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Sugar Hill is that rare mixture of 70's blaxploitation and horror that started in movies like Blacula, Scream Blacula Scream, Blackenstein, and others. It is a pretty neat little film with some good horror sequences of zombies in graveyards and zombies administering revenge. The revenge is based on a woman who loses her boyfriend to thugs wanting to buy his business. He is beat to death and Marki Bey(who by the way is VERY easy to look at)seeks the help of an old voodoo woman(played by the woman that played Mrs. Jefferson on the Jeffersons)that helps her reach the spirit world. She sells her soul for the help of the zombies. The next part of the film deals with the revenge sequences for each individual in the mafia-like gang. The murders are chilling, well-executed(no pun intended), and have a pinch of humour as well. The acting is decent for this kind of film. Vampire star Robert Quarry, having to fill a contract obligation, plays the heavy with his usual charm and wit. The scenery and sets are very good too, but remember this is the 70's...the music is something and the clothes are like WoW! All in all a good zombie flick.

"Sugar Hill" has a lot of what made "Foxy Brown" so compelling, but adds an interesting plot device for a novel twist. I've seen lots of black gangster films where black heroes (and anti-heroes) get over on The Man and The Establishment, but "Sugar Hill" is the only film I've seen where horror monsters (as opposed to gun-play and car chases) are the vehicle for social justice. Of course, there could be others. I don't get out much. (And no, I don't count "Zombie Nightmare", which is a vanity project, not a movie.)

The heroine of the story loses her man to the predations of the local Mob when the Mob moves in on their nightclub. In order to exact revenge, she manages to contact a local voodoo cult (because in this film's social milieu, all black people in the South maintain contact with their pagan cult roots, don'chaknow) and convince them to aid her cause. Hilarity ensues.

On the plus side: the makeup effects for the zombies were novel and extremely effective - I've never seen any other film use 'brass eyes and cobwebs' effects and bluish "bad skin" tints like this. Someone did a wonderful job coaching the extras on how to be convincing as cold, soulless, remorseless, shambling piles of ex-humanity. And they are framed and filmed and lighted in setups out of your worst nightmares. The setups for each of the revenge scenes are well done, and there is a lot of variety in the scenarios, as well as some macabre humor - the 'death by massage therapy' scene managed to be both funny and appalling at the same time, which is a great trick.

Also on the plus side: The actress playing Sugar is very striking and carries the movie effortlessly. She's convincingly merciless and cold as she delivers judgment on each of her foes, and obviously relishes her revenge. The actor playing Samedi seems familiar; I think he shilled for "7-Up" some years ago. He's got a wonderful, deep, rich patois that resonates in the viewers' solar plexus. His sadistic glee and delight in the suffering and terror he inspires in his prey is enough to make you seriously considering defecting to the ranks of the "voodoun."

On the minus side: Once Sugar gets the voodoo revenge ball rolling, it's just too damned easy for her - there is no struggle, or suspense at all. In "Foxy Brown", the heroine suffers rape and beatings and humiliation before she turns the tide on her enemies, and it makes the story more compelling because of it. Even in a Jim Brown "Slaughter" film, Jim had to sweat some to win the day. For that matter, Bruce Lee took some serious hits in his various fights for justice and revenge. But here, the Mob guys are dumb as toast and go down before the voodoo onslaught like mice under a field mower.That turns the film from a heroic struggle to an exercise in righteous sadism against a bunch of mannequins.

And traditionally in films and literature, if the protagonist messes with "Dark Forces" to exact their revenge, they have to pay a price themselves. But Samedi just goes out and tears Sugar's foes apart like an obedient supernatural Pit Bull and it doesn't cost her a thing, at least not overtly. The protagonist's desire for revenge and/or justice is much more convincing if the story shows them paying a real price to achieve it. So again, the film is less than it could be; instead of making Sugar Hill's story a tale of revenge no matter the cost, it becomes an plodding exercise in vicarious power fantasy and butt-kicking.

But still, it's a powerful experience, if only due to the fortunate accident of the makeup and the charisma of the two lead black actors. I'm glad I managed to catch it on Showtime, and if I ever see it on DVD for a reasonable price, I'll probably pick it up for my collection.

