By Stephen Pytak 

     This is the director's cut of a film which played the 
drive-in circuit in the 1970s called "Double Possession."
I admit I've never seen the drive-in cut, but "The Complete
Edition" is an awesome little oddity.
     While hailed in its time on the film festival circuit, its
distributors for whatever reason recut, retitled and 
supposedly ruined what was "Ganja & Hess," according
to people associated with the making the film interviewed
on the supplements of the 2006 DVD from All-Day.
     The leads keep it real, and are curious to watch. 
     The director's choices all around...very interesting.
Hired to make a black vampire movie, Bill Gunn, a 
Philadelphia native, made an art-house picture about 
addiction, culture clash and moral redemption; something 
more than just another black man's horror movie.
     Let's start with Duane Jones, star of George E. 
Romero's "Night of the Living Dead (1968)." Serious 
actor. Stoical. Can say a lot with just a glance. The kind
of actor you figure would have won an Oscar for 
something if the right gig came along.
     He plays a well-to-do historian and researcher, Dr.
Hess Green, who is stabbed by an ancient Myrthian dagger 
and cursed with a blood-drinking addiction.
     It's possible Hess was stabbed before the story in the film
takes place, according to David Kalat of All-Day 
Entertainment.
     Kalat offers explanations about this and other insights
on Bill Gunn's film in a section in the special features called 
"Ganja & Hess Reduced," which I found informative. 
     Hess feeds his addiction by robbing blood banks and
killing prostitutes, or anyone he invites to dinner. But the
real fun in this film comes from watching him react during
dinner or after-dinner conversation.
     "George," a fellow researcher played by the director, tries
to tell a joke about yelling "cut" in Amsterdam. He falls flat,
but Hess doesn't give him any relief, just broods with 
disinterest. George continues to try to make it work, but only
seems to test his host's patience. It's kinda funny to watch it
play out. 
     Hess shows some very different emotions later in the film
when he has dinner with "Ganja," played with enthusiasm 
by Marlene Clark.  She tells Hess about a bitter childhood 
memory about a snow ball fight that got her in trouble. 
It brings out the child in him. He chases her around the 
house. They rip apart some flower arrangement and toss it 
at each other.
     Ganja is George's wife. She has an affair with Hess once 
she learns her husband has "disappeared." She's full of life. 
Seems to want to live it up, like a queen. Under Gunn's 
direction, she's a lot of fun to watch. Clark is just as good as 
Jones here.
     The film does not play like some "black vampire" movie.
So don't go in looking for something like that. There are no
fangs or capes. 
     There's a lot of visual storytelling. Sometimes Hess has
visions. Tribal ancestors beckoning him. White men in 
masks glaring. He's a wealthy black man living
in white man's world, and sometimes I think these visions
represent his own insecurities about himself. 
     The film is also scored incredibly well by Sam Waymon. 
If there's a soundtrack, I want a copy.
     I'm sure Jones and Gunn were frustrated as all get out when 
the film they knew as "Ganja & Hess" was recut into something
else back in the day.
     The new DVD by All-Day is a monument to their talents.
     Jones died July 22, 1988. He was 52.
     Gunn died April 5, 1989. He was 54.
     Clark and Waymon speak on the audio commentary 
recorded in 1998 along with Producer Chiz Schultz and 
Director of Photography Jim Hinton.