A Kickstarter-financed Spike Lee Joint, DA SWEET BLOOD OF JESUS is a new kind of love story, one that centers on an addiction to blood that once doomed a long forgotten ancient African tribe. When Dr. Hess Green (Stephen Tyrone Williams) is introduced to, and then murdered with, a mysteriously cursed artifact by art curator Lafayette Hightower (Elvis Nolasco), he is uncontrollably drawn into a newfound thirst for blood that overwhelms his soul. Lafayette quickly succumbs to the ravenous nature of the infliction, killing himself, but leaves Hess a transformed man. Soon Lafayette’s wife, Ganja (Zaraah Abrahams), comes looking for her husband and becomes involved in a dangerous romance with Hess that questions the very nature of love, addiction, sex, and status in our seemingly sophisticated society. The couple marry, and Hess seems genuinely in love, while Ganja is genuinely in love with her new position, and not in the least bothered by her belief that Hess killed Lafayette for some reason which to her doesn’t need explaining. Together the couple claims more victims to feed their mutual, unnatural thirst.
Shot in only 16 days on a budget of $1.4 million, DA SWEET BLOOD OF JESUS is a fairly faithful remake of Bill Gunn’s horror cult 1973 film GANJA AND HESS, a low-budget oddity from the Blaxploitation era that I once saw at the drive-in under the title BLOOD COUPLE (it’s also known as BLACK VAMPIRE, BLACK EVIL, DOUBLE POSSESSION, and probably a couple of more titles). GANJA AND HESS had a ragged, meandering and unprofessional quality that had many viewers, especially horror fans, initially scratching their heads but now it’s considered an ahead-of-its-time masterpiece. Lee keeps his film in line with Gunn’s visionary, flamboyant style. All of the cars are vintage Rolls-Royces, while Hess’ home is the essence of taste, right down to the wine cellar Ganja may not enter without him in tow. But there’s also rich humor, from Rami Malek’s turn as Hess’ confused butler to a lawn party where Martha’s Vineyard socialites (including Donna Dixon!) who want to talk race in America and think Dr. Hess’ red, thick afternoon drink is just a particularly nasty Bloody Mary.
Lee succeeds in taking the time to carefully build these characters and allow the viewer to appreciate what is happening with them. DA SWEET BLOOD OF JESUS is a slow burn, over two hours, with long stretches where little happens on screen, but he gives the narrative the same nightmarishly surreal quality of Gunn’s 1973 film. This is Spike Lee’s most experimental work, with overlapping images, voice-overs and music that makes you feel as if you’re suffering from a crazed fever dream. His direction and dialogue are often self-consciously artsy but you have to respect Lee for going in unusual and ambitious directions, and there is one subtle scene involving a dead baby that is the stuff of nightmares. Pop artist Bruce Hornsby provides Lee with an almost overbearing soundtrack that varies from hip-hop and modern Gospel arrangements to Brazilian jazz-pop. Lee has always done interesting things with music and this is no exception. The opening credits call to mind those of Lee’s masterpiece DO THE RIGHT THING with dancer “Lil Buck” Riley performing in a variety of locales in Spike’s beloved Brooklyn.
On the downside, DA SWEET BLOOD OF JESUS is as heavy-handed and preachy as it sounds – literally with a long gospel performance near the end that stops the film dead in its tracks just as you’re waiting for it to wind up. I would have also liked more background on the African curse that sets the plot in motion. Who cursed them? What are the rules for this particular strain of Vampirism? Also, the two leads, Stephen Tyrone Williams and British actress Zaraah Abrahams (who performs half of her scenes nude) both seem stiff and amateurish – some of their dialog reading is a chore to sit through. And it bugged me that Spike Lee gives Bill Gunn a specious co-writing credit here. Gunn died in 1989 so no one knows whether he would have wanted his name attached to this project or not. A “based on characters created by” credit would have sufficed. DA SWEET BLOOD OF JESUS is uneven, bloody, bold, and weird – certainly not for everyone – but for fans of Spike Lee there is much to recommend.
DA SWEET BLOOD OF JESUS will be released on Blu-ray May 26th from Anchor Bay and We Are Movie Geeks has had a sneak peek.
DA SWEET BLOOD OF JESUS looks terrific on Blu-ray. Anchor Bay’s 1080p, widescreen 2.35:1-framed image sourced from a high end HD video shoot yields spectacular results all around. Image clarity excels, revealing the clean but nearly film-like picture in all its textural and colorful glory. Facial lines and intimate skin details pass for lifelike in every close-up shot with particular praise for the dark red blood that is often licked up off the floor. This 1.4 million dollar movie looks like it cost at least ten times that much.
DA SWEET BLOOD OF JESUS features a straightforward, no-frills sort of Dolby TrueHD 5.1 soundtrack. Despite the relative lack of activity, what’s here is presented very nicely, cleanly and robust when necessary, especially the music which purposely dominates.
There are no extras.
