Coming from directing the revival of the Rocky series, “Creed,” and both “Black Panther” installments in Marvel, director Ryan Coogler showed passion and strength in his style even when put under the doubtful organization of superhero films. But what would become of this director when given all the liberties and freedom to direct a brand-new movie with no IPs and a full original screenplay?
Sinners, released on April 18, 2025, by Warner Bros. Pictures, is a horror film set in 1932, telling the story of Sammie, a young blues lover raised in a religious household, embarking on an adventure with his cousins Smoke and Stack to create a juke joint for the black community of the area. The film sets all the characters up very slowly from the beginning, each having their own distinct personality and relationships with other individuals, such as Smoke’s wife Annie and Stack’s ex-girlfriend Mary.
The film starts building up this community and closeness to make you feel more related to them, while the true horror aspects of the movie are not explored very deeply until the last half of the installment. During a small scene in the first half, we are introduced to Remmick, an Irish vampire who shows up at a rural house asking for help, with the owners of this home being members of the KKK, and then Remmick turns them both into vampires.
When the juke joint is finally created, with both twins and Sammie convincing people to help them and inviting many individuals of the community for the grand opening, we get one of the most beautiful and soulful scenes of recent years. Coogler’s directing shines strongly, and we get a musical masterpiece and appreciation of cultures and music from both the past and present.
After amazing performances by all our actors and getting to know them, we get into the horror part of the film. Remmick appears at the juke joint looking to terrorize the community and feast/convert as many individuals as he can, while our characters try to survive the remainder of the night.
What surprised me about this film is the distinct characteristics given to vampires stemming from older myths and leaving the more popular, modern perception of vampires out. In this film, vampires have to be invited into any place, meaning a literal saying or pronunciation of allowing them to come into the juke joint. This makes for an entertaining watch while vampires use the bodies of loved ones and individuals of the community, and the non-vampires become almost detectives trying to figure out who has been turned and who hasn’t.
While this may sound quite action-based, the film sets very personal and deep arguments. We see a wife struggle not to go to her recently turned husband, or the sacrifice of another character for the well-being of the whole group. Ryan Coogler can make these people human and he delivered an extremely strong and sad ending where the remainder of our characters have to carry the burden of what they saw that night, making for a memorable film and climax overall.
Sinners is now available in theaters all around the world, and I highly recommend it to anyone watching.
