Josh Deakin
For The Maine Campus
Snoop Lion — formerly Snoop Dogg — is no stranger to the film industry, having appeared in films like “Soul Plane” and “Starsky & Hutch.” One film that has made its way into most five-dollar movie bins is “Snoop Dogg’s Hood of Horror.”
The movie is an anthology horror film that was released in 2006. It began its run at the Cannes Film Festival and went on to be shown as a special sneak peek at the 8 Films to Die For film festival. It was eventually released in theaters worldwide in the spring of 2007.
The movie begins with an animated clip depicting a car chase riddled with gunfire. During this scene, the opening credits are displayed, revealing some big names in this straight-to-DVD feature. These names include Danny Trejo, Billy Dee Williams, Ernie Hudson and, of course, Snoop Dogg himself. The animated short depicts the story of Devon, voiced by Snoop Dogg. When Devon accidentally shoots his little sister, he sells his soul to bring her back from the dead. What follows are three live action shorts which Devon narrates, frequently breaking the fourth wall throughout.
The first segment tells the tale of a woman tagger, named Posie, who is given the power to kill through graffiti. A hellhound, played by Danny Trejo, gives her a power that lets her kill fellow taggers just by placing a red “X” over their graffiti. The segment is an interesting, original concept that plays out exactly how one would expect it to. A high point in the short is that it features acting talents of Billy Dee Williams as a preacher.
The next segment is at heart a story of a father and son. After the death of a father, his son is given the opportunity to gain his inheritance. Before he can reap the benefits of the inheritance, he must first live with some Vietnam War veterans. Sound simple enough, right? Well, the son and his girlfriend begin to take advantage of the men. They put them to work and announce that they owe a ridiculous sum of money in back rent. This is by far the strongest segment in the anthology. It features the greatest line of the movie delivered by Snoop Dogg after he is revealed to be a new landlord for the veterans: “Absolutely no dogs allowed, present company excluded.”
The final segment is the weakest short in the film. It tells the story of a famous rapper, named SOD, who is visited by a woman by the name of Clara during a party. Clara has a talk with SOD about his deceased friend Quon who used to look after him when he was just getting started. Quon returns from the dead to seek revenge on SOD for being involved in his death. Anyone who is familiar with rap rivalries will find this story to be unoriginal, for the most part. At its core, all the story is is a tale of a rap feud. World Championship Wrestling fans would be happy to know that Diamond Dallas Page makes an appearance as SOD’s manager, Jersey.
The anthology concludes with a mix of animation and live action that shows the main characters in all three stories arriving in Hell. Snoop Dogg then starts to rap as the end credits roll. It’s of no surprise that the film features Snoop’s music quite a bit. The film is not terrible but some segments could have definitely have been done better.