Bathtub Teeth Brushing.
Trace and I are cruising through April en route to our live show at Salem Horror Festival this weekend, but we’ve been keeping busy with episodes on Stephen Dunn’s Closet Monster, Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Killing of a Sacred Deer, and, most recently, Tony Scott’s The Hunger.
This week we celebrated the 50th anniversary of trailblazing Black queer writer/director Bill Gunn‘s Ganja & Hess (1973). This gorgeous, surreal, and unconventional vampire film stars Duane Jones and Marlene Clark as the titular pair of lovers.
Hess (Jones) is a multi-hyphenate Doctor who is also secretly a vampire. He often preys on members of his community, though his wealth and education keeps him isolated. When suicidal assistant George Meda (Gunn) takes his own life at Hess’ home, the man’s wife (Clark) quickly comes calling.
What begins as an investigation quickly turns into a sexualized affair, but as the bodies pile up, it’s only a matter of time before Ganja & Hess’ vampiric activities are discovered. Or will Hess’ desire to be free of the curse prompt him to seek out a more permanent religious solution from Reverend Luther Williams (musician Sam Waymon)?
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Episode 226 – Ganja & Hess (1973)
Grab your body glitter and avoid the shadow of the cross because we’re talking Bill Gunn’s Ganja & Hess (1973) for its 50th anniversary! Along for the ride is Brother Ghoulish himself, Ryan Kinney, who brings keen insight into the intersection between colonialism, vampirism and religion.
Plus: celebrating Marlene Clark’s iconic performance, the film’s visualization of Black bodies, debating the villainy of the titular characters, Gunn’s status as a Black gay filmmaker in the 70s, and Trace’s disgust over brushing your teeth in the bath.
Cross out Ganja & Hess!
Coming up on Wednesday: We’re celebrating Alien Day with a look at the costly, philosophical, and frequently maddening Alien prequel, Prometheus (2012).
P.S. Subscribe to our Patreon for more than 238 hours of additional content! This month, we’ve got episodes on make-or-break horror movie endings, the latest Children of the Corn film, season 1 of Amazon Prime’s Swarm, and Renfield. Our audio commentary for the month will be on Rob Zombie’s House of 1000 Corpses.
The post Race, Religion, and Vampires in Bill Gunn’s ‘Ganja & Hess’ [Horror Queers Podcast] appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.