Ganja & Hess

Last updated
Ganja & Hess
Ganja-hess-movie-poster-md.jpg
Film poster
Directed by Bill Gunn
Written byBill Gunn
Produced byChiz Schultz
Starring
Cinematography James E. Hinton
Edited byVictor Kanefsky
Music bySam Waymon
Production
company
Kelly-Jordan Enterprises
Distributed byKelly-Jordan Enterprises
Release date
  • April 20, 1973 (1973-04-20)
Running time
  • 113 minutes
  • 78 minutes (recut)
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$350,000

Ganja & Hess is a 1973 American black horror film written and directed by Bill Gunn and starring Marlene Clark and Duane Jones. The film follows the exploits of anthropologist Dr. Hess Green (Jones), who becomes a vampire after his intelligent but unstable assistant (Gunn) stabs him with an ancient cursed dagger. Green falls in love with his assistant's widow, Ganja (Clark), who learns Green's dark secret.

Contents

It is one of only two films in which the lead role was played by Jones, best known for starring in the 1968 film Night of the Living Dead (though he had bit parts in other movies). The film was screened at the 1973 Cannes Film Festival. [1] It was remade by Spike Lee in 2014 as Da Sweet Blood of Jesus .

In 2024, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". [2]

Plot

The film follows Dr. Hess Green (Duane Jones), a wealthy black anthropologist who is doing research on the Myrthians, an ancient African nation of blood drinkers. One night, while staying in Green's lavish mansion, richly decorated with African art, his unstable assistant George Meda (Bill Gunn) threatens suicide. Green successfully talks him down, but later that night Meda attacks and stabs Green with a Myrthian ceremonial dagger, and then kills himself. Green survives, but on discovering the body, drinks Meda's blood; he has become a vampire endowed with immortality and a need for fresh blood. He steals several bags of blood from a doctor's office, but finds that he needs fresh victims.

Soon, Meda's estranged wife, Ganja Meda (Marlene Clark), arrives at Green's house searching for her husband. Green and Meda quickly become lovers, and she moves into Green's mansion. When she unwittingly discovers her husband's corpse frozen in Green's wine cellar she is initially upset, but then agrees to marry her host, who turns her into a vampire as well. Ganja is initially horrified by her new existence, but Green teaches her how to survive. Soon he brings home a young man whom Ganja seduces and then kills. The two vampires dispose of the body in a field on Green's property.

Eventually, Green becomes disillusioned with this life and resolves to return to the Christian church headed by his chauffeur, Reverend Luther Williams (Sam Waymon). Returning home, he kills himself by standing in front of a cross. Ganja, though saddened by his death, lives on, presumably continuing her vampiric lifestyle. The film ends with the young man Ganja had earlier killed rising out of the water, naked but alive, and running toward her, leaping over the corpse of Hess's servant Archie.

Cast

Additionally, postmodern novelist William Gaddis and his wife Judith Thompson appear as extras during a party scene. [3]

Production

In 1972, independent production company Kelly-Jordan Enterprises approached William Gunn, a black artist known at the time as a playwright and stage director, with the idea of making a "black vampire film" with a budget of $350,000. Though Gunn later told a friend, "The last thing I want to do is make a black vampire film," he accepted the project with the intention of using vampirism as metaphor for addiction. The producers' relative inexperience in filmmaking afforded Gunn a high degree of creative control over the film. [4] Filming occurred at Apple Bee Farms (Croton-on-Hudson, New York) and the Brooklyn Museum in New York City. [4] The film had its premiere in 1973 and was selected for the Critics' Week at the Cannes Film Festival that year.

The film's budget was relatively low, which led to creative problem-solving and a distinctive aesthetic. Gunn's artistic choices often defied conventional storytelling techniques, utilizing dreamlike sequences, elliptical editing, and experimental camera work to immerse the audience in the characters' experiences.

