Big Bad Voodoo Mamma - SUGAR HILL

Since February is both Black History month and Women In Horror month, two themes I wholeheartedly endorse, I always feel obliged to talk about movies that intersect each.  Unfortunately, there aren’t as many great representations as there should be.  I tackled one of the best, DEMON KNIGHT (I <3 Jeryline), in the early days of Schizocinema, so I settled into a Blaxploitation horror vibe for my official February picks.  First came BLACULA, which I had seen and loved, so the next year I hit up the sequel, SCREAM,BLACULA, SCREAM (not quite as good).  While BLACULA is an excellent and surprisingly romantic film, William Marshall is such a powerful presence that Vonetta McGee’s character gets overshadowed.  Even the mighty Pam Grier plays it a little subdued in the sequel.  Both characters were well drawn and fitting to the tragic romance of BLACULA, but they weren’t the feisty asskickers I had hoped for.  So I wasn’t feeling overly optimistic about giving another Blaxploitation horror flick, Paul Maslansky’s SUGAR HILL, a first time spin.  I'm happy to say that this time, it's the leading lady that casts the biggest shadow.

The Capsule:

Diana “Sugar” Hill (Marki Bey) has a good thing going running a voodoo themed lounge with her boyfriend, Langston (Robert Quarry).  The good times end when Morgan (Richard Lawson), the local racist mob boss, gets designs for the club.  When Langston refuses to sell, Morgan’s goons beat him to death and leave him for Sugar to find.  Bad move, chumps, because Sugar uses her voodoo connections to summon Baron Samedi (Don Pedro Colley), the Lord of the Dead, in order make the gangsters pay.  Soon, Morgan’s goons are dropping like chess pieces as Sugar maneuvers the top man right where she wants him.  Will Sugar’s ex lover cop, Valentine (Richard Lawson) figure things out before Sugar gets her ultimate vengeance?

SUGAR HILL is most famous for its silver, bug eyed zombies, but what it really should be known for is its star, Marki Bey.  The fact that Bey didn’t go one to the same success as Pam Grier is more criminal than anything committed in this movie.  She’d only appeared in a handful of movies before this, and after a few years in television (Charlie’s Angels, Starsky and Hutch, and the like), she left acting altogether.  This makes me weep, because Bey is absolutely badass as Sugar Hill.  

Sugar is a force of nature right from the start.  She’s the kind of character who gets it all done with attitude, confidence, and cunning.  Plus an army of zombies, but they are only a means to an end. She is sexy without being objectified, and doesn't rely on seduction to get what she wants, a trope that was highly leaned on in Blaxplotation/Exploitation cinema at the time.  Every major character, including Barron Samedi, underestimates her, which she ruthlessly uses to her advantage.  The scenes were she boldly negotiates business with Morgan, brushing off his heavy handed intimidation and shutting him down when he extends himself too far, are delicious.  If that crew wasn’t a bunch of racist dirtbags, you would feel sorry for them.  They have no idea what they are getting into.

Sugar is a fascinating, unconventional lead.  Brimming with righteous satisfaction at every turn of the screw, she is driven less by vengeance than by a brutal social justice.  Langston's death may have set her down this path, but it feels more like an excuse than an ultimate motivation.  She certainly isn't so broken up about the loss of her lover that she can’t flirt with her ex, Valentine.  Like BLACULA’s Prince Mamuwalde, Sugar is technically the villain, making a deal with the devil to punish those who wronged her, but she always has our sympathy.  Her fury only extends to those who deserve it.  When Valentine’s investigation gets too close to the truth, Baron Samedi wants to kill him, but Sugar insists on arranging a painless “accident” to keep him out of the action.  Sugar isn't power mad, she's just pissed off.

A big part of the fun of Blaxploitation is seeing over the top bigoted villains get what’s coming to them, and SUGAR HILL does not disappoint.  The deaths of Morgan’s henchmen aren’t especially gory, but they are inventive.  Goons are hacked up with machetes, sliced up via voodoo doll, compelled to stab themselves, massaged to death by zombies, and stuffed in a casket full of snakes.  When one poor sap gets fed alive to a pack of pigs, Sugar shouts to the hungry beasts, “I hope you like white trash.”  Zing!    

Marki Bey isn't the only one with a juicy role.  Don Pedro Colley gets to sink his gold capped teeth in as the flamboyant Lord of the Dead, Baron Samedi.  He gets a surprising amount of screen time, too.  When Sugar first summons Samedi, I expected him to just hand out a few zombies and only return at the end of the movie to collect his debt (noteworthy, he prefers to be paid in hoochie rather than souls).  Samedi, however, is not about to be sidelined to the netherworld and miss all the fun.  He inserts himself front and center at each of Sugar’s traps, either as a disguised bystander smiling on, or as an active participant in the vengeance.  My favorite is when he pulls up in a cab to drive one of the hoods to his impending fate, making foreboding chitchat with the unsuspecting dope the whole way.  Samedi is a hands-on boogyman.

