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Sugar Hill (vhs) [1984] (blaxploitation)

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Sugar Hill (1974)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072225/

Also Known As (AKA)
Die schwarzen Zombies von Sugar Hill West Germany
Sugar Hill - Eine mörderische Karriere West Germany
Sugar Hill - voodoo-kuningatar Finland
The Zombies of Sugar Hill
Voodoo Girl

Sugar Hill is a 1974 zombie film released by AIP, who had previously combined the horror and blaxploitation genres with Blacula and its sequel, Scream Blacula Scream.

Rapper MF Doom samples several audio clips from the film under his alias King Geedorah on the album Take Me to Your Leader.

Marki Bey ... Diana Hill
Robert Quarry ... Morgan
Don Pedro Colley ... Baron Samedi
Betty Anne Rees ... Celeste
Richard Lawson ... Valentine
Zara Cully ... Mama Maitresse
Charles Robinson ... Fabulous (as Charles P. Robinson)
Larry D. Johnson ... Langston
Rick Hagood ... Tank Watson
Ed Geldart ... O'Brien
Albert J. Baker ... George
Raymond E. Simpson ... King (as Raymond E. Simpson III)
Truman C. Carroll ... Baker
'Big Walter' Price ... Preacher
Charles Krohn ... Captain Merrill



THE GIST
The year 1974 was an interesting period in the history of horror and cult films. It saw the release of many now-iconic titles that ranged from the archetypal The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Black Christmas, to a series of unconventional films that included Mel Brooks' Blazing Saddles, Jonathan Demme’s Caged Heat, the French softcore sex romp Emmanuelle, John Waters’ Female Trouble and many more strange and offbeat cinematic experiences.

All of these films shared the similar idea of showing audiences subject matter and concepts that had not really been seen before onscreen. It was a semi-renaissance of new and experimental films that focused on new (often graphic) ways to depict the themes of comedy, violence and sex. An interesting style that began to become more prevalent was the meshing of different genres. In the case of Blazing Saddles, audiences had certainly seen comedic Westerns before but not one that mixed together politically incorrect jokes, scatological humor and broad parodies of other films. Another imaginative “mash-up” of popular genres was the high concept action thriller The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires; in this, the Hammer horror iconography was combined with the increasingly popular “kung fu” craze sparked by the international appeal of Enter the Dragon, which was released a year earlier in 1973.

This combining of film genres was obviously apparent in Sugar Hill (1974), a supernatural thriller with “blaxploitation" elements. Certainly black-themed horror films were anything but new after the appearances of Blacula (1972) and Blackenstein (1973) a few years earlier. However, it’s noteworthy that Sugar Hill was ahead of the curve in making zombies the real heroes of the piece.

At the time, American horror films featuring zombies were rare with the exception of Night of the Living Dead (1968) which was still in distribution after six years. Otherwise, you'd have to look to Europe for movies about the living dead such as the Spanish-produced Tombs of the Blind Dead (1971). Also, the “blaxploitation” craze was still in full swing by 1974 with the early 1970s having been witness to the action thrillers of Shaft (1971), Superfly (1972), The Mack (1973), Coffy (1973) and Cleopatra Jones (1973). So, the combination of zombies and a "Blaxploitation" gangster drama was a novel concoction.

Sugar Hill is the story of Diana Hill (Marki Bey), a beautiful young woman whose boyfriend is murdered by a group of gangsters. Devastated and driven by revenge, Diana seeks out the services of the mysterious voodoo priestess, Mama Maitresse (Zara Cully). Together Diana and Mama perform a strange ritual and call upon the menacing presence of Baron Samedi (Don Pedro Colley) and his squad of undead minions. It’s at this point that Diana begins leading a double life - that of Diana, fashion photographer, and the other as “Sugar” Hill, executioner of her lover’s murderers. One by one, Sugar and her zombie crew begin killing off the men in a variety of bizarre ways. Eventually, she goes one on one with the king boss criminal, Morgan (Robert Quarry), in a final act of retribution.

Sugar Hill is an uncomplicated and entertaining example of drive-in fare from the early seventies. The film seems to take a page from the classic EC Comics of the 1950s (Tales from the Crypt, etc.) in its comic book presentation of characters, dialogue and revenge-driven plot, a common storyline in horror comics. The zombies themselves are extremely effective with their bulging, silver eyes, dangling chains and machetes - all of it topped off by their eerie, grinning faces. Even the dated seventies' fashions, hairstyles and set design add to the enjoyment and one of the key pleasures is watching our main character transform from the sweet, mild-mannered Diana with her soft, straight hair to the more outrageous Sugar Hill in her bell-bottomed white pantsuit and large afro hairstyle.

