sandra if Cliff doesn't tell them where the money is. Cliff telekinetically jams their guns and kills Booze by twisting his neck, kills Gore by shooting broken glass into his mouth, and kills Brian by electrocuting him with 500 volts from wires attached to the chandelier. Permanently possessed by the spirit of Cliff, John goes on to be even more successful as a true psychic.
"Robo Hell" (wraparound #2) Dumass likes "The Medium" even better, stating that it's something the Robo-Patriot could learn from. While excusing himself, Simms notices Beach sexually harass the women on the design team. Kelly mentions that he does it to her as well, but she has learned to ignore it. Inspired by this fact, Mr. Simms proceeds to tell the next story that he calls "Date Night".
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