Sugar Hill
 aka
Voodoo Girl
 aka
Zombies of Sugar Hill
© 1974N/A
Rated N/A91min
RATINGS
Scarabus
Email Scarabus at DrScarabus@webtv.net


Marki Bey, Don Pedro Colley, Robert Quarry, Richard Lawson, Zara Cully, Betty Anne Rees, Charles Robinson


Plot:
The owner of a popular nightclub in Louisiana is beaten to death after refusing to sell out to the local crime boss. His attractive girlfriend Diana (Sugar) Hill who works as a fashion photographer, decides to call upon the voodoo powers of her ancient grandmother, Mama Maitresse to exact her vengeance. Mama Maitresse summons the King of Graveyards, the voodoo god Baron Sameldi and the fun begins as he calls forth his army of the dead!


Review:
This was part of the series of films done in the 1970's by American International Pictures in a successful attempt to combine their dive-in horror flicks with a long overlooked segment of movie goers. These and films by other studios became known as Blaxploitation films.

While Sugar Hill is not as good as Blacula, I certainly found it entertaining. Don Pedro Colley as voodoo god Baron Sameldi really makes this a fun film in my opinion. He always turns up in some sort of disguise at the various murders carried out by his zombie minions. The film is done along the lines of another AIP film Dr. Phibes Rises Again, in that the bad guys are dispatched in interesting and sometimes intentionally humorous ways.

Marki Bey as Sugar Hill is no Pam Grier as far as acting goes, but she's easy on the eyes and her character when not joining the walking dead in their killing sprees, gets into a cat fight with the jealous moll of the mob boss and does a photo shoot with other cute girls in bikinis.

Sugar Hill does contain a slight amount of gore, however the zombie make up for this is not the rotting flesh type. The same zombies are used in most scene and in close up shots they appear to have shiny buttons for eyes. That aside, this works if you consider that they are not so much reanimated corpses, but supernatural creatures conjured up through voodoo.

This may not be a film for everyone, but if you like the AIP 70's drive-in horror flicks and want to see some truly funky fashion statements as well as afros galore, accompanied by a soundtrack filled with wah pedal soul riffs, then this film is worth a look.