We all know where this kind of story is going.  You can’t make a deal with the devil without eventually having to pay your due.  Karma always comes around, even to the  most justified (again, see BLACULA).  Well, surprise suckers, because Sugar skates out scot-free at the end of this one.  Once the last slimeball is crossed off Sugar’s list, the Baron does demand payment for his service.  However, instead of giving her hand to Samedi, she instead offers up Morgan’s deplorable girlfriend, Celeste (Betty Anne Rees), to be his zombie bride.   Samedi happily accepts, hauling the screaming hussy down to the underworld.  Yes, it does play into the old stereotype of the lusty black stud with an eye for the white woman, but I got the feeling Samedi was so impressed with Sugar that he was happy to let her off the hook.  I kept expecting the director to sneak in some moralistic consequence, but nope, Sugar makes it out without an ounce of comeuppance.  She even gets to keep Samedi's voodoo daddy cane.  I’d like to think she went on to be the venerated voodoo queen who wronged women seek out to balance the scales, giving the Baron a little wink whenever she summons him up for a job.

Like all Blaxploitation, especially one directed by the white dude who made the POLICE ACADEMY movies, SUGAR HILL has its share of problematic issues.  It is certainly not a realistic look at Haitian religion, but what movie was in those--or even these--days?  It is also cheap and hokey as hell (lightning and thunder effects during broad daylight was a bold choice).  However, Bey’s fierce and uncompromising leading woman and the movie’s consistently fun tone balance things out.  And sometimes, you just want to see a badass woman toss a creep’s money in his face and bury him in a coffin full of snakes. 

C Chaka

Return of the Prince - SCREAM BLACULA SCREAM

Themes are important.  It’s nice to have something deeper to talk about than what silly movies I enjoy.  Don’t get me wrong, I love talking about silly movies, great and not so great ones.  I’m not knocking it.  Linking my love of silly movies to larger issues, though, lets me talk about what’s on my mind without getting too heavy.  I try to keep a light touch, although Mr. Trump might disagree.  Fox and Friends would have to bring up Schizocinema for him to ever find out, so I think I’m safe.

On the other hand, themes can be exhausting.  I always try to stick with the big ones, horror movies in October, women directors for March, highlighting African American actors in February.  Nowadays, though, we have more categories to honor than we have months.  We’re having to double or triple up.  Not only is February Black History Month, it has now been designated Women in Horror Month.  That means movie selection becomes narrower, but there is still overlap. It doesn’t stop there, because smack dab in the middle of February is Valentine’s Day.  I have to triple theme that week!

Last year, I found the perfect trifecta with BLACULA. The Blaxploitation classic covered all my bases and was more nuanced and dignified than seemed possible with a movie titled BLACULA.  Best of all, it had a sequel.  I had a built-in fall back in case I hadn’t found another film that hit all three marks by next year.  Good thing, since I forgot to look for anything else.  Now, I usually don’t write about movies on a first watch, because I don’t want to waste my time taking notes on a movie that I might not be into.  My success rate has been fair (DEAD KIDS) to delirious (CONQUEST), so I rolled the dice.  Besides, this movie already had points added for the crazy title, and because it stars PAM FUCKING GRIER!  There is a short list of people in this universe as cool as Pam Grier, and none of them are in a black themed romantic horror movie.  All in all, Bob Kelljan's SCREAM BLACULA SCREAM seemed like a sure bet.

Let me say now, sorry everyone.

The Capsule

When last we left Prince Mamuwalde, the titular Blacula (William Marshall), he was dead—really dead, not just vampire dead.  Rather than spending eternity without his beloved, he chose to rest in a pile of sun dried bones instead.  Wouldn’t you know, his rest gets interrupted when a spoiled voodoo priest wannabe, Big Willis (Richard Lawson) resurrects him to get revenge on his more popular sister, Lisa (Pam Fucking Grier).  Predictably, Mamuwalde doesn’t give a damn about Willis’ hurt feelings and promptly turns the fool into the first recruit of his new undead army.  The regal vampire lord has his own plans for Lisa, and if her ex-cop boyfriend, Justin (Don Mitchell) can’t piece together all those mysterious exsanguinations around town, the voodoo priestess could hand Mamuwalde his ultimate desire.

Let’s start with the good.  The very best thing about this movie can be summed up in two words, Big Willis.  Richard Lawson’s Willis is a loud talking, loud dressing, funky little weasel who chews up every scene he’s in.  The moment his voodoo queen mommy kicks it, he loudly announces that he is the rightful Papa-loa and would be a better leader than his “jive-ass bitch” adopted sister, Lisa.  Once angry Justin pins him to the wall, Willis’ righteous indignation instantly fizzles and he plays it off like it was all a misunderstanding.  He adds a smarmy “you good people take care” before slinking out from the funeral with his tail between his legs.

