SugarHill

Sugar Hill (1974)

A woman turns to voodoo to get revenge when her boyfriend it killed by the mob after refusing to give up his successful nightclub to them. Diana “Sugar” Hill seeks out an old family friend Mama Maitresse, who is a powerful voodoo priestess. With her help they summon Baron Samedi, a powerful god that controls the undead. With his undead “army” of zombies Hill takes revenge on the mobsters responsible for her loves death. One at a time the all suffer horrible fates, but will she finish before they or the police figure out what is going on?

This movie has just about everything that you could ask for. The story is entertaining and interesting, which makes for a very enjoyable time. All of the characters are fun, including the “bad guys” who are without any good qualities and all come to well deserved fates. The movie also serves as a cool “snapshot” of the 70s with the slang, clothes and music. The cast does a great job in their roles. Marki Bey is excellent as Sugar Hill and it is surprising and a little bit disappointing that she didn’t much of anything after this movie. Robert Quarry (Count Yorga movies) is perfect as the ruthless mob boss Morgan. He brings just the right amount of menace to the role and is a perfect foil to Bey’s Hill character. Also look for a young Charles Robinson (Night Court, The Black Gestapo) as the mob’s token black member.

The effects in Sugar Hill range from simple but effective to sort of cheesy and low rent. The zombies look pretty damn good with some very simple stage makeup. The shots of them rising from their graves is effective and a bit scary. I think the over abundance of cobwebs on bodies from the ground looks a bit silly, but overall they look cool. At the same time a fog machine and mirrors are used to create the “entrance” of Baron Samedi. Basically you get some fog blown in from off frame, some strange reflected light and the actor jumping onto screen. A bit cheesy, but then it sort of fits this movie so I can’t really complain that much. The kills are all bloodless and off-screen, which was somewhat disappointing, but again it really doesn’t kill the overall coolness of the movie.

This is without a doubt the best fusion of Blaxsploitation and horror that I’ve seen and replaces Scream Blacula Scream as my favorite. Sure some parts of the movie were clearly done on the cheap, but it doesn’t hurt the film at all and didn’t take away from the fun that is Sugar Hill. I highly recommend this movie to everyone, especially fans of exploitation, blaxsploitation, and low budget horror films.

3 ½ out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer