Sugar Hill (1974 film)
| Sugar Hill | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Paul Maslansky |
| Written by | Tim Kelly |
| Produced by | Elliot Schick |
| Starring |
|
| Cinematography | Robert Jessup |
| Edited by | Carl Kress |
| Music by | Nick Zesses American International Productions |
Release date |
|
Running time | 91 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $350,000 |
Sugar Hill is a 1974 American horror blaxploitation zombie film, directed by Paul Maslansky and starring Marki Bey as the title character who uses voodoo to get revenge on the people responsible for her boyfriend's death. It was released by American International Pictures. According to the film, the zombies are the preserved bodies of slaves brought to the United States from Guinea.[1] AIP had previously combined the horror and blaxploitation genres with Blacula (1972) and its sequel Scream Blacula Scream (1973).
Plot
The story centers on Diana "Sugar" Hill (Bey), a photographer in Houston whose boyfriend, nightclub owner Langston (Larry D. Johnson), has been killed by mob boss Morgan (Robert Quarry) and his men when he refused to sell the club to Morgan. Sugar seeks the help of a former voodoo queen named Mama Maitresse (Zara Cully) to take revenge on Morgan and his thugs. Mama summons the voodoo lord of the dead, Baron Samedi (Don Pedro Colley), who enlists his army of zombies to destroy the men who killed Langston and now want the club. Investigating the killings is Sugar's former boyfriend, police Lt. Valentine (Richard Lawson).
Cast
- Marki Bey as Diana "Sugar" Hill
- Robert Quarry as Morgan
- Don Pedro Colley as Baron Samedi
- Betty Anne Rees as Celeste
- Richard Lawson as Valentine[2]
- Zara Cully as "Mama" Maitresse
- Charles P. Robinsonas "Fabulous"
- Larry D. Johnson as Langston
- Rick Hagood as "Tank" Watson
- Ed Geldart as O'Brien
- Albert J. Baker as George
- Raymond E. Simpson, III as King
- Thomas C. Carroll as Baker
- Big Walter Price as Preacher
- Charles Krohn as Captain Merrill
- J. Randall Bell as Dr. Parkhurst
- Peter Harrell, III as Police Photographer
- Judy Hanson as The Masseuse
- Gary W. Chason as Lab Technician
- Roy L. Downey as Stevedore
- Garrett Scales as Crew Chief
- John E. Scarborough as Uniformed Cop
Production
The film, budgeted at $350,000,
Release
The film was released theatrically in the United States by American International Pictures in February 1974.[4] It was cut to 83 minutes for television and retitled The Zombies of Sugar Hill.[5]
The film was released on VHS by Orion Home Video in 1996.,[6] and on DVD in October 2011 as part of MGM's Limited Edition series.[7]
Reception
Writing in The Zombie Movie Encyclopedia, academic Peter Dendle called it "a humorously dated blaxploitation feature" whose zombies "represent a throwback to the classic zombie conceptualization of the '30s and '40s".[8] Adam Tyner of DVD Talk rated it 4 out of 5 stars and wrote, "Creepy, sexy, sleazy, and a borderline-surreal amount of fun, Sugar Hill is a perfect movie for a Halloween marathon and probably my single favorite blaxploitation flick, period".[7]
In popular culture
Rapper
Trivia
The film was broadcast on Tele 5 as part of the programme format SchleFaZ in season 2.
References
- ^ ISBN 978-1-55652-770-8.
- ISBN 978-0-8108-5545-8.
- ^ Samuel Z Arkoff & Richard Turbo, Flying Through Hollywood By the Seat of My Pants, Birch Lane Press, 1992 p 202
- ^ Hamm, Sam (February 26, 1974). "Southern-Fried Honky Meets Tough Black Fox". The Cavalier Daily.
- ISBN 978-0-452-28978-9.
- OCLC 36158301.
- ^ a b Tyner, Adam (2011-10-23). "Sugar Hill (1974)". DVD Talk. Retrieved 2015-02-14.
- ISBN 978-0-7864-9288-6.
External links
- Sugar Hill at IMDb
- Sugar Hill at AllMovie
- Sugar Hill at the American Film Institute Catalog
- Sugar Hill at the TCM Movie Database
