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This movie haunted me from the time I saw it on late night TV in the 1970s as a kid until I finally found a copy when I was in college (it was briefly released on VHS when Orion was re-releasing all of the AIP titles on tape).

Love, love, love this movie. Robert Quarry insulting his girlfriend is hysterical.

When I interviewed Paul Maslansky for Shock Cinema, he told me that they actually did use ping pong balls cut in half to make the zombie eyes--I always thought the SUGAR HILL zombies looked suspiciously like the I EAT YOUR SKIN zombies.

Maslansky used a lot of the same crew when he returned to Texas to shoot RACE WITH THE DEVIL.

Marki Bey only did a handful of other films (including a couple for Arthur Marks), and then seems to have disappeared. She was a model and stage actress from Pennsylvania.

She later had a brief recurring role on "Starsky & Hutch" as a police officer, mostly seen during headquarters sequences. Oddly enough, there was a two-part episode of that series called "Murder on Voodoo Island" where Starsky and Hutch go to Jamaica or someplace like that to find out what happened to a reclusive millionaire. Turns out he's been turned into a "zombie" by a scheming woman, her dwarf henchman, and Don Pedro Colley, who essentially reprises his Baron Samedi role from SUGAR HILL. (There's also a ridiculous sequence where Starky and Hutch sing a calypso song in blackface...) I think it's on the season three DVD collection.

According to the credits on the film, the theme song ("Supernatural Voodoo Woman" by the Originals) was supposed to be available on Motown records, but I've never come across a copy.

I beleive there was a DVD release overseas--Region 2, maybe? I know awhile back, the out of print Orion VHS was selling on ebay for ridiculous amounts of money.

The trailer has popped up on a number of comps, including volume 2 of the 42nd Street Forever series.

If I remember right, the book "Drums of Terror" by Bryan Senn has a lengthy article or interview with the screenwriter, Tim Kelly.