Willis doesn’t get any more respect after becoming a vampire.  The first thing he does is whine about not being able to see himself, or his fine threads, in the mirror anymore.  Then, Mamuwalde grounds him like a teenager and forbids him to go to the swank African artwork party.  As if to throw salt into his wound, Mamuwalde goes to the party in his place.  Afterward, he probably told Willis how much fun it was, and how all the foxy ladies were all over him.  

His new-found powers of darkness can’t score him any points, either.  His lady, Denny (Lynne Moody), laughs at his fangs when he’s going in to bite her.  That is the last thing an already insecure vampire wants to hear.  At least he managed to seal the deal.  I’m surprised he didn’t get blood sick and have to run to the bathroom halfway through.

The best bit is when he is boasting to Denny that he is going to get Lisa, even though Mamuwalde just announced that none of his vampire posse were permitted to harm her.  He goes on and on, making the dark lord out to be some chump who is just crashing at his pad. The entire time Mamuwalde is standing right behind him.  It’s like the black vampire version of an old Daffy Duck skit.  Oh, Willis!  In the end, he was probably happy to get shot in the heart by a crossbow.  It least it ends the humiliation.

Just like in the first one, the heroic boyfriend is pals with an oblivious white police chief, in this case Sheriff Dunlop (Michael Conrad).  Against expectations, he isn’t particularly racist (by 1970s standards), but he´s super down on voodoo.  In fact, when people start ending up drained of blood, he wants to arrest Lisa, because he has literally mixed up voodoo with vampires (‘that’s something they do, right?).  Voodoo in general gets a bad rap in the movie.  Even Justin calls Lisa’s congregation a cult, to her face, and he’s part of the congregation!  Dunlop must keep an open mind, though, because despite laughing at Justin for handing out stakes to the cops before the raid on Mamuwalde’s mansion, the movie cuts to him a few minutes later immediately staking a dude without a second thought.  Maybe he was just excited to try out a new kind of police brutality.

They are only there for a second, but I have to give props to the random old white couple sitting awkwardly in the middle of the hip African Studies college party.  No explanation about who they are or why they are there.  My guess is they owned the house and just wanted to be in the movie.

It's nice to see William Marshall back as Mamuwalde, bringing an unexpected nobility to what should be a very exploitive role.  His African prince is suave, charming, and just as irresistible to the ladies as last time (chicks still dig a man in a cape).  That familiarity is part of the problem, though.  The sequel follows the original plot a little too closely.  Mamuwalde returns, becomes obsessed with one woman, the woman’s boyfriend works with the cops to find him, there is a big cops vs. vampires confrontation, etc., etc.  The voodoo angle doesn’t add as much as it could have (more on that later).

Plus, Mamuwalde is less sympathetic here.  He is a tragic figure in the original, cursed by Racist Dracula, imprisoned for centuries, deprived of his one great love.  Most of that sorrow is missing here, so there is nothing to soften his image of being a bully and a rampant cop killer (incidentally, the surest way to kill cops back then was to throw them through doors, even louver doors work).  And you can’t help but see the hypocrisy when Mamuwalde berates a couple of pimps for behaving like slave masters to the sisters.  It’s a fine sentiment, except that he has a half-dozen vampire toadies waiting back at his mansion who are forced to obey his every command.  Glass houses, dude.

It’s not until we find out his plan in the last act that he is redeemed, somewhat. [Spoiler]  Mamuwalde doesn’t want Lisa to be his bride or to increase his power, he wants her to cure him of being a vampire.  He just wants to return home and live out his life as a normal, cape loving human being.  And she almost succeeds, until her lunkhead boyfriend busts in on them at the very last moment, ruining the whole ceremony and sending Mamuwalde into a rage.  Nice timing, Justin.  A few minutes later and you could have just arrested him.  All those cops and doors could have been saved.

The unforgivable sin, however, is utterly wasting Pam Grier.  Her ass kicking boots are nowhere to be seen.  The knock down voodoo power struggle hinted at in the opening goes nowhere fast, and all Lisa is left with is a bit of charming party banter and cringing with fear at the first sign of horror.  Pam Grier does not cringe, unless it’s at what a mess she made with her shotgun.  I guess she portrays a voodoo priestess in a positive light, despite what that jerk Dunlop might think.  She is compassionate enough to try to free Mamuwalde from his demons, but she rejects him after witnessing his bloodlust (or cop throwing lust).  This leads to the most tragic moment, when a dejected Mamuwalde gives up and tells Justin, fuck it, call me Blacula.

Lisa saves the day, maybe.  Right before he can kill Justin, she stabs an arrow into the chest of her ceremonial Mamuwalde voodoo doll, causing Blacula—as promised—to scream.  What he doesn’t do, however, is die.  In perhaps the most confounding horror movie ending ever, the film just stops on the frame of his anguished face and the credits roll.  Is he dying or just uncomfortable?  There were no more sequels, so we’ll never know.  He might still be roaming the streets, badass cape billowing behind him, with his eyes on Jada Pinkett Smith or Angela Bassett.  Hopefully someone can make that movie before next Valentine’s Day.

C Chaka