Sugar Hill

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.

"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.

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.

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" 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.