Da Sweet Blood of Jesus

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Da Sweet Blood of Jesus

Released Feb 13, 2015

2h 3m

Mystery & Thriller

Comedy

Drama

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

48%

Tomatometer

42 Reviews

20%

Popcornmeter

250+ Ratings

An anthropologist (Stephen Tyrone Williams) awakes with a thirst for blood after an assistant stabs him with a cursed dagger.

Critics Consensus

Da Sweet Blood of Jesus has no shortage of style, but it isn't enough to make this horror-tinged Spike Lee joint one of his best -- or worth recommending.

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Dwight Brown

National Newspaper Publishers Association

Spike Lee, the old guard of black indie filmmaking, gets his mojo back with this classy, urbane vampireish art film that is a beauty to behold. Sophisticated, demented, eerie, erotica, prepare to be shocked and flabbergasted.

Mar 15, 2017

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Jason Bailey

Flavorwire

It's a startlingly incompetent film, suggesting that we've reached a point where Lee's instincts as a filmmaker - so unimpeachable a quarter century ago - have abandoned him entirely.

Jun 18, 2016

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Richard Roeper

Chicago Sun-Times

"Da Sweet Blood of Jesus" is a bold but wildly uneven, bloody mess of a film, sunk in large part by the subpar performances by nearly every major character in nearly every major role.

Rated: 1.5

Feb 26, 2015

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Nicholas Bell

IONCINEMA.com

This is an intelligent conversation piece that will certainly not be for all tastes. And yet even its detractors can't deny Lee's compelling flavor.

Rated: 3/5

Jul 18, 2019

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Lauren Humphries-Brooks

Citizen Dame

Da Sweet Blood of Jesus takes the basic plot of Ganja & Hess, its concerns about addiction, racial identity, and religiosity, and shifts the conversation to focus on the relationship between race, classism, and gender.

Feb 20, 2019

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Nick Newman

The Film Stage

Praise God. Da Sweet Blood of Jesus is Spike Lee's freest-feeling endeavor in a spell.

Rated: A-

Mar 28, 2016

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steve d

Perhaps Lee's worst. Deeply unpleasant and no one to root for.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

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a.l.jude p

Oh.. what a mess .. funny to the hilt.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

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Audience Member

While obviously flawed, after seeing the abysmal audience score, I was expecting one of the worst films I'd ever seen. Instead I got an effective vampire flick with boosts of adrenaline, quirky humor, and an original allegorical perspective, shaping itself as just as much an addiction drama as it is monster movie horror, and spiritual existential reawakening. The movie's pretty bleak, explicit, and depressing as well as overlong, I found it original and enertainingly subversive. Just know it's not for everyone and it isn't anything amazing. 7.75/10.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

01/13/23

Full Review

camille l

La variation de Spike Lee par rapport au film de vampires n'est pas dénuée d'intérêt tant elle regorge de tout ce qui fait de l'oeuvre du newyorkais. Les expérimentations visuelles presque hors de propos sont présentes, les longues plages de dialogue et de silence aussi, comme quelques uns de ses acteurs fétiches (Rami Malek & Thomas Jefferson Byrd sont évidemment présents, le premier étant excellent dans un rôle en total contre emploi). Cependant, Da Sweet Blood of Jesus est aussi une oeuvre excessive, à l'image de Bamboozled, mais sans le côté contestataire et quasiment méchant de l'auteur. Ici, Da Sweet Blood of Jesus est juste un conte sur l'addiction, efficace la plupart du temps mais qui lorsqu'elle se plante en devient presque un pensum.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

There's enough there to make it watchable, if you generally enjoy Lee's work. It's probably twenty five minutes too long. Reminds me of the style from Kubrick's Barry Lyndon - a long character epic of a social misfit.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/23/23

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Audience Member

Interesting at the very least. Not as bad as people here say it is.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/16/23

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Spike Lee

Director

Stephen Tyrone Williams

Dr. Hess Greene

Zaraah Abrahams

Ganja Hightower

Rami Malek

Seneschal Higginbottom

Elvis Nolasco

Lafayette Hightower

Thomas Jefferson Byrd

Bishop Zee

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Synopsis

An anthropologist (Stephen Tyrone Williams) awakes with a thirst for blood after an assistant stabs him with a cursed dagger.

Director: Spike Lee
Producer: Spike Lee, Chiz Schultz
Screenwriter: Spike Lee, Vinnie LaRocksta
Distributor: Gravitas Ventures
Production Co: 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks
Genre: Mystery & Thriller, Comedy, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Feb 13, 2015, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 10, 2016
Runtime: 2h 3m