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Released by: All Day Entertainment
Released on: July 13, 2000.
Director: Bill Gunn
Cast: Marlene Clark, Duane Jones, Sam Waymon, Bill Gunn
Year: 1972
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The Movie:
Pioneering black filmmaker/writer/playwright Bill Gunn directed and wrote Ganja & Hess in 1973. When it opened to dismal results in New York later that year, Kelly-Jordan Enterprises, the films distributor, yanked the film from the market and solid it to Heritage, who re-cut it to cash in on the booming blaxploitation craze of the time (and destroying the original negative in the process). After Fima Noveck had re-cut the movie, it was re-released as Blood Couple almost a half an hour of footage missing, re-dubbed dialogue, and a bad synthesizer score. All Day Entertainment has restored Bill Gunn's original cut of the film for this DVD, and this release marks the first proper release of Gunn's cut of the film to home video.
OK, so with that condensed history lesson (courtesy of the informative extra features from where this info was gleamed, but more on that later) out of the way, what's the deal with the movie?
Duane Jones (of Night Of The Living Dead) is Dr. Hess Green. Hess is an archaeologist who is taking care of business at an excavation project wherein they hope to uncover the goods of Myrthia, a long dead civilization. Things get bad when Hess' assistant stabs him with a bejeweled dagger and then kills himself. When Hess awakens after the assault, he finds that his wounds are gone and that he's now obsessed with human blood.
He soon figures out that the knife his former assistant used to stab him was contaminated with vampiric germs and because they've mixed with his own blood, he's now essentially become a vampire (though he's ok with sunlight). When Hess meets up with Ganja (Marlene Clark of Switchblade Sisters), the wife of his late partner, she soon falls for him. Though at first it seems that they can be happy together, she doesn't know yet about Hess' condition or about the way that he husband died and when she does find out, things might get a little more complicated.
Those looking for a caped blood sucker film would do best to stick with the Hammer of Universal vampire films, as Ganja & Hess plays more like an acid soaked head trip than a gothic horror film. There's a whole lot of metaphorical action going on contrasting African and Christian ceremony and the film can be a tad alienating if you don't pay close attention. If you do though, you'll find you're rewarded by some fantastic cinematography that makes this film, shot for roughly $300,000, seem like a much more lavish production than it is, as well as an atypical but interesting story.
Anyone impressed with Jones' turn in Night Of The Living Dead will find him equally impressive in his turn here, with Clark his equal through out the film. The two have a great on-screen chemistry together and Gunn's film takes full advantage of that. James Hinton's cinematography is unusually artsy for a black seventies film and it gives the film a feeling of dread but is at the same time often very pretty. This makes for an interesting contrast in both themes and visuals that makes Ganja & Hess a worthy cinematic oddity that deserves to be rediscovered after such a convoluted history.
Video/Audio/Extras:
All Day's anamorphic 1.85.1 widescreen transfer looks pretty solid. There is some print damage but none of it is too severe and the colors and black levels are well balanced and natural looking. Grain is present throughout but it isn't overly distracting and edge enhancement is minor.
Ganja & Hess is presented in its original Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono sound mix. The entire affair comes through clean and clear without any hiss or distortion problems. Dialogue is fluid and comprehensible and the levels all seem to be balanced quite nicely.
The biggest and best of the extra features comes in the form of the full length audio commentary that brings together composer Sam Waymon, actress Marlene Clark, cinematographer James Hinton and producer Chris Schultz. There's a wealth of information divulged by all participants on this track, and some of the stories are quite interesting and lend a new appreciation for the film (especially those in regards to the serious budgetary restraints that the filmmakers faced).
All Day has also reproduced a lengthy 42-page article by Tim Lucas and Dave Walker that details the bizarre history of the film and the various cuts that were made to it. It makes for interesting reading - Lucas (of Video Watchdog fame) and Walker (of Bad Azz Mofo fame) know their stuff and having this as a companion piece to the commentary and the film itself is a nice treat.
Aside from that we get a nice collection of some very strange looking promotional stills and artwork, as well as a gallery of production stills.
The only drawback is that there isn't any of the alternate footage from the re-cut version here, or any comparison of the two versions save for what's mentioned in the Lucas/Walker piece. It would have been nice to see the chopped version of the film (released under the alternate titles of Blood Couple, Black Vampire and Black Evil on VHS) included as well, especially considering that it does contain some footage not present in the Gunn cut.
The Final Word:
This rather obscure and oft times overlooked blaxploitation/horror movie hybrid comes to DVD in bold style thanks to the efforts of All Day Entertainment. Ganja & Hess is an interesting and unusual horror film that should please fans of both genres and this DVD presentation does the film justice.