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Sugar Hill
...and her zombie hit men
1974
Review: August 23, 2006
Director: Paul Maslansky
Starring: Marki Bey, Don Pedro Colley, Richard Lawson, Zara Culley, Larry D. Johnson
Big time.
THE SETUP:
Woman’s boyfriend is killed by the mafia. She summons the dead to help her get revenge.
DISCUSSION:
Thank God for this little company called Blax Films for releasing all these little forgotten blaxploitation movies that otherwise would have fallen through the cracks. I bought this one and Coonskin, this totally controversial animated film by Ralph Bakshi [Fritz the Cat] in the same day, and had two days worth of exciting entertainment ahead of me!
This one was originally released by AIP, and promised to combine blaxploitation with zombie movies, so obviously I was SO there. We begin with this voodoo ritual while we hear the theme song, “Supernatural Voodoo Woman,” by The Originals. The ritual turns out to be a show at this nightclub owned by Langston, this big cutie who has a white girlfriend named Diana. This is the only credit for the guy who played Langston, Larry D. Johnson, and it’s too bad, because he is niiice. Hmmm, I wish black guys still looked smooth like this, instead of the boring, monotonous thug look. Anyway, Some thugs [in the bad-guy sense] come into the club and want Langston to sell it to the mafia, but he refuses. Diana is worried, but he tells her that there’s nothing to worry about. Of course, within three minutes he is dead.
Now, I thought that since Diana is white that she was going to tell her sad story to Sugar Hill and Sugar would help her get revenge, so imagine my shock to discover that DIANA IS SUGAR HILL! Langston gave her the nickname. I of course spent the rest of the movie trying to determine what her race was. She has straight hair, and is VERY pale-skinned. At most she is perhaps Latina. I looked around and tried to find out more about the actress, but couldn’t really come up with much. So it’s a little like watching J. Lo as this blaxploitation heroine, which I a little disconcerting.
We then have a brief scene with the mafia, who has a black servant there polishing his shoes. The N-word is dropped with indiscretion, and when they talk about killing Langston, they say “that’s how we’re gonna do it from now on.” They make the servant agree that this is the best way, and generally use him as a humiliation toy.
Meanwhile, Sugar has gone to this overgrown house in the forest where loud animal noises are heard to seek Madame Maitresse [which had me saying “Madame Mattress?”], who turns out to be this older woman with crazy white hair who apparently holds several voodoo secrets. Sugar asks her to help her get revenge, and Maitresse agrees, but warns her that it could have consequences [and I’m like, “is this going to be like Pumpkinhead? Where getting revenge is going to destroy Sugar in the process?”]. They go way out into the forest where the snakes and the gators roam, where they meet Baron Samedi, this magical voodoo priest guy who is probably dead, and seems to be on loan from Live and Let Die. After the proffering of a few trinkets, Samedi agrees to help Sugar, and bids the dead “Awake!” and they all come out of their graves to work for her [which would make them something of a Sugar Hill Gang, I suppose]. One of the surprising revelations that this film brings to light is that the dead all have bulging silver eyes, not unlike half a ping-pong ball that has been spray-painted silver. I certainly was unaware of this fact. I thought zombies mostly had oatmeal on their faces and cardboard in their eyes, as seen in I Eat Your Skin.
The rest of the movie is basically just a series of sequences in which Sugar gets revenge on the various thugs who performed the killing at the beginning, but they are all handled with panache, and are fun to sit through. The first one to die is named Tank, which leads the main mobster to say, upon learning of his death: “some stoned-out hippie freak killed tank and the rest of them [his other mobsters] start acting like women.” Speaking of women, his moll Celeste, a leering vamp in the mold of Asley St. Ives from Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, does NOT seem to enjoy a relationship of equality and mutual respect with her gangster beau, who constantly responds to anything she says with comments of the “did I ask you to speak, bitch?” variety. Celeste, the hollowed-out, abused shell of a woman, is somehow all jealous of Sugar, who pretends to be coming on to her man in order to lure him to his death, and she an Sugar have a fight that involves everyone’s favorite weapon, the broken bottle. Mmmm, we like Celeste.
One of the fun aspects of the killings are that Baron Samedi is always around in different guises in each one, dressed as a construction worker or a cab driver, and I don’t know, I just found that amusing. There’s one part where one of the gangsters is just minding his own business when Samedi as a cab driver shows up and tells him the boss wants to see him. The gangster gets in the car, is driven to this field, and told to go walk into the woods, which might seem a bit suspicious to some, but not to our idiot gangster here. He is soon fed to pigs by Sugar, with the kiss-off line “I hope they like white trash.”
Meanwhile Sugar is also flirting with this police guy investigating the murders, played by Richard Lawson of Scream, Blacula, Scream, Get Christie Love, Black Fist, and The Main Event [and the father of Biana Lawson, the slayer from Buffy season two]. Adding to the amusement is the fact that neither the detective nor the gangsters have any idea that Sugar is behind the killings, so they are both free to consort with her and complain about the murders while she plays all innocent. HOW I wished we could have traded the less-attractive Richard for the sexy-sexy Langston, but alas, it was not meant to be. Oh and by the way, although the entire movie is built around Sugar getting revenge for her boyfriend’s death, she doesn’t seem very upset about it at any time, but especially not when she’s flirting with the detective or gangster.
SPOILERS > > >
The following are really only spoilers if you really thought there was a distinct possibility that Sugar might NOT get revenge on the main gangster. She does, somehow involving a giant chicken foot that moves around by itself, and finally she’s all done, and her army of the dead get to return to the ground. Celeste survives, but is carried off to be the lover of Baron Samedi. The difference between this movie and most movies of this ilk [like the aforementioned Pumpkinhead] is that Sugar pays no price for getting involved in dark supernatural forces or for pursuing the path of vengeance. Nope, she just gets her revenge and it all works out perfectly fine for her. The last shot of the movie is of her face in an expression of triumph.
< < < SPOILERS END
Overall, I really liked it. It was pure fun with lots of silly dialogue, ridiculous characters, neat violent set-ups, a sassy heroine, and the requisite ludicrous sets and outfits. Which is not even to mention zombies! Yes, Sugar Hill is the feel-good movie of 1974!
The kindly people over at Blax Films [word on the street is that these are bootlegs… well, good job anyway, guys!] usually see fit to include some related trailers and suchlike on their discs. This one had a trailer for Dr. Black and Mr. Hyde, which looks okay and features a sort of rap with very Dolemite-esque rhyming lyrics, followed by a trailer for, you guessed it, Dolemite. Anyway, if you like your blaxploitation fun and a little goofy, and if you believe that almost any movie can be improved with the addition of zombies, Sugar Hill may be exactly what you’re looking for.
SHOULD YOU WATCH IT?
Yes!
