“You’re into horror movies. I can dig it.”
Ganja & Hess is a film that’s been on my watchlist for years, but I’ve never gotten around to it. In the spirit of the New Year, I finally took the plunge and immersed myself in one of the most iconic, experimental blaxploitation and arthouse movies ever.
This film leaves a lot to the imagination and not every single plot point is discussed or circled back to…and honestly by the end of my viewing, I was sort of fine with it. The set designs were beautiful and I love the use of music/chants in this. The religious allegories and almost sacrilegious nature in this film is an essay in and of itself, but I liked how the movie weaved the Black church with vampirism. The editing and spliced storytelling makes this all the more fun. The portrayal of the complexities of Black identity and Black representation in this film goes without saying.
My only question after watching is: why aren’t there more contemporary Black vampire films?
Originally published at https://letterboxd.com.