Reception

Ganja & Hess received positive reviews. [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] It was screened at the 12th International Critics' Week at Cannes Film Festival, [10] and James Murray of the Amsterdam News hailed it as "the most important Black produced film since Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song ." [11]

Writing in 2014, critic Scott Foundas described the film as a "landmark 1973 indie that used vampirism as an ingenious metaphor for black assimilation, white cultural imperialism and the hypocrisies of organized religion." [12] In 2021, filmmaker and Sundance Institute programmer Adam Piron describes frequently rewatching the film for being "ahead of its time and is still beyond our own." Piron interprets Gunn's approach in this way: "Moving back and forth between quiet interpersonal exchanges and vivid actions prompted by guilt and trauma over the deaths of the two title characters' spouses and their desire to reconnect to the Christian church, Ganja & Hess defies a traditional sense of linear structure. It offers not a plot but, rather, a portrayal of the characters' interactions with one another while trying to live new lives." [13]

Recut version

The film's producers, Kelly and Jordan, were discouraged by the poor box office numbers and unhappy with the film's unusual structure and style. Kelly-Jordan took the film out of distribution and sold it to another company, Heritage Enterprises, which issued a rescored and drastically recut version under the title Blood Couple. [4] [11] This version (disowned by Gunn) was released on VHS under various titles. Despite Heritage Enterprises' compromised release, the original cut was donated to the Museum of Modern Art, whose screenings, according to writer Chris Fujiwara, "helped build [the film's] reputation as a neglected classic of independent African American cinema." [4] The film was restored for release by Kino Lorber through a restoration done by The Museum of Modern Art and support from The Film Foundation, which utilized the best versions of surviving used 35mm prints of the complete version to create a re-mastered negative.

Legacy

Remake

African-American filmmaker Spike Lee remade Ganja & Hess in 2014 as Da Sweet Blood of Jesus . [14] The script, credited to both Lee and Gunn, has been described as "a remake — at times scene for scene and shot for shot — of Ganja and Hess," [12] while film critic Leila Latif asserted that it was "not one of the stronger entries in [Lee's] filmography." [15] Film critic and programmer Kelli Weston pointed out that while Gunn is "adept at subtlety, nuance, complexity, and allowing women the full depth of their own autonomy and independence," these are not among the creative traits of Spike Lee. [15]

Cultural impact

Lyrics from Sam Waymon's "The Blood of Thing (Part 2) Shadow of the Cross", a song that appeared in the film, were sampled by the experimental rap trio Clipping in their song "Blood of the Fang". The track appeared on their album There Existed an Addiction to Blood , the album title taken from a line in Waymon's original song.

Re-appreciation

On 20 April 2023, on its fiftieth anniversary, Latif wrote that Ganja and Hess is "nowadays widely praised" and getting its "due respect" after "having been mistreated...for decades." [15] She went on to claim that the film's "status as a bona fide cult classic has been cemented over the past five years in particular," a development partly due to the fact that "over this period there have been these conversations about representation and the relationship with black people in front of the camera and also behind [it]." [15]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spike Lee</span> American filmmaker (born 1957)

Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, actor, and author. His work has continually explored race relations, issues within the black community, the role of media in contemporary life, urban crime and poverty, and other political issues. Lee has won numerous accolades for his work, including an Academy Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards, a BAFTA Award, and two Peabody Awards. He has also been honored with an Honorary BAFTA Award in 2002, an Honorary César in 2003, and the Academy Honorary Award in 2015.

"Power Play" is the 21st episode of the fifth season of the American television series Angel. The gang starts to have doubts about Angel's loyalties when he appears to have become very close with the Circle of the Black Thorn, an evil secret demon society. When Drogyn, the guardian of the Deeper Well, arrives from England claiming that Angel has sent assassins after him, the gang's fears that Angel has become corrupted by wealth and power seem to be validated, especially when the imprisoned Lindsey confirms his theory about the Circle of the Black Thorn wanting to have Angel join their evil group.

<i>He Got Game</i> 1998 film directed by Spike Lee

He Got Game is a 1998 American sports drama film written, produced and directed by Spike Lee and starring Denzel Washington and Ray Allen. The film revolves around Jake Shuttlesworth, father of the top-ranked basketball prospect in the country, Jesus Shuttlesworth. Jake, in prison for killing his wife, is released on parole for a week by the state's governor to persuade his son to play for the governor's alma mater in exchange for a reduced prison sentence.