Langston (Larry D. Johnson) is the owner of a successful nightclub and he proposes his girlfriend, the photographer Diana "Sugar" Hill (Marki Bey), to get married with him. However the kingpin Morgan (Robert Quarry) and his henchmen kill Morgan when he does not accept his offer to sell the nightclub. Sugar Hill seeks out the voodoo priestess Mama Maitresse (Zara Cully) to revenge the death of her beloved Langston. Mama summons the Lord of the Dead, Baron Samedi (Don Pedro Colley), who offers a horde of zombies to Sugar Hill take revenge. In return, she offers her soul to him. She lures Morgan while his gangsters are murdered one by one by the zombies. Meanwhile his former boyfriend, Detective Valentine (Richard Lawson), investigates the gruesome deaths of Morgan´s mobsters and suspects that the killer is using voodoo to kill them.

"Sugar Hill" is a funny and cult low-budget zombie film with Blaxploitation to the best. The plot is highly entertaining and the make-up is great, with creepy zombies with half- Ping-Pong ball on each eye. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Os Zumbis de Sugar Hill" ("Sugar Hill´s Zombies")

Sugar Hill is an entertaining voodoo zombie flick from 1974. A club owner in New Orleans is murdered and his wife Sugar goes to a voodoo woman to conjure up Baron Samedi the voodoo revenger. Sugar and the Baron, and the Baron's zombies, go after the mafia kingpin (same guy who played Count Yorga, Vampire) and his henchmen on a bloody trail of voodoo revenge. The Baron even poses as a taxi driver to lure an unsuspecting victim to his fate. Where did Baron Samedi learn to drive a car in the kingdom of the dead? Just wondering.

I am a huge horror movie fan. I have seen a lot of zombie movies and a lot of movies like Blacula. I liked Blacula and I liked Sugar Hill also. They are both more like comedy than horror. But that is what the film makers intended I'm sure. Over-the-top craziness. There is very little gore in his movie so the makers were not going for shock value. They did a good job creating interesting and colorful characters as the protagonists and antagonists. The zombies are well-done, unique, and very creepy-looking. This movie is just a lot of fun. Recommended.

1974's "Sugar Hill" marked the end of Robert Quarry's brief horror stardom beginning with 1970's "Count Yorga Vampire" (a total of 6 features), although he worked continuously in smaller roles in lower budgeted films. In the early 70's, AIP maintained its policy of old fashioned horror, all PG titles, even after the departure of James H. Nicholson, the ideas man, leaving Samuel Z. Arkoff, the financier and distributor, alone in charge. The 2 Count Yorga films were profitable, as were the Blaculas, and other black-themed takes on familiar subjects arrived, like this one here, plucked from obscurity (like "The House on Skull Mountain") by recent showings on Turner Classic Movies. Zombies and voodoo no longer go together in this age of flesh eating Romero copies, but provide all the intrigue in a script filled with clichéd characters and dialogue. Marki Bey stars in the title role, turning to voodoo to avenge the beating death of her fiancée by the hired goons of crime boss Morgan (Quarry), complete with Southern accent and horny moll (Betty Anne Rees, a prior victim in 1972's "Deathmaster"). Betty and Marki even engage in a catfight, ala Pam Grier, a nice touch considering neither would continue acting much longer. Richard Lawson ("Scream Blacula Scream") pads out the running time in a dead end investigation that fails to stop the bloodless carnage carried out by the walking dead, ancestral slaves still in shackles, lifeless eyes covered in creepy webs. Easily the real standout is Don Pedro Colley, a far cry from his restrained performance in 1970's "Beneath the Planet of the Apes," playing the role of Baron Samedi, leader of the dead, a part essayed one year before by Geoffrey Holder in the James Bond thriller "Live and Let Die." Among the supporting cast, the lone familiar face is top henchman Charles Robinson, who appeared in ROOTS:THE NEXT GENERATIONS, before landing a co-starring role on NIGHT COURT. Director Paul M. Maslansky was no stranger to horror, having first worked with Michael Reeves and Christopher Lee on 1964's "The Castle of the Living Dead," mostly as a producer. AIP continued to have hits for the remainder of the 70's ("The Food of the Gods," "The Amityville Horror"), but never really latched on to the genre's changes escalated by "The Exorcist," and by 1980, Sam Arkoff had sold out, the company renamed Filmways, continuing to churn out hits ("Dressed to Kill"). By that time, the blaxploitation era was already long gone, waiting to be rediscovered.

