Ozzy Osbourne-Dreamer

For all my friends and neighbors suffering in the Gulf right now. Will mother earth survive?

Ganja and Hess

Ganja and Hess is a 1973 Vampires film starring Duane Jones.  Jones is best known for his role of Ben in George Romero's classic Night of the Living Dead.  Jones plays Dr Hess Green a archaeologist studying the ancient African kingdom of Myrthia.  His assistant played by Bill Gunn, who also directs, is unstable and subject to bouts of violence.  In one of his "freak outs" he stabs Green with an ancient Mythrian dagger and becomes infected with vampirism.   After the assistant commits suicide his wife shows up searching for him and almost immediately falls in love with Hess and the two get married.  While Ganja seems more than complacent in her new vampiric lifestyle, Hess seeks release from the curse.  Playing vampirism for the most part more realistically than most films, they can walk in the sunlight and do not have fangs, they do crave blood and are essentially immortal.  Hess does eventually find his release.

Ganja and Hess is a slow moving film but thanks in large part to the acting of Jones and Marlene Clark as Ganja, the film is never boring.  It is visually very colorful and trippy fitting in with the time period it was filmed.  Not excessively gory there are some scenes of fairly explicit violence. 

At its most basic Ganja and Hess is a very unconventional vampire film.  Below the surface it is also a film about addiction, comparing the addiction of drugs to slavery.  The characters names are a not subtle hint at what this film is about, Hess being slang for hash and Ganja a common slang for marijuana.  The only cure for vampirism in Ganja and Hess is surrendering to religion.  This echos the role of religion in breaking drug addiction in real life.  While many may argue that religion is just a placebo, it is a fact that many religious organizations are active in fighting addiction.  Likewise religion was a vital part in freedom from slavery and a integral part of African American culture.

In the modern age of vampire redaction and pre-teen pablum such as Twilight, it is interesting to see a truly original take on vampirism.  Ganja and Hess is not a kiddie film as it contains nudity, sex, violence and drug use among other nasties.  Ganja and Hess belong to an era where story was more important than flash, and leading men needed talent not just emo hair and smooth skin.   If you are a true horror fan, fan of Duane Jones or just a real movie fan, do yourself a favor and check out Ganja and Hess

Djinns named changed to Stranded

The French horror film Djinns has been retitled to Stranded.  It deals with a group of Ferench soldiers sent into the desert where the come face to face with the legendary Djinns.  The official synopsis are below as well as an original poster for Djinns.


The North African Desert of the Sahara - 1960. Soldiers are sent on a rescue mission in the desert. Trapped in a sand storm, isolated from their commander, they run into Algerian rebels. As they seek shelter in an uncharted village another, invisible, threat comes out from the desert -- the Djinns. As their ranks are decimated, they'll face the longest night of their lives.

Cthulhu's Reign

Picked this book up Friday and so far it has been an intereting read.  It takes a novel approach to Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos.  Where in Lovecraft, and most if those seeking to expand on the mythos, keep the great Cthulhu firmly buried beneath the sea, this book looks at what happens when the Elder One finally awakens.  The stories all vary but remain fairly consistant.  It would take little work to imagine that all the stories take place in a persistant universe.  I'm a little over halfway through and haven;t found a story I totally dislike yet

The Church (La Chiesa) (1989) Official Trailer

Throwback to classic Italian horror, I give you the trailer to The Church or La Chiesa!! Also known as Demons 3 for a long time I thought it was directed by Dario Argento. The Church was actually directed by Michele Soavi, but when I first saw the film it was promoted as Dario Argento's the Church. Whatever name or however promoted The Church is great fun for fans of Italian horror. Check out the trailer!

John Carpenter set to direct Fangland

I don't know a lot about this other than it is a modern retelling of Dracula, still it is good to see Carpenter at the helm of a film again.  Hopefully it will be better than Ghosts of Mars.  Carpenter still has the goods, as he showed in Cigarette Burns.  Unfortunately  he followed that Masters of Horror success with  the weak Pro-Life.  Will we see the man who brought us Halloween andEscape From New York?  Or will it be the Carpenter who appears happy to just rest in his past

Horror Hottie Christa Campbell!

The Milk Maiden is back!!!

I will try and add more pictures of Christa when I have more time but for now enjoy1