Spike Lee’s had a tough few years. While “Red Hook Summer” got decent notices and made a splash at Sundance that year, the indie picture was far from box-office hit, even as specialty pictures are concerned (it could not crack $350K theatrically, but of course the picture made most of its money on VOD). Then there was his “Oldboy” remake, which was a flat out bomb, and then his latest film… well, the jury is still out on that one, but there is some good news.
Lee’s next project, the Kickstarter funded “Da Sweet Blood Of Jesus,” has found theatrical distribution, and Gravitas Films will release the movie in 2015. It’s a loose remake of Bill Gunn’s 1973 horror cult film “Ganja & Hess.”
Here’s the official synopsis:
A 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 a mysteriously cursed artifact by an art curator, Lafayette Hightower (Elvis Nolasco), he is uncontrollably drawn into a newfound thirst for blood that overwhelms his soul. He however is not a vampire. Lafayette quickly succumbs to the ravenous nature of the infliction but leaves Hess a transformed man. Soon Lafayette’s wife, Ganja Hightower (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. A reinterpretation of Bill Gunn’s horror cult film “Ganja & Hess”, which played as a Critics’ Choice at the 1973 Cannes Film Festival, Spike Lee’s stylized thriller features an Original Score by Bruce Hornsby.
The movie stars Stephen Tyrone Williams, Elvis Nolasco, and Zaraah Abrahams. The bad news is that the movie got ripped really hard by critics (including The Playlist) when it debuted this summer at the annual American Black Film Festival. That said, after ABFF there was some question whether the film would find distribution at all, so chalk one up for Spike. Gravitas will release the film theatrically and on video on demand, starting on February 13, 2015. Check out the new poster below. [Shadow & Act]
