HORROR BUSINESS Episode 160: GANJA & HESS and VAMP

           Greetings, and welcome back to Horror Business. We’ve got one heck of an episode in store for you guys as we’re talking about 1973’s Ganja & Hess and 1986’s Vamp.             First off thank you to the fine folks over at Lehigh Valley Apparel Creations, the premiere screen-printing company of the Lehigh Valley. Chris Reject and his merry band of miscreants are ready to work with you to bring to life your vision of a t-shirt for your business, band, project, or whatever else it is you need represented by a shirt, sweater, pin, or coozy. Head on over to www.xlvacx.com to check them out. Thank you also to Essex Coffee Roasters, our newest sponsor. Head to www.essexcoffeeroasters.com to check out their fine assortment of coffee and enter CINEPUNX in the promo code for ten percent off your order! And as always thank you to our Patreon subscribers. Your support means the world to us and we are eternally thankful. If you would like to become a Patron, head to patreon.com/cinepunx. Thanks in advance!             We briefly talk what we’ve doing involving horror recently. We talk about the films Weapons, Together, and Who Can Kill A Child?, and The Fantastic Four: First Steps.             Up first is Ganja & Hess. Justin talks about how this is his first time viewing the movie, and how it goes against a lot of horror tropes and stereotypes and defies the norms of “blaxploitation.” We talk about Bill Gunn’s emphasis both on traditional Christian imagery and African spirituality as well as the themes of addiction present in the film. The concept of romance being found in a cursed relationship is discussed, in that it’s a film in the tradition of “is love more important that XYZ?” Bill Gunn’s interpretation of “the black experience” through the film is discussed, as is how that element of the film may have hampered Its commercial success. The element of traditional folk horror of something that was once lost is returning to corrupt is touched up. The career of writer/director Bill Gunn is discussed, as is Spike Lee’s maligned remake of the film.             Up next is Vamp. Justin talks about his celebrity crush on Grace Jones and how this movie messed with his head by turning her into a horrifying monster. We talk about how unfortunately she is largely the only good thing in this film, and how it almost makes no sense that she’s in it because she’s only in it for a very short period of time and yet is treated as the main creature. Justin talks about how the villains in the film (Billy Drago and Grace Jones) are by far the most compelling characters, and we talk about how despite being a horror film it felt very much like problematic ‘80s comedies, almost like a Porky’s with vampires/any other annoying ‘80s comedy. We talk about how unlike other ‘80s horror comedies like Fright Night this film lacks any sort of real emotional core. We discuss the film as a “sweaty LA movie” on HBO/ late night cable.             As always thank you for listening and to everyone and anyone who donated on Patreon, checked this episode out, or shared a tweet/shared a post on FB/gave us love by recommending us to someone. We love you forever for listening and donating. Any questions, comments, suggestions for movies and guests, or if you yourself want to join us for a movie viewing or even an episode, can be sent to [email protected]. We would love to hear from you! Thanks always to Justin Miller, Jacob Roberts, Paul Sharkey, and Doug Tilley for their technical contributions and fliers, Mike Smaczylo for the shirts and fliers (you can check more of his work out at here), and also thanks to Josh Alvarez for the theme song, Chris, Brad, and LVAC for the support and buttons (check them out at www.xlvacx.com and on Twitter), Essex Coffee Roasters (www.essexcoffeeroasters.com) and a HUGE thank you to anyone who retweeted us or shared something on Facebook that we posted. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram at @thehorrorbiz666, like us on Facebook at facebook.com/thehorrorbiz66, check out our Spotify account at Cinepunx, and remember to rate, review, and subscribe to us on ITunes. In fact, if you write us a review, email us with your mailing address and we’ll send you some free pins and stickers!  Check out www.cinepunx.com for more info on some of our other podcasts, some ultra-stylish Cinepunx related merchandise, and how you can donate to our Patreon! Until next time…thanks!