MOVIE REVIEW: Sugar Hill- 1974Nope, this ain't the Wesley Snipes movie from the early 90's. This here is a Black HORROR film!
Dianne "Sugar" Hill (Marki Bey) and her boyfriend Langston (Larry B. Johnson) run Club Haiti, a successful voodoo-themed nightclub. The overly flamboyant Fabulous (Charles Robinson) and his low-rent thugs, hired by crooked businessman Morgan (Robert Quarry), pay a visit to the club to attempt strong-arming Sugar and Langston into selling their business. Of course, they refuse. Langston leaves the club alone that evening and is ambushed by the thugs and killed. Sugar is devastated and her ex-boyfriend cop Valentine comes to her aid and vows to find the killers. Oh, but this is not enough for sexy Sugar, she wants to make certain the killers PAY with their lives. She returns to her roots and seeks the help of high voodoo priestess Mama Maitresse (Zara Cully). When Mama Maitresse is certain that Sugar's faith in voodoo is strong enough, she sends her to meet with Baron Samedi (Don Pedro Colley), the "leader" of the zombie graveyard. Sugar offers her soul as payment but the Baron is more interested in making Sugar his woman. Sugar and Baron begin with the task at hand but the zombie killers are leaving clues behind that cause Valentine to become suspicious. Will Sugar get her revenge or will Valentine stop her before the task is completed. Will Sugar end up as The Baron's zombie bottom bitch? No more spoilers from me y'all!
This film rocks! Marki Bey was certainly a gorgeous woman. Handsome Richard Lawson appeared in many 70's Blaxploitation films. Don Pedro Colley as Baron Samedi was creepy and convincing. Zara Culley is best remembered as George's sassy mom from the TV show "The Jeffersons". This was a great example of Blaxploitation done right. The costumes were fab and over the top, especially Marki's frequent wig and clothing changes. This film mixed horror and humor effectively. With the subject matter at hand, they were smart not to attempt to make an ultra-serious film. I won't criticize the cinematography because I'm sure this film was shot with very limited resources but it doesn't look "cheap". The ending is certainly no disappointment either. Great campy classic, rent and enjoy!
VERDICT: 3.5 Soul Claps
Labels: Movie Reviews
This entry was posted
on Thursday, December 14, 2006 at 11:46 AM.
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