Sinners (Ryan Coogler, 2025)
Vampires take a bloody bite out of the Deep South
Sinners is a hot movie.
I mean that in multiple senses.
First of all, it was a hot movie — a legitimate box office hit — topping the charts for three consecutive weekends with minimal drop off in revenue each week. To date it has earned $365 million worldwide, countless rave reviews, and (along with A Minecraft Movie) turned the tide of fortunes for the unto recently anemic Warner Bros. studios.
Sinners is that movie that industry pundits will point to for some time to come as they argue that audiences are desperately hungry for original stories, that horror as a genre can perform gangbusters, and that representation matters (Sinner’s opening was the strongest for a live‑action original film since Jordan Peele’s Us). All of which is correct and all of which at this point shouldn’t need repeating.
It’s also a hot movie in that it perfectly captures the sense of sticky, sweaty summertime in the deep south… of sexy, sultry nightclub romances… of scorched-earth fire and musical madness… (Special praise should go to composer Ludwig Göransson whose delectable score is practically dripping in sweat. It is magnificent.)
Sinners is a horror movie, but it doesn’t rush right into the horror. Nor is that all it is. Instead, the film takes its time, patiently establishing the world and the characters of its story. In a nutshell: identical twins (both played by Michael B. Jordan) return home to Clarksdale, Mississippi, where they set about setting up a Black juke joint for a killer (pun absolutely intended) opening night.
There are the usual racial tensions you might expect from such a setup, but they are not at the forefront of the story, despite the film touching on themes of systematic racism and oppression, cultural appropriation and identity, and White supremacy as a corrupting force. Rather, the movie is largely a lot of fun within this context as we follow the twins as they get ready for their big night.
Dusty old Oscar bait this certainly isn’t — although the film is rightly considered a major frontrunner for the upcoming awards, which it absolutely should be.
Crucially, we also meet the third lead character, their cousin Sammie — a musical prodigy who will play at the brothers’ club on their opening night. He is key to the movie’s plot. You see, in the film’s opening we are told of individuals known as Griots who have existed across time and cultures — in ancient Ireland, in Choctaw land, in West Africa — who possess a musical gift capable of transcending the veil between life and death, summoning spirits from the past and future.
“This gift can bring healing to their communities... but it also attracts evil.”
The film’s centerpiece — a tour-de-force performance by Sammie — does indeed break the walls of time and space, as the juke joint comes alive with past and future echoes of other inordinately talented musicians: West African drummers, shamans, and dancers, electric guitarists and DJs, ballerinas and opera singers, Xique artists, crip walkers…
It is a spectacularly powerfully and transcendently cinematic scene. And it does bring healing to the juke joint’s community. But it also attracts evil.
A band of vampires descend on the building — attracted by Sammie’s magical gift but also with a thirst for blood. And while the movie kinda sorta goes into Dusk Till Dawn territory at this point, it’s better than that…
Since the groundwork has been so diligently laid, we really do care about these characters. We want each of them to survive for reasons specific to their individual characters. Whenever one of them does something stupid, we groan — but we get it. We understand why they did the thing.
Point is, they’re not just stereotypes, we know them as individuals — and so Sinners is more than just another “bunch of people trapped in a building where they must survive the night” horror film, it continues along its original trajectory.
Only now, there’s the added dimension of bloodthirsty vampires chomping at the bit to get across the threshold.
Sinners has a lot going on. A lot a lot. And my review doesn’t even scratch the surface of true critical appreciation of the film. Others have done that better than I could. The main thing I want to say is Sinners is a fucking masterpiece. Coogler is a masterful writer and director and in Sinners he has birthed, yes, a great horror movie — but also a great film, period.
And as a devout fan of The X-Files, I’m chuffed that the franchise that meant so much to me as a teen is in such capable hands. Yes, folks, next up for Coogler, he’s tackling the X-Files reboot.