“Sinners” Is the Southern Gothic, Vamp-Noir I Did Not See Coming — and Baby, I’m OBSESSED [REVIEW]

Sinners Trailer

Not a horror movie dragging my old ass to the theater on a Sunday?! And baby — what Ryan Coogler did with Sinners needs to be archived in the Library of Congress, tattooed on the moon, and taught in film school under ‘How to Absolutely Eat Without Utensils.’ (Full Review on YouTube)

This isn’t your run-of-the-mill fang-and-fear flick. Sinners is a Southern Gothic supernatural tapestry woven with 1930s juke joint blues to ancestry, and family. And it starts with animation that gives us a brief, yet needed, and incredibly important exposition. It talks about how all cultures have story tellers, and how some story tellers have a a certain power…and y’all the power!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Spoilers ahead  — don’t say I didn’t warn you.

So I actually saw this movie twice, and watching this with a diverse and reactive audience was sending me!!!

My favorite audience reactions:

1. When we finally saw a vampire - All the blood

2. When Cornbread opened his arms talking about Equality - Aw Hell Nah

3. And honestly the riotous laughter from Delroy’s one-liners was amazing

4. The fact that the theatre applauded. They didn’t even do that when I went to see WICKED!

So the film starts off with this crispy white man (played by heart throb Jack O’ Connell) — a vampire clearly out past his bedtime — and a white couple who lets him in (stupid). But when some Indigenous folks knock on the door like, “Hey girl, seen a burnt up looking dude come by?”, and she lies? [Big Mistake. Big] They leave with a “god be with you” energy that had me low-key cackling, because I could tell they were trying to get out of that situation before the sun went down and they all would’ve been dinner.

Then we get the twins: Smoke and Stack. When I say Micheal B. Jordan devoured both parts, I mean nary a crumb was left. Smoke, the logic. Stack, the heart. Their little cousin, Sammie (Miles Caton), has been waiting on them. Why? Because Sammie is a PK, a preacher’s kid. And a PK back in the day for 1930ay….ooh…Now Sammie is excited, cause he’s grown enough to drink and done taught himself how to play the guitar. Stack heard him singing and had him perform opening night. And when he played...magic. The juke joint scene. Sammie’s music — his gift — His music can pierce the veil between life and death, past and future. What ensues is one of the most beautiful, inspiring, and carefully crafted sequences I’ve seen in a film in a very long time. It felt not only magical, but a magic I was more than eager to believe in if just for that sequence.

The women in this movie were top tier.

Wunmi Mosaku as Annie was an otherworldly beauty. An herbalist rooted in hoodoo and ancient knowing, serving Black girl divine energy with a side of I know more than you think I do. 

Then there’s Mary (played by Hailee Steinfeld). Mary “who is passing back in Arkansas but in Mississippi she’s black” thinking she was gonna be the one to figure out what them White people wanted outside of the Juke Joint, was insane. She went out there thinking she could beat the man but was turned!!!! Then they let her back in the Juke Joint and she turned Stack mid-you know what/ And that moment when she’s drooling and says: “You want some?” And Micheal B. Jordan said yes...and opened his mouth...! I wanted to crawl out of my skin, but I definitely kept watching. 

Let’s not forget Grace Chow, played by Li Jun Li, invited the vamps in. Oooh she ticked me off so bad! That’s how good Grace was playing that role. I can’t be mad at her for being that talented. 

But what about Smoke?

Well, after surviving a night of battling vampires, putting a stake through Annie, and losing his twin brother, Smoke is still not down. Because, The real horror at that time is still present. Sundown towns. Klan members who sell the same old Saw Mill to black folks, only to kill them the next day. Coogler didn’t just direct a horror film — he preached through cinema. André Bazin would be proud.

The post credit scene was an emotional gut punch. With older Sammie (played by actual legend Buddy Guy) just finishing a gig, and Stack visiting him, we learn about the promise that Stack made to Smoke, and see that he still kept it. That family love was enduring.

Final thoughts? Sinners is Blackity Black  brilliance soaked in Southern syrup, wrapped in folklore, kissed with horror, and finished with a cigarette curl of jazz smoke. I will absolutely be watching again — this time in IMAX, with a silver necklace, eating garlic, with a ring of salt around my chair. You ain’t gonna catch me slippin’.

Five out of five moonlit juke joints.