Set in 1932 in Clarksdale, Mississippi, Sinners takes place throughout one night in the middle of October. Sammie Moore (the feature film debut of Miles Caton) is at a crossroads in his life. He is torn between being the son of a preacher and the blues-driven nightlife where he gets to sing, play guitar, and feel alive. Sammie submerges himself in the blues seemingly having little desire to return to his family’s religious roots.
Sammie’s twin cousins Smoke and Stack (both played by Michael B. Jordan) have just returned home after spending seven years in Chicago. With a mobster-like reputation, the twins intend to jumpstart a new jukejoint at an old sawmill previously owned by Klan members. However, they want the grand opening to be that very night, have several arrangements to be made, and have little time to get it all done.
As dusk turns to night and the twins’ new club seems to be off to a successful grand opening, an unspeakable evil lurks on their doorstep waiting to be invited in.
Writer and director Ryan Coogler (Black Panther, Creed) was highly inspired by the works of Robert Rodriguez, so it’s no surprise that Sinners feels like a blacker and more blues-driven version of From Dusk Til Dawn. Sinners is a supernatural action horror film, but it takes its time getting to the horror. The first half of the film is like a well-written gangster film mostly driven by dialogue while introducing a cast of characters that are mostly all worthwhile and entertaining in their ways.
Smoke and Stack have two extremely different personalities with opposing fates in Sinners, which must have been incredible for Michael B. Jordan. Smoke is more serious and lethal like a soldier while Stack is more eccentric and playful in his demeanor. Smoke also wears blue while Stack wears red. The dual performances allow Jordan to dip his toes into being a hero and a villain, two different types of music, and the dark and the light.
This is a vampire film, but it’s also a film about music. Music is the most important aspect of Sinners. The film states that the power of music can heal communities and attract evil. The initial battle between those within the club and the outside dwelling vampires starts as a mostly blacks versus whites standoff but evolves into something much more elaborate.
Like all Ryan Coogler films, Sinners is extremely black-centric but the film also incorporates several different nationalities in a period when whites thought they were the only decent race. The grocery store owners are Chinese, a biracial girl follows Stack from the north back down to the south, and Remmick (Jack O’Connell), the lead vampire, is introduced being chased by Native Americans. The African aspects allow for a deeper appreciation for the film’s stellar score and put much-needed rejuvenation to the cinematic vampire.
Sinners is also a clashing of music genres with the human characters strumming on the blues side of things while the vampires and outsiders lean into Irish folk music and jig dancing. There is this jaw-dropping sequence within the wooden walls of Club Juke when Sammie finally gets to show how talented he is as a musician. It showcases all types of music, classic and contemporary, that have essentially evolved from or been inspired by gutbucket blues (blues or jazz music featuring raw emotions and a gritty, soulful sound).
Vampire folklore is toyed with in a way that is incredibly satisfying in Sinners. The concept of being invited in is something the film approaches extremely well. Music is utilized by both sides to either attempt to keep the living together and safe or to lure them outside to become part of a red-eyed, bloodthirsty pack of undead. There’s the typical lore you expect in a vampire film like trying to use garlic to fend them off and making wooden stakes to drive through their hearts.
But in other vampire films if you kill the head vampire it can either cure those that have been changed or kill all of them. Sinners takes a different route stating that each vampire has to be killed regardless on if their leader is slain. Hoodoo also plays a major part in the film. Wunmi Mosaku (His House, Deadpool & Wolverine) portrays Annie. Annie has an emotional connection to Smoke, but she also practices hoodoo, which allows her to be the voice of reason when bodies start piling up.
Sinners is one of the horniest films to come out of the first part of the year. Films have kind of shied away from showcasing nudity and sex with recent films. Everyone in Sinners is bursting with lust and when they’re not in the middle of copulating or performing cunnilingus or fellatio they’re talking about it in graphic detail.
Sinners is a scary, hilarious, and gloriously horny bloodbath with one hell of a bluesy score. An instant, masterful, and exceptional horror classic that deserves to be seen on the biggest screen possible.
