Video Review: 'Ganja & Hess'

Following 1972’s Blacula came this vampire story starring the imposing Duane Jones of Night of the Living Dead. After one week in theaters, it was hacked by 32 minutes and renamed several times, only to fall out of circulation for years. Jones plays a wealthy man whose stabbing by an ancient dagger sends him into the black community to quench his newfound thirst for blood, creating a subtly disquieting film that’s more about class and assimilation than neck bites. One of All Day’s first releases, it has a decent print, a rambling but amiable audio commentary from many of the principals (except for late writer-director Bill Gunn), and a lengthy article by Tim Lucas and David Walker on its production history. The movie: B- The extras: B