Sugar Hill
A friend recently recommended I watch Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror on Shudder. It's a documentary that covers the history of horror movies from the perspective of African Americans, covering their portrayal as well as the themes embedded in horror that capture some of the undertones of racism in America throughout the years, from early horror films to the latest and greatest Get Out. It's an excellent documentary which I highly recommend - but it's not what I want to review here.
While watching it there was a moment where they discussed the old 70's horror+blaxploitation film Blacula starring William Marshall - who was present to talk about the film which was cool to see. They discussed tropes in how the two genres blended together and how the fears and racism of the era played into them. It was also really cool to see Marshall talk about his role - but that's also not the film I want to review here.
The black horror film I want to review, which was released by the same studio, is Sugar Hill. I went back to watch it again after this documentary because I could understand things better than when I first saw it back as a little ten year old girl. It aged even better than I had remembered.
If you're wondering why a ten year old was watching horror movies in my Grandma's defense, she didn't supervise me or set a bedtime when I spent the night on weekends. I was a pretty responsible kid, with a clean track record - no need. Which meant from ten at night to one in the morning I had full access to all the many channels on the good cable package she splurged for including AMC.
In the middle of the night there wasn't much to watch back in the day; so I fell into watching old episodes of Twilight Zone which eventually gatewayed into old science fiction movies like the original The Omega Man (you may know its remake I Am Legend better). During October they cranked up the classic horror movies and in addition to Blacula they also showed Sugar Hill which appealed to me because I honestly didn't think of it like a horror movie. To me, it was more like a superhero story with my hero Diana "Sugar" Hill.
Diana (played by Marki Bey who, fun fact, later ran murder mystery cruises with her husband after she retired from film) is enjoying time at the nightclub owned by her boyfriend when suddenly the mob shows up to demand protection money. When he refuses the gang find him after hours and kill him, paving the way for their leader to sweep in and buy up the club from his grieving widow.
Except Diana isn't your typical widow - and instead of giving in she marches to find Mama Maitresse, the voodoo queen. She asks her for the power to kill her enemies and together they summon Baron Samedi, the Lord of the Dead, to borrow his army of the undead. Instead of your George Romero brand brain-eaters though, the zombies of this film are slaves from Guinea, buried in unmarked graves after dying en route to America. Instead of rotting flesh their bodies are perfectly preserved and covered in cobwebs, dirt, and dust from their burial ground. Their eyes have that old 70's monster bubble sheen and they still wear the clothes and shackles they died in as they rise to do the Baron's bidding.
*On a personal note this was a huge deal for younger me. I used to have recurring nightmares about zombies and they were my ultimate fear when it came to horror movies back in the day. Yet in this zombie movie they weren't monsters but the unjustly murdered. And they weren't terrorizing the town but helping the heroine take down the mob. This fact alone cemented Sugar as my idol and made my little head flip as though I'd found my own personal Disney princess. Fuck singing birds and mice - a strong woman needs zombie friends.
The film played out nice and slow, as good revenge goes, with the death of each of the mobsters who participated in murdering Diana's man. Between scenes of Diana playing it up as the respectful, good-mannered widow (during which they style her hair flat) you watch each gangster get lured away from the crowds by the hilarious trickster Baron; he disguises himself as a taxi driver, a pool hall hustler, a bartender, and even a super racist-trope gardener that plays up the inside joke of not being recognized for the powerful entity he truly is. His appearance serves as a warning for the upcoming gore, as his zombies follow shortly behind.
But it's not just the Baron who appears before their doom. Sugar appears in the flesh - only this time in a full power suit with a stunning afro. To me it felt like watching a real live superhero with an alter ego - like Diana the Wonder Woman during the day (I caught the name selection early in the movie) and then Sugar the Zombie Queen dispensing justice at night. Her kind demeanor quickly falls away with her stone cold righteous fury as she explains to each mobster exactly why they will die. As they beg for mercy she completely ignores their pleas, even shrugging off their screams of terror as the zombies do their work. In one of the more gruesome scenes the zombies throw a man into a pit of starving pigs. All Sugar can say is, "I hope they're into white trash."
The absolute drop dead power of Sugar was eye-opening for me, although in the greater context I have to acknowledge once again more tropes. As a little girl I was accustomed to women characters being strong but also gentle - they scolded, they forgave, and they ultimately took the high road. In every single female led film and show I watched the underlying message that the "fairer sex" played fair was constantly repeated, unless of course you were a villain (and even many of those softened up in the end). But here was a woman - not a villain by any means, but justified - showing all the stoniness of a male action hero slaughtering the bad guys without flinching. As a little girl who constantly grew frustrated at being told to be good, quiet, kind, and compassionate - I wanted to shout and whoop at the screen in joy at the release from those awful norms. Sadly it was late at night so I had to stay quiet.
That said there's likely a reason why it's a black female protagonist that finally got to show me this side of feminism. Since I've grown up I've read that the way black women were often portrayed made them seem cold/hard on purpose; it's called "The Strong Black Woman Trope" and while it might not sound bad to associate strength with black women the problem lies when those kind of racist stereotypes continue to play out in the real world. For example in health care - black women are often expected to "tough it out", and are less likely to be listened to, prescribed pain medications, be given preventative care, etc. I'd like to emphasize here how wrong that really is; nobody should have to turn hard to be heard.
But back to my idol for now - after Sugar finally finishes off the last mob boss her deal with the Baron is done. In an ironic - particularly for horror - twist the Baron decides he likes Sugar too much to take her with him back to the land of the dead as promised. Instead, he takes the whiny racist white bitch left alone now by her dead mobster husband. Like a true gentleman he makes a point though that he would have preferred Sugar - obviously, this white bitch is awful - but instead he gifts her his skull cane then carries his new screaming bride off screen. While you could see this as a problematic reaffirmation of black men terrorizing white women, in the context of the common themes of horror movies where black characters were constantly expected to sacrifice themselves to save the white - often female - leads, it is actually refreshing to see a white character finally sacrificed to save the black lead instead.
The film ends with Sugar power posing with the baron's cane like a boss. I'm running out of time to cover the "pimp" culture promoted in blaxploitation films, but at the time all that went way over my head. All I remember is rushing home the next day and asking my mom if I could wear bell bottoms and put my hair up in an afro. I wanted to be just like Sugar.
If you want to watch Sugar Hill you can rent it on Vudu/Fandango. It has a pretty decent 63% Rotten Tomatoes score, but for me it will remain my favorite zombie movie of all time. While I can now appreciate it as a black horror film with more important context than simple revenge, to ten year old me it was my horror film - the exact medicine I needed to find my own strength and embrace the zombies of my nightmares. Because the real monsters are often not of the supernatural but the human variety.