1995 · Outside the Yuzna Circle

Tales from the Hood

Rusty Cundieff’s E.C. Comics-style anthology was executive produced by Spike Lee. Its best-known effect is the plantation dolls in the “KKK Comeuppance” segment — but those were built and animated by the Chiodo Brothers, not George. His shop, working under effects supervisor Kenneth Hall, handled two other set pieces entirely outside the Brian Yuzna circle he’s best known for.

In “Boys Do Get Bruised,” the abusive boyfriend Carl (David Alan Grier) dies when a child crumples a crayon drawing of him. George’s studio built a duplicate of Grier that the crew could physically fold and crush on camera into a burnt, crumpled shape. Its internal construction is undocumented. The dummy lets the drawing’s action happen literally on screen.

In the framing story, funeral director Mr. Simms (Clarence Williams III) reveals himself as Satan; George designed the transformation makeup — demonic skin texture, protruding horns, and glowing eyes. The sources do not establish whether the eyes were mechanical.