Sugar Hill (1974) American International/Horror-Action RT: 91 minutes Rated PG (language, violence, racial epithets) Director: Paul Maslansky Screenplay: Tim Kelly Music: Dino Fekaris and Nick Zesses Cinematography: Robert Jessup Release date: February 7, 1974 (US) Cast: Marki Bey, Robert Quarry, Don Pedro Colley, Betty Anne Rees, Richard Lawson, Zara Cully, Charles P. Robinson, Larry D. Johnson, Rick Hagood, Ed Geldart, Albert J. Baker, Raymond E. Simpson III, Thomas C. Carroll, Big Walter Price, Charles Krohn. Box Office: N/A
Rating: ***
Not to be confused with the 1994 Wesley Snipes crime drama of the same name, the 1974 blaxploitation action-horror movie Sugar Hill is great campy fun! Where else are you going to find jive-talking black dudes and honest-to-God zombies in the same movie not to mention an old voodoo priestess played by Mother Jefferson? It has all the signs of a B-movie classic. I never heard of it until a couple of years ago. I immediately knew it was right up my alley. Thankfully, Sugar Hill did not disappoint. It’s the kind of movie that begs to be seen in one of those grimy urban grindhouse theaters where you gamble with your life when you buy a ticket. I had to settle for my unvaccumed living room.
Langston (Johnson, Street Tales of Terror) runs a popular nightclub in New Orleans. When he refuses to sell it, mob boss Morgan (Quarry, Count Yorga) has him killed. His fashion photographer girlfriend Diana “Sugar” Hill (Bey, The Landlord) decides to exact justice in her own way. She visits voodoo queen Mama Maitresse (Zara Cully) at her mansion in the Bayou. The old woman summons the voodoo lord of the dead, the top hat-sporting Baron Samedi (Colley, THX 1138). He, in turn, raises his own zombie army from their unmarked graves. They help Sugar take down the hoods that killed her man. The gruesome murders are investigated by Lt. Valentine (Lawson, Poltergeist) who happens to be Sugar’s ex-boyfriend.
Although initially treated as a gang war, Valentine becomes convinced that voodoo is somehow involved. Morgan thinks the same thing and has his guys hit the streets for information. The only problem is they end up dead soon thereafter. And man, they die in awful ways. One guy is decapitated. Another is eaten alive by starving pigs. One fellow gets locked in a coffin filled with rattlesnakes. Another is strangled by zombies in a massage parlor. Somebody drowns in quicksand. The worst fate is saved for Morgan’s bigoted mistress Celeste (Rees, The Unholy Rollers). Let’s just say it’s a more-than-fitting punishment for a racist piece of white trash.
Modern audiences have become accustomed to zombies that eat the flesh of the living and/or run. They’re not so much undead beings than they are infected with some virus. The zombies in Sugar Hill are the traditional kind seen in the voodoo horror flicks from the 30s and 40s- e.g. I Walked with a Zombie (1943). They’re dirty and covered with cobwebs. They have silver balls for eyes and sport machetes. They don’t shuffle mindlessly like George A. Romero’s zombies. They’re really cool looking. I’d even say they’re almost scary in a late, late show kind of way.
I watched Sugar Hill with a big goofy grin on my face. I’m well aware it’s trash but it’s the good kind of trash. Directed by Paul Maslansky (producer of the Police Academy movies), it’s surprisingly well-made meaning it doesn’t look cheap despite its miniscule $350K budget. Marki Bey is totally bad ass in it. She’s pretty hot too. She wears her hair long through most of the movie except when she confronts one of her boyfriend’s killers. In those scenes, she has a Pam Grier-like Afro. She also has a cool catfight with Celeste in her club. I got a real kick out of the voodoo expert Valentine consults; the dude looks just like Mr. Whipple from the old Charmin commercials. I kept waiting for him to say, “Please don’t squeeze the voodoo doll.” Oh yeah, the guy who plays Morgan’s token black henchman Fabulous is none other than Charles Robinson who would go on to play Mac in the 80s sitcom Night Court.
Sugar Hill is creepy, funny, sleazy, sexy and slightly surreal. The actors really camp it up, especially Ms. Cully. They are perfectly in sync with the movie’s tongue-in-cheek spirit. In my opinion, it’s one of the best blaxploitation flicks EVER. I can easily see it showing on a triple bill with Blacula and Blackenstein. It’s ideal for midnight viewing.