When her boyfriend is brutally murdered, after refusing to be shaken down by the local gangsters running their protection racket, Sugar Hill (Marki Bey), decides to call upon the help of aged voodoo queen Mama Maitresse; Sugar entreats her to call upon Baron Zamedi, the Lord of the Dead, for help in gaining a gruesome revenge.

Whether or not this is a blaxploitation horror film, I have no idea. There is definitely a theme of the black heroine (a poor man's Pam Grier) taking on white crooks. And the police detective has a pretty impressive fro going on. But the line between blaxploitation and a film that just happens to have black stars is a blurry one in the 1970s...

What I do know is that this is a fun picture from Sam Arkoff and AIP. Not particularly scary and never taking itself too seriously, we get about half a dozen people attacked (one at a time) by a zombie horde. And these are real zombies -- the voodoo kind -- not those flesh-eating zombies that have taken over the horror world today.

Not the best film, not the worst, but definitely one that probably gets overlooked too often and is worth a peek for those who are into the voodoo zombies and already saw the bigger name films like "White Zombie" or "Serpent and the Rainbow". I get the impression that this film was an influence on Adam Green's "Hatchet" series, though that may just be my imagination.

Interestingly, despite being made after George Romero's "Night of the Living Dead", this film finds its roots more in the racially-inspired zombies of the 1940s and 1950s. Namely "King of the Zombies" (1941), "I Walked With a Zombie" (1943) and "Zombies of Mora Tau" (1957).

My rating of 4 is less because of the entertainment value of this film and more because of the overall cheesiness of the production. Quite often, the acting and writing are quite poor. Yet, despite all its deficiencies, it's still well worth seeing because it's fun--a definite guilty pleasure.

This is a relatively famous Blaxploitation film from the early to mid 1970s, though the film isn't as racy compared to many examples in the genre. While having some themes similar to such films as COFFEY and FOXY BROWN, this one features no nudity--a relative rarity for the genre. Also, while it is violent (as would be most zombie movies), this one is probably appropriate for teens. The best way to describe the film is like a combination of COFFEY, DR. PHIBES and BLACULA--an odd combination to say the least! The film begins with Sugar and her boyfriend enjoying a night out at his nightclub. Unfortunately, some scum sent by Mr. Big has come to make the guy an offer he can't refuse. However, he does refuse and is sent to the big nightclub in the sky.

Sugar isn't exactly Pam Grier, so instead of just taking the law into her own hands and killing the muthas, she enlists the aid of an old voodoo priestess (Zara Cully--'Mama Jefferson' from THE JEFFERSONS). Using the powers of darkness, they call upon Baron Samedi (that's the word for 'Saturday' in French). Samedi is a very obliging god of the underworld and agrees to help Sugar exact revenge on the mob. Some of the deaths are pretty lame (such as the knife and pig deaths), but some are very creative and creepy--and reminiscent of the great murders in the Dr. Phibes films.

While this plot is very silly, fortunately the folks from American-International Pictures didn't take it all too seriously. The film definitely has a sense of humor and because of this the film is curiously watchable even more than 30 years later.

PS--Aside from Ms. Cully, you may also recognize Mr. Big as Robert Quarry--the same actor who played a vampire in the Count Yorga films and dozens of other films since. Also, the very prolific actor Richard Lawson was also in the film--proving that this film was not the end to either of their careers!!

PPS--Baron Samedi is a REAL character from Haitian voodoo and is an awful lot like the character in this film. I looked it up and was shocked to see that this film didn't create this character!!

Marki Bey stars as a foxy lady, named Diana "Sugar" Hill. Her handsome prince fiancé, Langston, owns a Voodoo-themed night club in the deep south. The club is so successful, that the local mobster, Mr. Morgan, wants to pressure Langston into selling the club to him. When Langston refuses, Morgan's thugs beat Langston to death, in the parking lot of the club.

Consumed with anguish and thoughts of vengeance, Sugar decides to take matters into her own hands. She seeks out an elderly Voodoo priestess, named Mama Maitresse. Sugar explains to her, that she needs Mama's help, via her Voodoo powers. Mama Maitresse conjures up the ruler of the dead, Baron Zamedi. He then summons an army of Zombies, who were all former slaves, to help Sugar dispatch Langston's killers, one-by-one.

