Although the cast of Nurse Sherri is pretty much racially integrated, and the character of Sherri is very much white, this film is often tagged as a Blaxploitation film — particularly when re-titled Black Voodoo for VHS release with a complete racial 360 on the cover art:
In the film, tig-ol-bittied Jill Jacobson gives a borderline narcoleptic performance in the title role, despite being possessed by the spirit of a cult leader determined to kill the doctors responsible for his death. Much more animated is black nurse Tara (equally tig-ol-bittied Marilyn Joi), who has a crush on a patient, ex-football player Marcus Washington (Prentiss Moulden). It seems Marcus is in the hospital because he’s suddenly become blind (chronic masturbation?). When Tara tries to cheer him up, saying that losing his sight isn’t the end of the world, he understandably dismisses her: “Leave me alone; I don’t need any of your honky crap!”
Tara balks. “What makes you think I’m white?”
“A black woman wouldn’t feed shit like that to me.”
“She might if she cared a little.” She turns and leaves. “See you later, bigot.”
Damn, cut a blind man some slack! Beyond this scene, race isn’t much of an issue, although later it turns out that because Marcus’s grandmother was Haitian, OF COURSE he knows how to exorcise Sherri’s ghost. “The only way to rid her of the possession,” he explains, “is to cremate all corporeal remains of the demon.” Corporeal? Is this the same guy who said “honky crap” before?
Since no one wants a blind man handling fire, it’s up to Tara to save the day — making her the rare example of a black horror hero/heroine in a non-black film. Aided by some of the cheesiest special effects sequences ever committed to film (think magic markers and construction paper), she finds the cult leader’s grave and burns the body, exorcising the ghost just before Sherri can get around to cutting her boyfriend up with a meat cleaver. You’re welcome, bigot!
