Ganja & Hess

(1973) * 1/2

Archaeologist Dr. Hess Green stabbed by his deranged research assistant who appears to have had a mental meltdown. After stabbing the Dr., he takes a bath, brushes his teeth then shoots himself in the chest. Hess wakes up to find his stab wounds have healed, but sees his partner dead on the floor. He gets a sudden urge to kneel down and lap at the pool of his dead friends blood. He later finds out out that the knife he was stabbed with was infected with ancient germs that turned him into a vampire. He winds up hooking up with his partner's not so distraught wife Ganja. Seriously, this woman was concerned about her husband disappearing for about a minute. She winds up getting infected as well. Ganja & Hess fall in love and all is like beautiful man with trippy music and candles and shit. Rolling around naked on fur blankets covered in sweat and glitter. Killing off innocent victims and drinking their blood. Disposing of the bodies together. Then talking about religion and politics. Aaaah...It just doesn't get any better than this, right?


There is so much to love about this film, blood, vampires, huge afros and people acting crazy. So why did I bag it with only 1 1/2 stars? Where it goes wrong is in the continual religious preaching and interjected political views. I read that there is a shorter version of the film called “Blood Couple”. I would imagine that version cuts out a mess of church services and political chatter, I would have liked it much better. The church shit was so long it became painful to watch. However, I had to stay true to Horrorthon so I trudged through it without fast forwarding. Let me tell you, it wasn't easy. If it hadn't been for the ceremonies and bullshit I would have given this 2 ½ or perhaps even 3 stars. The stars were declining in my mind as the preacher droned on and the gospel singers clapped. The director tried to get all artsy with camera shots of leaves blowing on a floor and light shining behind dangling crosses. This is to his advantage since it distracts from the religious revival people momentarily. Also I now know that when a man runs naked his penis stretches out as it swings from side to side. I can sum this film up in one word, propaganda. I'd suggest avoiding unless you can find the shorter version.