People think that horror movies need a haunted house, vengeful ghosts or jump scares around every corner. But Sinners redefines the genre, using the blues and an Irish vampire with a dark history and a darker purpose. Set in the Jim Crow-era, the film follows twins Smoke and Stack (both played by Micheal B. Jordan) as they return home to open a juke joint, only to find a vampiric evil awaiting.
The film opens with Sammie (played by Miles Caton) riding up to a church in bloodied clothes, clutching his broken guitar as he interrupts his father’s sermon. Christianity is an extremely prevalent theme throughout the film. It is seen as a source of hope but also a repressing tool. The church offers Sammie sanctuary, but also pushes him into a corner. He is repeatedly told to give up music because it was viewed as a sinful or even demonic act. The film complicates the familiar trope of Christianity being a weapon of evil. The vampires in the film recite the Lord’s prayer, suggesting faith without conviction is powerless. Only holy water and sincere prayer prove to be effective on the vampires.
Music, specifically the blues, plays a central part in this movie. Sammie’s guitar and his magical ability of music serve as powerful symbols of unity and destruction. In one of the film’s most memorable scenes, Sammie’s music summons a range of spectral musicians from different generations and genres (everything from rap to gospel), forming an ancestral gathering of music. However, the power of Sammie’s music attracts the vampires. Remmick (played by Jack O’Connell) is drawn to the juke joint not only for the blood, but to connect with his lost ones. This dynamic serves as a metaphor for the exploitation of Black artistry as they are forced to live in a society where their culture is stolen while they are denied ownership and credit.
The film’s central location, the sawmill bought by the Smokestack twins for the juke joint, carries a dark history of its own. It was once a killing floor where the local KKK executed many African Americans. This venue, haunted by the past, is built up and transformed into the juke joint imagined by the twins, serving as a place of community and music.
Ryan Coogler, director of the film, not only incorporates horror elements but also expertly weaves history into the film. The segregated towns, racist landowners, and threat of the KKK looms over the characters in the background. When Smoke goes to town to buy supplies from Grace and Bo Chow, the audience can clearly see the stark difference between the two stores owned by the Chows. The store for white customers is brighter, filled with branded goods, and overall giving a sense of comfort. The store for the Black customers, on the other hand, is more practical and stripped down, focused more on necessity than luxury. The almost passing detail reflects the reality that Chinese immigrants often served black customers when the white-owned establishments would not.
Visually, Sinners is extraordinarily brilliant. The expansive wide-frame visuals ground the film in its historical setting of the 1930s and 1940s. The use of IMAX 70mm immerses the audience into the film unlike any other. Even the color of the vampire’s eyes tell a story: red for the leader, Remmick, and purple for Stack—a mix of blue and red, the colors worn primarily by the twins— symbolizing his loyalty to his brother. The use of long, sweeping takes evoke history, while close-ups reveal the inner emotions of the characters.
Sinners is a masterful film that seamlessly blends horror with the intricate elements of the haunting history. The rich use of myth and metaphor, the film celebrates Black culture but also its exploitation. Every frame is deliberate and meaningful. Truthfully, 650 words would not do justice to the film’s scope, the emotional resonance, and the skillfully crafted cinematic elements it possesses.
