Sugar Hill (1974)

Rating: ***
Review Date: 7/20/14
Cast: Marki Bey, Robert Quarry, Don Pedro Colley

When fashion photographer Diana "Sugar" Hill's boyfriend is murdered by the mob, she swears vengeance. And what better way to get revenge than to raise an army of undead killers? Using the power of voo-doo, Sugar (Marki Bey) summons the mystical Baron Samedi (Don Pedro Colley) to help her in her quest, and one by one the villains fall victim to her unrelenting wrath.

It's an entertaining and well made film, and wastes no time getting to the action. Marki Bey is amazingly charismatic and you can't keep your eyes off of her. She's both smart and beautiful, and manages to be sweet, sexy, seductive, sinister, and savage all at the same time. She never strays from her goal, and much like "The Abominable Dr. Phibes" (1971), most of the fun comes from seeing how she's going to kill the next guy. It's a good looking film and the zombies are pretty creepy. Their most distinctive feature is that they have large, bulbous, reflective eyes, which are pretty unsettling to look at. Don Pedro Colley gives an amusingly over-the-top performance as Baron Samedi, and he's a total hoot to watch. It's a surprisingly good film for what it is, and much better than I expected it to be.