Hood film
| Hood film | |
|---|---|
Director John Singleton, one of the pioneers of the genre. | |
| Years active | 1990s - 2000s |
| Location | United States |
| Major figures | Hughes Brothers, Ernest Dickerson, F. Gary Gray, Spike Lee, John Singleton, Mario Van Peebles |
| Influences | Blaxploitation, L.A. Rebellion, Mexploitation, Race film |
Hood film is a film genre originating in the United States, which features aspects of urban African American or Hispanic American culture. The genre is generally considered to have been popularized in the 1990s with films from noted directors such as John Singleton, Mario Van Peebles, F. Gary Gray, the Hughes Brothers, and Spike Lee. The genre has been identified as a sub-genre of the gangster film genre.
The genre has since spread outside the U.S., to places such as the United Kingdom and Canada.
Hood films have been variously described under a wide-array of names by critics, such as 'street-gang', 'ghetto-centric', 'action-crime-adventure', 'gangsta rap films', 'black action films', 'new black realism', 'new jack cinema', and 'black urban cinema'. Lee disparagingly referred to the genre as 'hiphop, urban drama, ghetto film'.