gavin6942 After being stabbed with an ancient, germ-infested knife, a doctor's assistant finds himself with an insatiable desire for blood.One thing I really liked about this movie: This film contains the only other lead role for Duane Jones, best known for starring in "Night of the Living Dead" (1968). But that may be about the extent of it.Dave Alexander says the film "eschewed the conventions of both the blaxploitation movie and the vampire story." He is right about that, as the blaxploitation elements are completely missing and the vampire story exists to draw parallels with religion (particularly Catholicism) and addiction. Alexander also points out the "feverish experimental soundtrack", which sounds overall positive to me. What I heard was very repetitive "music" that got increasingly annoying.

bates-mt In the history of Black cinema, Bill Gun's movie is certainly a bizarre oddity. It doesn't fit at all with the Blaxploitation films of the same period, nor is it in any conventional sense a horror film. It does address many recognizable aspects of Black culture (or, it might be more accurate to say, the "pop" culture version of it): the Baptist church, the gaudily-dressed pimp, the blonde-wigged whore, the gun play, the jive talk, the mystical back-to-Africa mythological hokum. However, its visual style owes more to Bergman (Hour of the Wolf) and Argento than to Van Peebles and others. This is a film about the corruptions and decadence of the Black bourgeoisie; before most folks even knew there was one. But this isn't the Cosby Show. Doomed from the outset--not because it doesn't have a striking visual style, it does--but because it failed to offer audiences, Black and White, the view of Black culture they crave, even today; the Black culture even Spike Lee invariably provides on cue. For this reason, a groundbreaking movie, and one worth another look and further re-evaluation. It has more than a hint of the Dorian Gray, of the knowingly camp, about it. Gunn makes it hard to tell how seriously to take the religious imagery and symbolism. If, however, a White director had made the scenes in the Black church--the behavior of the congregation as outlandishly over-the-top and "insane" as anything in the Dr. Hess household--he or she would surely have been accused of being racist. Gunn himself plays against Blaxploitation type: a somewhat effete intellectual, almost certainly homosexual, whose violence is ultimately entirely self-directed. The image of Black masculinity as vulnerably exposed, and painfully so, is perhaps more honestly revealed here than in any other "Black" film. Compared with this, even Lee only pussyfoots around the issue.

liddellr87 As I viewed this movie, I thought it was somewhat far out. However, the movie is entertaining and I must say somewhat ahead of it's time in cinema. The late actor Duane Jones was a stunningly, gorgeous man. His acting was impeccable. Duane Jones was also the main actor in the original horror movie "Night Of the Living Dead". The writing of the movie was good, though somewhat underdeveloped.The main actor and support actors add to the overall entertainment. This movie could have been classic mainstream horror, if it had been supported by increased cinematic budgeting. If you are a true horror fan, then this movie is a "gem in the ruff". Kudos! to late actor Duane Jones and the Writer of this movie for introducing classic horror on a budget. A must see!

richard-III GANJA AND HESS is indeed an offbeat film. It is interesting, because of it not wanting to be just a blaxploitation film of the seventies, but it has a looseness which often makes it wander around too much.Otherwise it points its finger to African culture, which is a great theme that could be investigated more often.Duane Jones is fascinating as ever, even he's made only so-and-so-much films. I originally came to see GANJA AND HESS because of Duane Jones' great performance in NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD.