‘Sinners’ Review: A Southern Gothic Full of Blood and Blues

It’s easy to write off Sinners as just another vampire flick—and I wouldn’t blame you for that. Cinema is in a sickly state where there have been more epic flops than soaring wins than one can keep track of, and seeing another rehash of something age-old like vampires could be one of many reasons you might want to put this film on the back burner. 

But Sinners is none of those things. Masterfully crafted and brought to life by writer-director Ryan Coogler, the film shows the grand scale of the rising auteur’s imagination (Sinners is the first original film in his career) in ambitious and visceral ways. In just a week of premiering, the Southern gothic has made $161 million at the worldwide box office, making Sinners the biggest original film of the decade. 

His success in building the Afrofuturist world of Marvel’s Black Panther and injecting life back into the Creed franchise has proven that Coogler is one of Hollywood’s modern filmmakers who boldly explores the Black experience in all its varied forms. In Sinners, his storytelling prowess comes in full force.

Read on for my review of Sinners, the box office surprise hit of 2025, that you should sink your teeth into.

PLOT

It’s 1932, and identical twins Smoke and Stack have returned to Clarksdale, Mississippi, after spending years in Chicago’s criminal underworld. With a truckload of their exploits, the brothers arrive with booze, cash, and a dream: to build a juke joint for the local black community, “for us, by us”. They quickly get to work by purchasing a sawmill from a racist landowner who insists he isn’t a part of the KKK (nobody believes that). 

It’s a rush job because the juke joint has to open tonight, but with Smoke and Stack’s persuasiveness, they quickly gather a team to bring the place to life. For the first few hours, it’s absolute euphoria for the Black locals who have been working hard in plantations and cotton fields all day long. There’s rip-roaring music and the air is electric as the folks get heady off the head-thumping blues and Irish beer.

Until trouble literally comes knocking and the night quickly descends into chaos and madness. With an ancient evil lurking at their doorsteps, the people inside the juke joint must survive until sunrise if they want a chance at escaping.

Plot-wise, Sinners can be split into the first and second half: the former focuses on establishing the dynamics of the twins between other characters and exploring the racial politics of Black music, whilst the latter is where we see the vampire action play out.  

Both halves work well on their own and could easily be a film in themselves, which is a testament to Coogler’s great storytelling. Even without the vampires involved, I found myself engrossed in learning about Smoke and Stack’s past with their ex-lovers, troubled childhood, and reconnecting with old friends.

Coogler takes his time establishing the relationships between the characters and doesn’t rush to get to the blood-soaked action because really, this is where the heart of the film truly lies. We learn about their hardships growing up in Jim Crow America, and I appreciate that Coogler didn’t include many overt social commentary on racism because audiences can and will make the connections themselves. 

By the time you get to the actual Big Bad of the period film, the fanged vampires don’t even feel like the biggest horrors in Sinners. In a world where even looking at a white person a second too long could get you lynched, the threat of being turned into a vampire, scary as it may be, seems small in comparison.

For these creatures still scurry into the shadows when the sun comes out. But the horrors and dangers of Jim Crow America do not stop or rest. For Black folk, the South is already a living Hell filled with monsters and murderers.

But that is not to say the second half was not enjoyable. Tonally, Sinners shifts into a more typical action-thriller flick as they attempt to fight off the vampires. Tensions are high and there’s even a scene where each survivor has to eat a piece of garlic around a circle à la The Thing that is both stress-inducing and hilarious. 

By the end of its two-hour runtime, you’ll feel as though you have watched several movies in one. It’s not just a story of survival, family, and music, but also one of love, loss, and grief. Whether you’re looking for gory action or an angsty love story, you’ll find it in Sinners.

CHARACTERS

Identical twins Smoke and Stack are played in gusto by Michael B. Jordan in the best performance of his career to date. Having starred in Coogler’s debut film, Fruitvale Station, in 2013, Jordan and Coogler’s over 10-year partnership makes them an unstoppable pair in Hollywood. It is clear that Coogler knows how to make Jordan the bona fide movie star he is, and Sinners is the greatest testament to that.

While only set apart physically by the colours of their hats and neckties, Jordan’s performance in these dual roles is subtle yet affecting. Smoke is more pragmatic and sensitive, as seen in his relationship with the town’s hoodoo healer Annie, whilst Stack is more brash and impulsive. The blocking was done so well that it felt natural seeing two Jordans on screen.

But it was the performance of newcomer Miles Caton who truly blew me away. It’s hard to believe that Sinners is the 20-year-old’s acting debut, but I know this is only the beginning for this breakout star. Playing the twins’ cousin, Sammie, he is an integral character in the film because of a rare gift he possesses: his voice. 

One of the most compelling aspects of Sinners is how it explores the figure of the musician as a supernatural being: someone with a voice so powerful that they can pierce the veil of time and space, calling on the people of the past and shaping the future.

When you think about music’s transportive nature and its oral tradition passed down from generation to generation, Coogler’s use of music as a conduit for Black people to connect to their ancestral roots makes perfect sense. Blues is the unbridled expression of the Black experience. As Delroy Lindon’s Delta Slim tells Sammie, “Blues weren’t forced on us like that religion. We brought this with us from home.”

But such a musical prodigy, who has a deep and tethered relationship to the Blues, and the voice that stirs the soul of all those who listen, is exactly what the Devil is looking for. Coogler expertly uses the role of the three Caucasian vampires to represent the cultural appropriation and exploitation that Black people have historically faced in the music industry. 

“White folks like the Blues just fine, just not the people who make it,” Delta Slim says. With the power to inherit the gifts and memories of those they take blood from, the vampires are literally leeching off and colonising the Black community and their spaces to further their own cause. Jack O’Connell does a fantastic job as the vampire ring leader, Remmick, whose unsettling demeanour left me on the edge of my seat at every confrontation. 

Hailee Steinfeld and Wunmi Mosaku were also great additions to the supporting cast as they did not serve as foils to their male love interests but also as strong and courageous women who stand their ground. 

Steinfeld delivers her career-best as Mary, a white-passing woman who is also Black, who prefers the company of the African-American community over her white counterparts. The trailer spoils her turning into a vampire, but rest assured, that does not take away from her story arc in the slightest. 

Mosaku as Annie takes on the maternal figure in the group. As the town’s spiritual healer, she also possesses a gift that signals something otherworldly and more ancient than the vampires. With her magic, she uses potions, hexes, and charms as protection, and it is her deep connection to African shamanism that gives the survivors a fighting chance against the bloodsuckers (we love a smart, quick-thinking woman in a horror movie!).

VISUALS

Watching Sinners on IMAX is truly an experience I cannot recommend enough. There’s a one-shot musical sequence led by Caton’s Sammie (no spoilers because that would be an injustice) that perfectly encapsulates the spirit of Sinners and one I will be thinking of for many years to come. 

Visually, Coogler also reimagines vampires to feel new and exciting. Yes, there’s still the stakes to the heart, their weakness to garlic and silver, and sharp fangs.

But Coogler also tacks on a few more things, such as their glowing red eyes, long tendrilled fingers, and most interestingly, their telepathic communication and abilities to inherit skills and memories of those they feed on. Even the campy rule of being invited in becomes chilling when they look perfectly human (*cough* no pasty or glittery skin). 

Shot entirely on 65mm Ektachrome film (made specifically by Kodak for this movie) using IMAX film cameras, Coogler and cinematographer Autumn Durald have created something truly special that makes cinemas worth going to again. The 65mm film offers even more resolution, a shallower depth of field and higher colour clarity, making certain scenes pop across the screen. 

Coogler intentionally shot the film with two camera systems: Ultra Panavision 70mm and IMAX (the first film to combine these two formats) to showcase a variety of aspect ratios for an unparalleled viewing experience. 

The Ultra Panavision 70mm comes with the industry-standard 2.76 to 1 aspect ratio, and most IMAX halls display the 1.90 to 1 format. But if your IMAX theatre has 4K lasers to display 1.43 to 1 aspect ratio, I implore you to watch Sinners in that hall instead to get the full intended impact of Coogler’s vision. Trust me, these subtle changes make all the difference.

FINAL VERDICT

Coogler’s Sinners is a triumphant, Blues-drenched musical and Southern gothic period piece that hits all the right notes. While the story threads come slightly loose at the end and I wish I saw more of certain characters (the Native American vampire hunters are too delicious not to explore in a sequel film…), those are only minor flaws. 

From the exceptional performance of its cast and heady musical numbers to the symbolism between vampirism and racism, Sinners is a film that will make your blood sing.

(PS: There are two post-credit scenes in Sinners. The first happens while the credits are still rolling, so be sure to stick around or you’ll miss out on important context that opens the film to exciting possibilities!)

Rating: 9/10

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