Da Sweet Blood of Jesus is a 2014 American horror film directed by Spike Lee. The plot is about a wealthy anthropologist who is stabbed by an ancient African dagger and turned into a vampire. Lee has said the film is about "[h]uman beings who are addicted to blood" and called it "[a] new kind of love story." The film is a remake of the 1973 film Ganja & Hess (with original writer Bill Gunn receiving a credit as co-writer, along with Lee). It was the first of Lee's films to be funded through Kickstarter. The film was released on June 22, 2014, at the American Black Film Festival as the closing film, and was released in theaters and on VOD on February 14, 2015, by Gravitas Ventures.
Plot
The film opens with an unnamed dancer (Charles "Lil Buck" Riley) dancing in various locations around Brooklyn during the credit sequence.
From there, the plot follows Dr. Hess Green (Stephen Tyrone Williams), a wealthy African-American anthropologist and art collector who acquires a dagger originating in the ancient Ashanti Empire, a highly advanced civilization that, Green claims, became addicted to blood transfusions. That night, Lafayette Hightower (Elvis Nolasco), an emotionally unstable colleague from the museum which acquired the dagger, visits Green's impressive, African-art covered Martha's Vineyard mansion. The two cordially discuss history and philosophy, but once Green has retired for the evening, Hightower becomes drunk and climbs a tree with a noose, claiming he wants to commit suicide. Green successfully talks him down, but later that night Hightower attacks and stabs Green with the Ashanti ceremonial dagger, killing him. Sometime later, Green is shocked to awaken—unscathed. He hears a gunshot and, upon discovering that Hightower has killed himself, he instinctively drinks Hightower's blood. He discovers that he is invulnerable to physical harm, can no longer tolerate normal food and drink, and has an insatiable need for more blood. Though he steals several bags of blood from a doctor's office, he quickly finds that he needs fresh victims. The first is a prostitute Lucky Mays (Felicia Pearson) who, shockingly, reawakens—only after he has discovered that her blood is HIV-positive. After a period of tension, it is determined that he has not contracted the virus.
Soon, Hightower's estranged ex-wife, Ganja Hightower (Zaraah Abrahams), arrives at Green's house searching for her ex-husband, who owes her money. Green and Ganja quickly become lovers, and she moves into Green's expansive mansion. He departs "on business" and kills Sahara Paysinger, a young woman with a baby (Jeni Perillo) whom he meets in a public park in Brooklyn. While Green is away, Ganja unwittingly discovers her ex-husband's corpse—frozen in his wine cellar—she is initially angry, but after Green explains what happened and tells her that he loves her, she agrees to marry him. On the honeymoon night, he stabs her with the Ashanti dagger so that she will share immortality with him. Ganja is initially horrified by her new existence, but Green teaches her how to survive. He brings home an old female acquaintance Tangier Chancellor (Naté Bova), for Ganja's first kill. Ganja seduces and then strangles Tangier. Ganja and Hess bury Tangier's body, even though, like Lucky from before, her "corpse" reawakens.
Green tells Ganja he is tired of this life and eventually visits a Red Hook church where he is moved by an energetic musical performance and approaches the altar to have the pastor lay hands on him. Meanwhile, back at home, Ganja murders Green's loyal domestic servant Seneschal Higginbottom (Rami Malek). When she searches for Green to confess, she finds him in the shadow of a cross, dying. Green dies in her arms, glad to be at peace. Ganja, though saddened by his death, lives on, presumably continuing her vampire-esque lifestyle. At the movie's closing, we see her walk out to the beach and gaze out into the water. Tangier appears, still naked, approaches her then turns and they stand side by side facing the horizon.