Sugar Hill (1974)

aka The Zombies of Sugar Hill
Studio: MGM
Theatrical Release: February 1974
DVD-R Release: Sept. 27th, 2011
Rated: PG
Review by Craig Sorensen


When Diana ‘Sugar’ Hill’s (played by Marki Bey of “The Landlord”) husband Langston (Larry Don Johnson of nothing else apparently) is killed by gangsters (led by Robert Quarry), she seeks the help of Mama Maitresse (Zara Cully of “Darktown Strutters”).  Mama Maitresse calls upon one of her most powerful gods, Baron Samedi (Don Pedro Colley of “Herbie Rides Again”).  Sugar uses the Baron’s army of undead slaves to extract the revenge the police don’t seem capable of.

“Sugar Hill” is mostly harmless fun.  It does hint at darker themes however.  The idea of Sugar commanding the undead corpses of slaves from New Guinea seems ripe with subtext.  Hell, even the name “Sugar” Hill kind of plays into it.  Sugar was a major plantation crop in the south.  Of course I could just be reading too much into it.  The film doesn’t dwell on any of this stuff for some reason.  OK, so most “blaxploitation” films (I kind of hate that term) are revenge plots.  You’ve got your black neighborhood being encroached upon by corrupt white people who try to control and subjugate the masses with violence and drugs.  It seems like the perfect metaphor to have the means to the hero’s revenge being the mummified corpses of former slaves.  For added depth you’ve also got a long history of zombies being used as undead slave labour (this is pre Romero stuff, think “White Zombie” or “I Walked With A Zombie”).  What does it say about the hero that they are just as willing to use slave labour to do their bidding?  “Sugar Hill” seems more interested in just having an excuse to design some interesting zombies.  I guess I shouldn’t expect that much depth from director Paul Maslansky, who would go on to produce the “Police Academy” films (and television series).

But as I said, “Sugar Hill” is mostly harmless fun.  And the zombies do have an interesting design.  They seem like they should be silly looking, they’re covered in cobwebs and have big silver ping pong ball eyes.  But they are actually kind of effective.  And there is some good gothic atmosphere at places.  Also, this being a 70’s exploitation film, the fashions are fucking crazy.  There are some weird looking suits in this thing.  I also like Sugar Hill’s white & red honkey killin’ jumpsuit.

Well, anyway, I think that “Sugar Hill” looks pretty good in this new DVD-R from MGM.  This is a new HD remastered transfer and it’s presented in it’s original aspect ratio of 1:85:1.  It does look a bit soft in some spots but I think that this is mostly due to how the film was shot.  The colors look good.  The reds of character’s 70’s outfits and the greens of the swamps really pop.  The Dolby Stereo sound is decent.  The Funk and Voodoo bongo soundtrack sounded pretty good on my stereo.  Dialog is also clear.  Again, the only extra included is the film’s original theatrical trailer.