''Urban Menace'' is a 1999 American horror film directed by Albert Pyun and starring Snoop Dogg,

Big Pun Christopher Lee Rios (November 10, 1971 – February 7, 2000), better known by his stage name Big Pun (short for Big Punisher), was an American rapper. Emerging from the underground hip hop scene in the Bronx borough of New York City in the e ...

, Ice-T and Fat Joe.

Premise

After a

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * C ...

burning in which a

preacher A preacher is a person who delivers sermons or homilies on religious topics to an assembly of people. Less common are preachers who preach on the street, or those whose message is not necessarily religious, but who preach components such as ...

and his family are killed, the preacher's insane ghost ( Snoop Dogg) starts killing off the members of the gang responsible.''Urban Menace'' (1999) (V)
''

Movie Review Query Engine The Movie Review Query Engine also known as MRQE, is an online index of movie reviews. Registered users are able to access movie-specific forums and provide their own reviews. The site aggregates reviews, news, interviews, and other material assoc ...

'', retrieved July 31, 2017.Robin R. Means Coleman, ''Horror Noire: Blacks in American Horror Films from the 1890s to Present'', New York: Routledge, 2011,
p. 200

Cast

* Snoop Dogg as "Preacher" Caleb *

as "Crow" * Ice-T as The Narrator * Fat Joe as "Terror" *

T. J. Storm Juan Ricardo Ojeda, better known as T.J. Storm, is an American actor, stuntman, dancer, and martial artist. He is best known for his role as Bayu in '' Conan the Adventurer'' and for his motion capture performances in '' Tron: Legacy'', '' Captain ...

as King *

Vincent Klyn Vincent Klyn (born June 30, 1960) is a New Zealand-born actor and surfer who has appeared in a number of 1980s and 1990s-era motion pictures. His most notable role was the 1989 film ''Cyborg'' directed by Albert Pyun. Early life Klyn (Klijn) ...

as "Shadow" *

Romany Malco Romany relates or may refer to: *The Romani people or Romany people, also known as Gypsies *Romani language or Romany language, the language of the Romani people *"Romany", the pseudonym of a broadcaster and writer of Romani descent, George Bramwel ...

as "Syn" * Tahitia Hicks as Holt (Tahitia) * Eva La Dare as Jolene (Karen Dyer) *

Ernie Hudson Jr. Earnest Lee Hudson Jr. (born September 16, 1965, in Benton Harbor, Michigan) is an American actor, author, poet, and film producer. In October 2021, he was affirmed as Togbui Kpogo Afenya I, an Ewe Chief in Frankadua, in the Eastern Region of Gh ...

as "No Dice" * Jahi J.J. Zuri as "Cool D" * Rob Ladesich as Harper * Michael Walde-Berger as Harper's Boss * Michaela Polakovicova as Hooker * Ed Satterwhite as Crow's Posse * Jason Stapleton as Crow's Posse * Lubo Salater as Crow's Posse * Robert Ughoro as Caleb's Posse

Production

Director Pyun shot ''Urban Menace'' simultaneously with '' The Wrecking Crew'' and ''Corrupt'' in a derelict factory in

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russia, whic ...

, originally intending ''Urban Menace'' and ''The Wrecking Crew'' as sections of a single film; the producers decided to make two films. The budget only permitted two stuntmen, making deaths repetitive. Pyun often superimposed the stars' faces onto stand-ins. Half the finished film was lost in transit, requiring substitution of rough duplicate footage; large parts of ''Urban Menace'' are in black and white and the photography is often blurry.Douglas Pratt, ''Doug Pratt's DVD: Movies, Television, Music, Art, Adult, and More!'', New York: Harbor, 2004,
p. 1299

Reception

The film was regarded as low-quality; the DVD provides an option of skipping it and simply listening to Ice-T rapping. However, one critic praises the hip-hop and rap soundtrack and crisp sound effects.

References

External links

* * 1999 films Hood films Snoop Dogg video albums Films directed by Albert Pyun 1999 drama films 1990s English-language films 1990s American films {{1990s-drama-film-stub