Ganja & Hess (Bill Gunn, 1973)

Ganja & Hess (Bill Gunn, 1973)
Rating: Holyfuckingshit

also known and recut as
Vampires of Harlem
Double Possession
Blood Couple
Black Vampire
Blackout: The Moment of Terror
Black Evil

Well, quite honestly I don't know what to do about this film. I'd never seen heard of it before and had no preconceived notions as I just decided to attend a Cinefamily screening on Holyfuckingshit themed Saturday at The Silent Theater. The film was introduced as an odd mixture of blaxploitation, horror, and African American art cinema about a archaeologist who is stabbed by an ancient knife and becomes addicted to blood. After his assistant commits suicide, the man falls in love and marries Ganja, the assistant's wife. I admire the dedication and ambition of the work. It's obvious this isn't an ordinary exploitation piece, but rather serves more as allegory with it's fractured narrative, and themes of spirituality, sexuality, identity, class, and race. That being said, the film seems clumsily directed, with a lot of unintentional hilarity, unprompted monologues and philosophizing and heavy handed religious imagery randomly spliced in. The soundtrack is great and for better or worse the imagery in the film is unforgettable. All in all I had a lot of fun with this...really there is only one word that can really some it up...Holyfuckingshit.