I first came across this title when I was reading a gift from my sweetie-wife The Encyclopedia of Zombie Movies  and at that time the film was not available on any of my streaming services. My interest was revived when I watched the documentary Horror Noir  on the history the cinema of Black Horror and this time Amazon Prime did have Sugar Hillavailable for streaming.

Set in New Orleans the film about Diana ‘Sugar’ Hill the girlfriend of Langston, a successful nightclub owner. When Langston refuses to sell his club to the mob he is assassinated in a brutal beating sparking a burning vengeance in Sugar. Turning to a Voodoo priestess Sugar enters into a bargain with the Voodoo lord of the dead Baron Samedi to enact her vengeance on the men responsible for Langston’s murder. Now with Samedi and a squad of zombies at her command, Sugar tears her way through the mob as her former boyfriend Valentine, now a homicide detective tries to unravel the supernatural slaughter.

While somewhat flawed in its structure, Sugar faces no real test or challenge to her plans and emotionally all of costs are front-loaded with Langston’s murder, Sugar Hill  proved to be a surprisingly engaging movie. Marki Bay as Sugar is adept at both the sweet and sexy aspects of her character while being able to turn on a dime and present a cold, merciless demeanor as she takes in the fruits of her revenge. From her dazzling smile to her expressionless enjoyment at the savage retribution this is Marki’s movie and she commands the screen throughout its running time of 91 minutes. Her performance is rivaled only by Don Pedro Colley as Samedi, a part that allowed Don to chew the scenery without damaging the product.

A thoroughly fun installment in that curious bit of mid 70s fare, the Blaxploitation genre, Sugar Hilla perfectly fine way to pass a dark film night.