According to the publicity provided in the Sugar Hill press book, actress Marki Bey "researched her part among various voodoo cults in and around the L.A. environs; thereby acquiring the proper authoritative menace to make her role as a voodoo high priestess believable."

Actor Don Pedro Colley also did extensive research in the voodoo practices from Haiti for his role as Baron Samedi. According to Colley, "This character was based more or less on the actual voodoo character that comes from Haiti...Papa Legre, who is all powerful, all omnipotent. Throughout the voodoo culture Papa Legre is the one single heavyweight dude."

According to director Paul Maslansky, executive producer Samuel Z. Arkoff gave him $125,000 to "make a black exploitation picture...a black, funny horror picture." Sugar Hill was shot in approximately three weeks during a blistering summer in Houston, Texas.

The voodoo museum that the character of Valentine (Richard Lawson) visits is one of the branches of the Houston Public Library. The building is a registered historical landmark and was built in the 1920s.

The performers playing the zombies in Sugar Hill wore ping pong balls cut in half over their eyes, creating the cartoonish, yet eerie effect. Other sources say the eyes were created with broken-off spoon halves.

Rumor has it that the afro-style hairdo worn by the character Diana Hill during the zombie attack sequences was because Marki Bey didn't look "black enough" while wearing her hair flat and relaxed.

Robert Quarry recalled the making of Sugar Hill in a "Psychotronic Video" interview in 2000: "It was such camp. The producer and the director (Paul Maslansky) were both white, and, of course, it was an all-black movie. They had a black actor set for the part, but they got rid of him, and Sam [Arkoff of AIP] sent me in to take the part. So I walked in as 'Mr. Whitey' to play the head of the Mafia in Houston, which is where they shot it. I didn't give a sh*t. They paid me. And during the shoot, my rich white friends in Houston wouldn't call me because they thought I'd bring somebody black to lunch with me. The racism was that subtle. [laughs] And, of course, they hired so many blacks for the movie, and here I was saying things like 'n*gger' and 'jig' and 'jungle bunny.' [laughs] The extras who weren't actors were going to kill me because they thought I was a big racist. But I won them over eventually. And we all laughed so hard. I'd tell them all on the set, 'Okay, easy fellas, get ready because I'm going to see the 'n' word again." [laughs]

by Eric Weber

Sources:
The American International Picture Sugar Hill press book, 1974.
Laughing and Screaming: An Interview with Producer Paul Maslansky by Brian Albright, "Shock Cinema" number 31, August 2006.
Don Pedro Colley, interview by Justin Humphreys, "Psychotronic Video" number 31, 1999.
Robert Quarry, interview by Anthony Petkovich, "Psychotronic Video" number 33, 2000
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