Ganja & Hess

SYNOPSIS

Flirting with the conventions of blaxploitation and the horror cinema, Bill Gunn’s revolutionary independent film GANJA & HESS is a highly stylized and utterly original treatise on sex, religion, and African American identity. Duane Jones (Night of the Living Dead) stars as anthropologist Hess Green, who is stabbed with an ancient ceremonial dagger by his unstable assistant (director Bill Gunn), endowing him with the blessing of immortality, and the curse of an unquenchable thirst for blood. When the assistant’s beautiful and outspoken wife Ganja (Marlene Clark) comes searching for her vanished husband, she and Hess form an unexpected partnership. Together, they explore just how much power there is in the blood.

Later recut and released in an inferior version, this Kino Classics edition represents the original release, restored by The Museum of Modern Art with support from The Film Foundation, and mastered in HD from a 35mm negative.

REVIEWS

“One of the most literate, allegorical, and evasive of all horror films.” - David Walker and Tim Lucas, Video Watchdog

“AN UNDERGROUND CLASSIC... the most complicated, intriguing, subtle, sophisticated, and passionate Black film of the Seventies.” - James Monaco, American Film Now

DVD Features

• Mastered in HD from the newly restored 35mm negative
• “The Blood of the Thing” (29 min.), an interview-based documentary produced for the 1998 DVD release
• Audio commentary by producer Chiz Schultz, actress Marlene Clark, cinematographer James Hinton, and composer Sam Waymon
• Original screenplay by Bill Gunn (DVD-ROM access only)
• Essay on the making of the film (and subsequent recutting) by David Walker and Tim Lucas (DVD-ROM access only)
• Photo gallery

Blu-ray Features

• Mastered in HD from the newly restored 35mm negative
• “The Blood of the Thing” (29 min.), an interview-based documentary produced for the 1998 DVD release
• Audio commentary by producer Chiz Schultz, actress Marlene Clark, cinematographer James Hinton, and composer Sam Waymon
• Original screenplay by Bill Gunn (BD-ROM access only)
• Essay on the making of the film (and subsequent recutting) by David Walker and Tim Lucas (BD-ROM access only)
• Photo gallery