Cinematographer Ernest Dickerson pays homage to blaxploitation horror pictures — especially J.D.'S REVENGE — and the visual stylings of Italian gothic directors like Mario Bava, Antonio Margheriti and Dario Argento in this hokey but entertaining horror show. In the middle of a blasted urban neighborhood stands a rundown brownstone, with a facade like the face of Moloch. Locals steer clear, and outsiders pay dearly for poking around. Once upon a time, back in 1971, it belonged to Jimmy Bones (rapper Snoop Dogg), a community-minded numbers runner who could always spare some cash for old ladies and little kids. Never mind the mack daddy wardrobe, Lincoln Continental and wicked switchblade: Jimmy, who had the love of a good woman in psychic Pearl (Pam Grier), was a man of principles. That's why he refused the deal brought to him by boyhood pal Jaybird (Clifton Powell): Jaybird's associates, crooked cop Lupovich (Michael T. Weiss) and local hustler Eddie Mack (Ricky Harris), want to get into the crack business. Bones winds up dead and buried in the basement of his own home, which stands empty for 30 years. Then four heedless young people decide to transform it into a nightclub called Illbiance: Patrick and Bill (Khalil Kain, Merwin Mondesir), their step-sister Tia (Katharine Isabelle) and their friend Maurice (Sean Amsing) have no idea about the joint's bad mojo, and still less that its history and theirs are connected. Patrick, Bill and Tia are the children of Jeremiah Peet, the successful and thoroughly respectable businessman Jaybird has become. Naturally, all hell breaks loose: The pipes drip bloody fluid, the shadows are alive with tortured faces, and the ravenous, red-eyed devil dog that haunts the building leads the young interlopers to Bones's buried bones. Meanwhile, Pearl's beautiful daughter Cynthia (Bianca Lawson) is drawn to the building, despite her mother's desperate warnings that it's a portal to the world of the dead. No good can come of all this, and no good does. With his spidery fingers and his velvet eyes, the lean, languid Snoop Dogg was born to be an undead player, and clearly relishes the role of Jimmy Bones. The film features a mix of CGI and traditional special effects — including a rain of maggots that's straight out of SUSPIRIA — and even though you know where it's all going from the get-go, it's an amusing retro ride. --Maitland McDonagh