The villains are a rogue’s gallery of clichéd crime characters headed up by horror film veteran Robert Quarry as the bloated and despicable Morgan. His cronies are a typical assortment of interchangeable thugs that even includes a pandering black character (named Fabulous) who is often painful to watch. Capping off this comic book crew is Celeste (Betty Anne Rees), Morgan’s subservient and viciously racist girlfriend. However, one can’t really take the entire proceedings too seriously since all the villainous characters are such extreme slimeballs that the audience begins rooting for their inevitable, well-deserved “just desserts”.

Sugar Hill fit in quite nicely with the other odd-beat films released in 1974. It offered something different and unexpected than the usual voodoo-zombie thriller stereotype. However, once George Romero’s Dawn of the Dead hit screens in 1978, the entire identity and modus operandi of zombies were changed forever. Perhaps one day, horror filmmakers will revisit the idea of the zombie-gangster mash-up approach seen in Sugar Hill.

BEHIND THE SCENES
According to the publicity provided in the Sugar Hill press book, actress Marki Bey “researched her part among various voodoo cults in and around the L.A. environs; thereby acquiring the proper authoritative menace to make her role as a voodoo high priestess believable.”

Actor Don Pedro Colley also did extensive research in the voodoo practices from Haiti for his role as Baron Samedi. According to Colley, “This character was based more or less on the actual voodoo character that comes from Haiti…Papa Legre, who is all powerful, all omnipotent. Throughout the voodoo culture Papa Legre is the one single heavyweight dude.”

According to director Paul Maslansky, executive producer Samuel Z. Arkoff gave him $125,000 to “make a black exploitation picture…a black, funny horror picture.” Sugar Hill was shot in approximately three weeks during a blistering summer in Houston, Texas.

The voodoo museum that the character of Valentine (Richard Lawson) visits is one of the branches of the Houston Public Library. The building is a registered historical landmark and was built in the 1920s.

The performers playing the zombies in Sugar Hill wore ping pong balls cut in half over their eyes, creating the cartoonish, yet eerie effect. Other sources say the eyes were created with broken-off spoon halves.

Rumor has it that the afro-style hairdo worn by the character Diana Hill during the zombie attack sequences was because Marki Bey didn’t look “black enough” while wearing her hair flat and relaxed.

Robert Quarry recalled the making of Sugar Hill in a "Psychotronic Video" interview in 2000: "It was such camp. The producer and the director (Paul Maslansky) were both white, and, of course, it was an all-black movie. They had a black actor set for the part, but they got rid of him, and Sam [Arkoff of AIP] sent me in to take the part. So I walked in as 'Mr. Whitey' to play the head of the Mafia in Houston, which is where they shot it. I didn't give a sh*t. They paid me. And during the shoot, my rich white friends in Houston wouldn't call me because they thought I'd bring somebody black to lunch with me. The racism was that subtle. [laughs] And, of course, they hired so many blacks for the movie, and here I was saying things like 'n*gger' and 'jig' and 'jungle bunny.' [laughs] The extras who weren't actors were going to kill me because they thought I was a big racist. But I won them over eventually. And we all laughed so hard. I'd tell them all on the set, 'Okay, easy fellas, get ready because I'm going to see the 'n' word again." [laughs]

by Eric Weber

Sources:
The American International Picture Sugar Hill press book, 1974.
Laughing and Screaming: An Interview with Producer Paul Maslansky by Brian Albright, “Shock Cinema” number 31, August 2006.
Don Pedro Colley, interview by Justin Humphreys, “Psychotronic Video” number 31, 1999.
Robert Quarry, interview by Anthony Petkovich, "Psychotronic Video" number 33, 2000
IMDB.com



Producer: Samuel Z. Arkoff, Elliot Schick
Director: Paul Maslansky
Screenplay: Tim Kelly
Cinematography: Robert Jessup
Film Editing: Carl Kress
Music: Dino Fekaris, Nick Zesses
Cast: Marki Bey (Diana Hill), Robert Quarry (Morgan), Don Pedro Colley (Baron Samedi), Betty Anne Rees (Celeste), Richard Lawson (Lt. Valentine), Zara Cully (Mama Maitresse).
C-91m.

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