Ganja and Hess

My first impression of Ganja and Hess was that I was often really confused at times and came to understand why it has been labeled as "boring." The film progressed so slowly, I didn't even really consider it to be that horrifying. I definitely found it to be uncomfortable, but I never really felt the sense of dread I usually do when viewing a horror film. I remember someone (I forgot who... I am so sorry) bringing up the idea of slow violence in the class discussion and I found that to be really interesting. So much of the actual violence in this film is implied - the audience rarely sees the murders in graphic detail. Perhaps this is why a horror audience that thrives off of graphic violence was initially uninterested in this film. I felt like this film was more perplexing to me than it was horrifying.

I think that our class discussion helped me see just how many different issues this film displays and complicates. One of them being the depiction of Hess as a successful, wealthy, black man who is slowly feeding off of his community to survive. After considering this aspect of Ganja and Hess, I am wondering if this could possibly sway the viewer away from sympathizing with Hess. I know for me, I started to be irritated by Ganja's character when she was being super rude to the butler. The curse of becoming a vampire really could have happened to anyone, so it is interesting that the decision was made to have it affect a very wealthy man and ultimately be his demise. It is a confusing situation. While we can see that Hess cannot control his thirst for blood, it is so upsetting to see him prey on people in lower economic classes than him. While I found this film to be somewhat slow and a little boring at times, I still feel like there is so much to unpack it is a little overwhelming.