Black Vampire

The film was released theatrically several times by different distributors and under different titles. Initially released as "Ganja and Hess" by Kelly/Jordan Enterprises in 1973, it failed at the box-office and was then picked up by Heritage Enterprises. Heritage re-edited the film and released it under the title "Blood Couple" later that same year. This version included 15 minutes of footage not used in the original release print, despite being 33 minutes shorter overall, and was marketed as a blaxploitation film. This same cut was released to theaters by Goldstone Films as "Double Possession" in 1975.

Star Marlene Clark said the first time she saw the movie was at the opening-night screening in New York. "There was a splashy party afterward -- and being the lead actress, I was pretty much the star of the party!" She said in an interview. "Nothing like that had ever happened to me before. It was wonderful." The bubble burst the next day, however, when almost every New York critic panned the film. "When I read the reviews, I thought, 'They didn't get it,'" Clark remembers. "Many critics believe that black people make very straightforward, literal movies -- so Bill was really an enigma to them. They just did not understand what he had done. It never found much of an audience, but a number of industry people saw it, especially in New York, so I was offered some other movies."

Marlene Clark said "I loved working with Bill Gunn because he was so imaginative, creative and totally committed to the material. GANJA AND HESS was his dream, his vision, and there wasn't a thing he wouldn't do to make it work. And in the process, he brought people together. Film crews had been traditionally all-white, yet here was a crew that was totally mixed -- and their devotion to Bill, and to what he was trying to say, was really quite impressive."

Spike Lee remade this film as Da Sweet Blood of Jesus (2014).