Marki Bey can certainly compete in the looks department, with that other 70s Blaxploitation goddess, Pam Grier. Ms. Bey is completely convincing as the grief-stricken Sugar, who is determined to settle the score with Morgan and his henchmen.

Robert Quarry's performance as the suave yet vicious Morgan, is pulled-off well. But it's not Quarry's most compelling role. He was much more charismatic, in his past performances in his Vampire films. So if you're a Robert Quarry fan, be forewarned that he doesn't shine that brightly, in this film.

Betty Anne Rees plays Morgan's racist, sex-starved girlfriend, Celeste. Betty Anne has a natural talent for portraying licentious, dangerous characters, with malicious intent. Her wicked-looking, gleaming gray eyes, make your blood run cold. Celeste is a particularly vile character, and Sugar exacts exquisitely appropriate revenge on her, in this film. Viewers will be cheering at Celeste's utter comeuppance, orchestrated by Sugar and the zombies.

Don Pedro Colley as Baron Samedi, gives an over-the-top performance. Don really chews-up the scenery, emoting like mad. You can tell that he really enjoys his role, as Baron Samedi. The other actors give mostly wooden performances. Especially Richard Lawson's portrayal of Valentine, the cop who was also Sugar's former love interest.

Like virtually all the films of the Blaxploitation genre, Sugar Hill's main thrust is revenge. Only a tiny handful of 70s Blaxploitation films, worked horror into their plot-lines. Of those, Sugar Hill stands out from the rest of the bunch. For fans of 70s Blaxploitation films, Sugar Hill delivers the goods.

"Diana 'Sugar' Hill" (Marki Bey) is in love with a man named "Langston" (Larry Don Johnson) who happens to own a nightclub in Louisiana called "Club Haiti" which the local mob boss "Morgan" (Robert Quarry) wants to buy. But Langston doesn't want to sell. So Morgan has Langston beaten to death. Seeking revenge Sugar Hill goes to the local voodoo priestess,"Mama Maitresse" (Zara Cully) who summons the evil "Lord of the Dead" named "Baron Samedi" (Don Pedro Colley). Sugar Hill offers Baron Samedi her soul if he will help her kill those responsible for the death of her boyfriend. He agrees and summons an army of zombies to do her bidding. At any rate, rather than spoil the film for those who haven't seen it, I will stop right here and go no further on the plot. I will say, however, that Marki Bey was pretty and performed quite well. Additionally, while I didn't care for the way Baron Samedi was initially presented, I began to enjoy the performance of Don Pedro Colley more as the film went on. All things considered, I thought that this was a pretty good zombie film.

I guess for the 70s it was the best they could do,but, it was still pitiful! This movie had some the worst acting,and makeup I have EVER seen! It was a great comedy though it was meant to be a horror movie!

Sugar Hill stars the delectable Marki Bey as Diana 'Sugar' Hill, foxy girlfriend of Langston, owner of the successful Club Haiti. When Langston is kicked to death by a gang of thugs for refusing to sell his business to greedy gangster Morgan (Robert Quarry), Sugar enlists the help of wizened voodoo priestess Mama Maitresse (Zara Cully) to avenge her man, summoning voodoo Lord of the Dead Baron Samedi (Don Pedro Colley) and an army of silver-eyed zombies to terrorise and kill those responsible.

Directed by Paul Maslansky, producer of the Police Academy series, blaxploitation/zombie film Sugar Hill ain't exactly a 'classic' of either genre, lacking the grittiness to be found in many a blaxploitation movie and missing the outrageous gore of many a zombie flick. That said, the film is still plenty fun: the lovely Bey provides the eye candy, looking fab while wearing some truly funky outfits and switching her hairstyle back and forth from straightened to afro with ease; Colley is great hamming it up as Samedi, rolling his eyes and grinning malevolently in a variety of guises; there's a welcome cat fight between Sugar and trashy mob girl Celeste (Betty Anne Rees); the seventies fashions are hilarious (check out the scalloped lapels on Langston's sparkly jacket!); and who can't help but be entertained by the gloriously un-PC slurring from both sides? The dated racial insults fly thick and fast, making it unsurprising to find that a R2 release of this film has yet to happen.

6.5 out of 10, rounded up to 7 for the disembodied chicken leg attack-you don't see that every day (unless you happen to watch this film every day, which is unlikely).

