Da Sweet Blood of Jesus
This is an odd case in that I'm not entirely sure how much I even like this movie, but I still feel compelled to support it. Part of that is that I'm a lifelong fan of Spike Lee and find that even his failures are almost always worth watching (ok, maybe not Oldboy, but I doubt even Spike would begrudge you for skipping that one). Another part is tremendous affection for the source material, Bill Gunn's 1973 sorta-vampire opus Ganja & Hess, a pretty great unsung little horror movie about a doctor who develops a thirst for blood after being stabbed with an ancient ceremonial dagger. At the very least, this is something unlike anything else Spike has ever done, for better and for worse.
Spike's remake doesn't stray far from the source (to the point where Gunn is credited as a writer), both to its credit and to its detriment. There's some very powerful imagery in this version (and especially for a movie that was shot in only 16 days the visuals are quite striking), but a lot of it is so slavish to the original that it feels a bit too familiar. Also, it doesn't help matters much that Stephen Tyrone Williams is no Duane Jones and his performance as Dr. Hess Greene is nowhere near as nuanced and electric as Jones' was. I've only ever seen Jones in Ganja & Hess, Night of the Living Dead, and Beat Street (almost half his filmography, he made very few movies) but he had a presence that demanded your attention, whereas Williams has a presence that demands you ingest caffeine.
Performance issues aside (and to be fair it's not just Williams, there are a few weak performances on display) the movie does manage to cast a spell over its two-hours-plus running time. It's very stylish and the soundtrack is terrific (again often the case with Spike) and while it feels like the messages about race and class often get lost in the style, it's still striking enough visually to warrant a recommendation. It'll never overshadow the original for me, but it's a worthy retelling that will hopefully lead a new generation to rediscover Gunn's film (wishful thinking, that, considering I believe I'm one of maybe six people who have ever seen this version, seeing as it was unceremoniously dumped onto VOD & home video with no fanfare. A shame, because it deserves an audience).
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