Albert Hughes and Allen Hughes

Menace II Society

Menace II Society

Directors Albert and Allen Hughes and screenwriter Tyger Williams were barely into their twenties when they sent shock waves through American cinema and hip-hop culture with this fatalistic, unflinching vision of life and death on the streets of Watts, Los Angeles, in the 1990s. There, in the shadow of the riots of 1965 and 1992, young Caine (Tyrin Turner) is growing up under the influence of his ruthless, drug-dealing father (Samuel L. Jackson, in a chilling cameo) and his loose-cannon best friend, O-Dog (Larenz Tate), leading him into a spiral of violent crime from which he is not sure he wants to escape, despite the best efforts of his grandparents and the steadfast Ronnie (Jada Pinkett). Fusing grim realism with a propulsively stylish aesthetic honed through the Hughes brothers’ work on rap videos, Menace II Society is a searing cautionary tale about the devastating human toll of hopelessness.

Film Info

  • United States
  • 1993
  • 97 minutes
  • Color
  • 1.85:1
  • English
  • Spine #1105

Director-Approved 4K/UHD + Blu-Ray Special Edition Features

  • New 4K digital restoration of the directors’ cut of the film, supervised by director of photography Lisa Rinzler and codirector Albert Hughes, with 7.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
  • One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in Dolby Vision HDR and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
  • Original 2.0 surround soundtrack, presented in DTS-HD Master Audio
  • Two audio commentaries from 1993 featuring directors Albert and Allen Hughes
  • New selected-scene commentary featuring Rinzler
  • Gangsta Vision, a 2009 featurette on the making of the film
  • New conversation among Albert Hughes, screenwriter Tyger Williams, and film critic Elvis Mitchel
  • New conversation among Allen Hughes, actor and filmmaker Bill Duke, and Mitchell
  • Interview from 1993 with the directors
  • Music video from 1991 for 2Pac’s “Brenda’s Got a Baby,” directed by the Hughes brothers
  • Deleted scenes
  • Film-to-storyboard comparison
  • Trailer
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • PLUS: An essay by film critic Craig D. Lindsey

New cover by Drusilla Adeline/Sister Hyde

Purchase Options

Director-Approved 4K/UHD + Blu-Ray Special Edition Features

  • New 4K digital restoration of the directors’ cut of the film, supervised by director of photography Lisa Rinzler and codirector Albert Hughes, with 7.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
  • One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in Dolby Vision HDR and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
  • Original 2.0 surround soundtrack, presented in DTS-HD Master Audio
  • Two audio commentaries from 1993 featuring directors Albert and Allen Hughes
  • New selected-scene commentary featuring Rinzler
  • Gangsta Vision, a 2009 featurette on the making of the film
  • New conversation among Albert Hughes, screenwriter Tyger Williams, and film critic Elvis Mitchel
  • New conversation among Allen Hughes, actor and filmmaker Bill Duke, and Mitchell
  • Interview from 1993 with the directors
  • Music video from 1991 for 2Pac’s “Brenda’s Got a Baby,” directed by the Hughes brothers
  • Deleted scenes
  • Film-to-storyboard comparison
  • Trailer
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • PLUS: An essay by film critic Craig D. Lindsey

New cover by Drusilla Adeline/Sister Hyde

Menace II Society
Cast
Tyrin Turner
Caine
Jada Pinkett
Ronnie
Larenz Tate
O-Dog
Arnold Johnson
Grandpapa
MC Eiht
A-Wax
Marilyn Coleman
Grandmama
Vonte Sweet
Sharif
Clifton Powell
Chauncy
Glenn Plummer
Pernell
Bill Duke
Detective
Samuel L. Jackson
Tat Lawson
Charles S. Dutton
Mr. Butler
Ryan Williams
Stacy
June Kyoko Lu
Grocery store woman
Toshi Toda
Grocery store man
Khandi Alexander
Karen Lawson
Credits
Director
Albert Hughes
Director
Allen Hughes
Story by
Albert Hughes
Allen Hughes
Tyger Williams
Screenplay by
Tyger Williams
Produced by
Darin Scott
Coproducers
Albert Hughes
Allen Hughes
Tyger Williams
Executive producer
Kevin Moreton
Casting by
Tony Lee
Music by
QD III
Costume designer
Sylvia Vega-Vasquez
Production designer
Penny Barrett
Editor
Christopher Koefoed
Director of photography
Lisa Rinzler
Line producer
Michael Bennett

Current

Menace II Society: The Truth Hurts
Menace II Society: The Truth Hurts

With the candor and rage of many hip-hop albums of the nineties, the Hughes brothers’ controversial debut feature depicts Watts as a pitiless urban war zone with no exit.

By Craig D. Lindsey