"Not Fade Away" is the 22nd and final episode of the fifth season and the series finale of the American television series Angel. Written by series creator Joss Whedon and directed and co-written by Jeffrey Bell, it was originally broadcast on May 19, 2004 on the WB network. In "Not Fade Away", Angel convinces his team that they must take out every member of the Circle of the Black Thorn in a defiant and probably futile stand against the Senior Partners of Wolfram & Hart. He tells his team to make the most of what may be their last day on Earth: Gunn visits his old neighborhood; Wesley tends to the wounded Illyria; Lorne spends some time onstage; Spike performs poetry at an open mic, and Angel visits his son. When night falls, the team divides and sets out to eliminate the members of the Black Thorn, incurring the wrath of the armies of hell.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Duane Jones</span> American actor (1937–1988)

Duane Lionel Jones was an American actor. He was best known for his lead role as Ben in the 1968 horror film Night of the Living Dead. He was later director of the Maguire Theater at the State University of New York at Old Westbury, and the artistic director of the Richard Allen Center for Culture and Art in Manhattan.

<i>Female Vampire</i> 1975 film

Female Vampire is a horror film written, directed, and co-edited by Jesús Franco. It was produced in 1973, but was only theatrically distributed in 1975. The film is set in Madeira and stars actress Lina Romay as Irina von Karlstein, a vampire who has sex with both male and female victims. In an unusual variation of the vampire myth, Karlstein performs oral sex on her victims until they die, draining them of their sexual fluids.

Perfect Creature is a 2007 New Zealand horror/thriller film, written and directed by Glenn Standring and starring Saffron Burrows and Dougray Scott, set in an alternate universe New Zealand; it premiered in New Zealand on 18 October 2007.

Blade: The Series is an American television series created by David S. Goyer for Spike based on the Marvel Comics character Blade. Sharing continuity with New Line Cinema's Blade film series, it was produced by New Line Television in association with Marvel Entertainment. The series takes place after the events of the film Blade: Trinity (2004) and stars Sticky Fingaz as Eric Brooks / Blade, with Jill Wagner, Neil Jackson, Jessica Gower, and Nelson Lee also starring. The two-hour pilot was directed by Peter O'Fallon from a script by Goyer and Geoff Johns.

Zaraah Clover Abrahams is an English actress and voiceover artist. She is known for her roles as Magda in Girls in Love from 2003 to 2005, Michaela White in the BBC school-based drama series Waterloo Road from 2008 to 2010, Joanne Jackson in the ITV soap opera Coronation Street from 2005 to 2007 and Chelsea Fox in the BBC soap opera EastEnders from 2020 onwards. She then competed in the third series of the ITV talent show Dancing on Ice, and later returned as a contestant for the All Star series in 2014.

TCM Underground was an American weekly late-night cult film showcase airing on Turner Classic Movies. Developed by former TCM marketing director Eric Weber, it was originally hosted by industrial rock/heavy metal musician and independent filmmaker Rob Zombie. The films were programmed by Eric Weber until 2007, when TCM programmer Millie De Chirico took over the role. The block ended on February 24, 2023, following layoffs in December that included De Chirico.

Robert Lee Minor is an American stunt performer, television and film actor, best known for doubling many African-American celebrities such as: Jim Brown, Fred Williamson, Bernie Mac, Danny Glover, Carl Weathers, Roger E. Mosley and John Amos. Minor was born in Birmingham, Alabama, and made his first television appearance in 1973 on the television program, Search, then appeared in tons of shows such as: McCloud, Barnaby Jones, The Six Million Dollar Man, Wonder Woman, Eight Is Enough, Magnum, P.I. and Starsky & Hutch among other popular television programs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bill Gunn (writer)</span> American dramatist

William Harrison Gunn was an American playwright, novelist, actor and film director. His 1973 cult classic horror film Ganja & Hess was chosen as one of ten best American films of the decade at the Cannes Film Festival, 1973. In The New Yorker, film critic Richard Brody described him as being "a visionary filmmaker left on the sidelines of the most ostensibly liberated period of American filmmaking." Filmmaker Spike Lee had said that Gunn is "one of the most under-appreciated filmmakers of his time." Gunn's drama Johnnas won an Emmy Award in 1972.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marlene Clark</span> American actress and fashion model (1937–2023)

Marlene Clark was an American actress, animator and fashion model. Clark was perhaps best known for her portrayals of Ganja Meda in the 1973 horror film Ganja & Hess and Janet Lawson, Lamont's girlfriend in the sitcom Sanford and Son from its fifth season in 1975 until the series conclusion in 1977.

