On April 18, Ryan Coogler, director of the “Black Panther” franchise released “Sinners”, a vampire musical-horror film set in 1930s Mississippi.
The film follows the “Smokestack Twins,” Elijah “Smoke” Moore and Elias “Stack” Moore — both played by Michael B. Jordan — and their younger cousin Sammie — played by Miles Caton — a supremely gifted blues musician as they prepare for the opening night of “Club Juke,” a club for the black townspeople of Clarksdale, Mississippi. The entire film happens over the course of one day and one night. Smoke and Stack are back in Mississippi from Chicago, where they’d conned the Irish and Italian gangs, likely leading to the Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre. They recruit Sammie to play music, but Sammie is more than talented. He is a griot — meaning he has a mystical gift allowing him to pierce through death and time to summon the spirits of his people, past and future.
Sammie’s gift catches the attention of Remmick, a vampire on the run. Remmick converts two Klu Klux Klan vampires to his vampiric hive mind. He then hears Sammie at Club Juke and becomes fixated on taking Sammie’s power for his own by converting him and adding him to the hive. Remmick, however, must abide by an oft-forgotten rule in vampire mythos — he cannot enter where is not invited. So, he must lure and trick the protagonists through manipulation.
Our heroes now face a simple, yet nigh impossible challenge: stick together and survive until sunrise.
“Sinners” is a technical masterpiece. It’s stunning to look at — the cinematography and costuming are both spectacular. The editing is phenomenal.
“Sinners” has two main characters played by the same actor. Usually in such a case, the two characters are separated from each other as much as possible; they don’t appear in the same scenes, and if they do, each keeps to their own half of the screen, never crossing an invisible centerline to make it easy to layer one shot on top of the other.
Smoke and Stack, however, are almost constantly at each other’s sides. They hug, they pass cigarettes back and forth, they catch and toss weapons and it looks effortless. Not only is the editing so smooth it had me Googling “Michael B. Jordan twin?” but Jordan’s performance — or rather performances — are fantastic. Both are so incredibly endearing and distinctive. Stack is charming through and through; he’s quick-witted and flashy, simultaneously rightfully cynical but almost dreamily idealistic. Smoke is more grounded, somberly kind and viciously protective. I adored how open they were with each other and how sweet and respectful they were with their love interests. The scares may rattle the nerves, but Jordan touches the heart.
The true lifeblood of the film is the music. My favorite scene is Sammie’s big musical number “I Lied to You,” wherein his griot powers are showcased. The song starts as a blues song, but Sammie’s gift summons other musicians and performers — including West African drummers and dancers as well black glam rockers, hip-hop performers and DJs. The music is rhythmic and inter-generational and the choreography is beautifully fluid and seemingly spontaneous. It is breathtaking.
Another slightly smaller detail I’d like to highlight is the film's use of practical effects for gore. Our human characters use normal weapons on the vampires, and while it doesn’t kill them, it does damage their bodies. Unlike a lot of vampires, they do not instantly heal, meaning you have characters with grotesque wounds walking and talking like it's nothing. It looks great; it looks creepy. It’s not gore for the sake of gore, it serves an atmospheric and thematic purpose.
Vampires almost always represent hunger. In most vampire stories — from Nosferatu and Dracula to Edward Cullen — they represent sexual hunger and repressed erotic desires. “Sinners” is different. The more sensual appetites of the characters are not ignored or suppressed. Instead, Remmick and his vampire cult harbor a different hunger, a hunger for community and family. As Remmick himself calls it, “fellowship and love.”
Coogler excellently critiques assimilation and white people’s theft of black culture, while also acknowledging the damage done to cultures such as the Irish when they were assimilated into the hegemonic idea of “whiteness,” leading to a starvation for culture and community.
Remmick comes from Ireland during the era of British colonization of Ireland. He longs to reconnect with his Irish ancestors and a culture that no longer exists. Remmick’s hope is that he can turn Sammie into a vampire and use Sammie’s gifts for his own purposes, summoning Remmick’s own ancestors. He claims to believe in equality, but in actuality, Remmick perpetuates the very hurt he experienced — destroying the culture of others by butchering and turning the people of “Club Juke,” forcing them to be like him. The vampires of “Sinners” are a hivemind; each member is swallowed up. It may be “equal,” but only in the most literal sense of the word. All are equally puppets to Remmick’s design.
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Remmick has a big dance number of his own — an Irish step-dance set to “Rocky Road to Dublin.” Unlike the fluid, free-form and individualized choreography of “I Lied to You,” only Remmick really dances in “Rocky Road to Dublin.” The others march and clap in rhythm in a circle around him, supporting his and only his performance and culture. It’s not togetherness, it’s sameness and it’s rightfully chilling.
The hunger for community is arguably deeper than any hunger for sex could be and in turn, Coolger’s vampires are some of the most sympathetic yet sinister to grace the silver screen.
Those who are without community will try to take it by force, doing everything in their power to let themselves in where they are not invited. Or, they will find community through violence and hatred, as do the members of the Klu Klux Klan, or the members of the Irish and Italian gangs — who Smoke and Stack are tangentially on the run from throughout the film.
But culture taken by force loses what makes it special — it becomes a twisted, hollow, unrecognizable shell of itself, just like Remmick’s vampires. Communities built in hatred will soon fall apart. Community cannot be taken – it cannot even really be found, says “Sinners.” It must be built — not only through blood, sweat and tears but through mutual respect, love and joy.
“Sinners” is without a doubt my favorite movie thus far of 2025. I think its warnings and guidance are essential at this point in time. I find myself continually wanting to rewatch and revisit it; I notice new things every time. So, if anyone has plans to go, please do invite me to come with you.
Addison Fulton is the culture editor for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at culture@dailylobo.com or on X @dailylobo