I did watch it and although I thought it wouldn't, it kept my attention. However, the above user and tagline are incorrect. She doesn't sell her soul if you recall where she makes the bargain with Baron. The white girl is her payment to him, for now. When she offered her soul remember he laughs and says "what do I want/need with a soul, I have something else in mind". That being said, I wonder what happened to her. She seemed like she had the looks for the time, although she wasn't even 30 yet when she filmed that yet she looked quite a bit older.

Blaxploitation zombie horror. Sugar Hill's (Marki Bey) boyfriend is beaten up and killed by Morgan's (Robert Quarry) thugs who had tried and failed to persuade the boyfriend to sell his club. Sugar wants revenge and approaches voodoo queen Mama Maitresse who brings forth Baron Samedi who raises up zombies to do Sugar's - who gets increasingly Pam Grier as the film progresses - violent bidding.

Absolute tosh, but fun late night horror tosh. The effects are as you would expect as is most of the scenery chewing acting. The dialogue is hilarious with Count Yorga regular Robert Quarry, the only one who seems to have taken an acting class. Strangely free of gore.

PS Interesting how much of this, including a number of scenes, is so reminiscent of the previous year's Bond movie 'Live and Let Die'.

There's a certain charm here even though the make up is goofy, the pace is slow, and the story formulaic. It's nice to see the voodoo stuff played with and the killing of whitey quotient is high enough that it works for the audience. Not great, but not terrible either.

I wish I'd get a nickel for every horror movie I watch starting with an occult voodoo ritual during the opening credits! If that were the case, I'd be rich myself instead of spending all that precious money on purchasing obscure movies! Although, in all honesty, I have to admit that the voodoo mumbo-jumbo at the start of "Sugar Hill" is merely just a staged act, set up in a groovy establishment called Club Haiti owned by a black businessman and located in the middle of a mafia-infested city with a white guy at the top of the crime ladder. As you can derive already from this two-line synopsis intro, "Sugar Hill" is a Blaxsploitation horror effort, like the contemporary blockbusters "Blackenstein" and "Blacula", only with voodoo spells and zombies this time. The owner of Club Haiti gets killed for not giving in to the mafia's blackmail, but his left behind wife Sugar, nicknamed like this because she is – and I quote – looks as sweet as sugar tastes, plots a virulent revenge. She seeks help with a voodoo priestess and together they head out to a swamp to resurrect an army of black zombies to fight the mafia.

The summoning of Voodoo God Baron Samedi is quite a preposterous but hysterically entertaining sequence as the guy (Don Pedro Colley) turns out to be a prototypic pimp from the hood who literally screams out to all his dead servants to awake and emerge from their burial grounds. Awesome! This scene alone was enough reason to make "Sugar Hill" my brand new favorite Blaxsploitation movie of all time! Subsequently all the obnoxious white villains get what they deserved: imaginative and violent deaths inflicted by black zombies – illegally buried victims of slavery – with swollen eyeballs and covered in dirt and cobwebs. Like Baron Samedi marvelously states, they should be put to evil use because it's all they ever knew. "Sugar Hill" is a fast-paced and ultimately swinging 70's flick; guaranteed entertainment for all experienced freaks of obscure cult horror. Lead actress Marki Bey doesn't play in the same league as her fellow exploitation heroines Pam Grier or Tamara Dobson, but she's certainly a genuine foxy lady with sexual charisma to boot and far above average acting capacities. She also has a couple of cool witty one-liners to make when she gets rid of yet another opponent, like when she feeds one of the mobsters to a bunch of filthy pigs and murmurs the phrase "Talk about white trash…". The Caucasian baddies are pretty terrific too – especially Robert Quarry – and it's a joy to listen to their chauvinistic and misogynist dialogs. The make-up effects on the zombies are deliciously outrageous and the coolness-factor of the actors is simply immeasurable. The aforementioned Don Pedro Colley depicts a voodoo guru, but he plays pool like a real badass MF. The only things missing in order to make "Sugar Hill" a true masterpiece are a groovier soundtrack (the music is a bit of a letdown) and a bit of sleaze. Otherwise, the coolest Blaxploitation flick out there to discover!

I enjoyed this movie even though I don't like voodoo flicks. It was a fun spin in a genre that came in and out in the blink of any eye.