<i>Da Sweet Blood of Jesus</i> 2014 film directed by Spike Lee

Da Sweet Blood of Jesus is a 2014 American horror film directed by Spike Lee. The plot is about a wealthy anthropologist who is stabbed by an ancient African dagger and turned into a vampire. Lee has said the film is about "[h]uman beings who are addicted to blood" and called it "[a] new kind of love story." The film is a remake of the 1973 film Ganja & Hess. It was the first of Lee's films to be funded through Kickstarter. The film was released on June 22, 2014, at the American Black Film Festival as the closing film, and was released in theaters and on VOD on February 14, 2015, by Gravitas Ventures.

<i>There Existed an Addiction to Blood</i> 2019 studio album by clipping.

There Existed an Addiction to Blood is the third studio album by American hip hop group clipping. It was released on October 18, 2019 through Sub Pop. It received mostly positive reviews from music critics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">African American cinema</span> Films made by, for, or about black Americans

African American cinema is loosely classified as films made by, for, or about Black Americans. Historically, African American films have been made with African-American casts and marketed to African-American audiences. The production team and director were sometimes also African American. More recently, Black films featuring multicultural casts aimed at multicultural audiences have also included American Blackness as an essential aspect of the storyline.

Pioneers of African-American Cinema (2015) is a digitally restored anthology collection of independent Black cinema from the first half of the 20th century.

Black horror is a horror subgenre that focuses on African-American characters and narratives. It is largely a film genre. Black horror typically, but not always, has Black creators. It often has social and political commentary and compares racism and other lived experiences of Black Americans to common horror themes and tropes. Early entries in the genre include the 1940 Spencer Williams Jr. film Son of Ingagi and the 1968 George A. Romero horror film Night of the Living Dead, which is considered one of the first Black horror films for having the Black actor Duane Jones in its lead role. Blaxploitation horror films of the 1970s, namely Blacula (1972), and the vampire film Ganja & Hess (1973) became prominent examples of Black horror films in the 1970s. Other Black horror films appeared during the 1990s, notably the 1992 Bernard Rose film Candyman and the 1995 anthology film Tales from the Hood, which was directed by Rusty Cundieff and has been described as the "godfather of Black horror".

References

  1. ↑ Harris, Brandon. "Bill Gunn Surfaces at BAM." Filmmaker Magazine. 31 Mar. 2010. Retrieved 18 February 2011.
  2. ↑ "25 Films Added to National Film Registry for Preservation". December 17, 2024. Retrieved December 17, 2024.
  3. ↑ Moore, Steven. Introduction to The Letters of William Gaddis. Ed. Steven Moore. Champaign, IL: Dalkey Archive Press, 2013. 9; image on 277.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Fujiwara, Chris. "Ganja and Hess". www.tcm.com. Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
  5. ↑ Jane, Ian (27 April 2012). "Ganja & Hess: Kino Classics Remastered Edition (Blu-ray)". DVD Talk.
  6. ↑ Christley, Jaime N. (8 May 2012). "Ganja & Hess". Slant Magazine .
  7. ↑ Rabin, Nathan (9 May 2012). "Ganja & Hess". The A.V. Club .
  8. ↑ Harris, Brandon (6 July 2014). "Spike Lee: "The black audience is not monolithic"". Salon .
  9. ↑ Obenson, Tambay A. (16 April 2012). "Kino Lorber Releasing Restored Version Of "Ganja & Hess" on DVD and Blu-ray 5/8 (Cover Art & Specs)".
  10. ↑ "12e Selecion de la Semaine de la Critique - 1973". archives.semainedelacritique.com. Retrieved 20 June 2017.
  11. 1 2 Diawara, Manthia; Klotman, Phyllis (1990). "Ganja and Hess: Vampires, Sex, and Addictions". Jump Cut . 30: 30–36. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
  12. 1 2 Foundas, Scott (23 June 2014). "Film Review: 'Da Sweet Blood of Jesus". Variety .
  13. ↑ Piron, Adam (12 February 2021). "Adam Piron on Storytelling and the Importance of Cultural Diversity". ARTnews.com. Retrieved 23 February 2021.
  14. ↑ Squires, John (16 April 2012). "Spike Lee's Da Sweet Blood of Jesus pseudo-remake of 1973's Ganja & Hess". Dread Central .
  15. 1 2 3 4 Latif, Leila (20 April 2023). "Ganja & Hess: The 50-year-old vampire movie masterpiece critics got all wrong". BBC . Retrieved 20 April 2023.

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.