'Sinners' Review: Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan Make a Bold New Entry in the Horror Genre

With its inspirations on its sleeve, Coogler's latest is thrilling, even if the script doesn't always land its ideas

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There comes a moment in Ryan Coogler’s Sinners when you realize you’re watching something totally unique. It’s when young Sammie (Miles Caton) is performing in a local juke joint. His music becomes so powerful that it “pierces the veil” between past and present, and the camera laconically traverses the juke joint watching the history of Black music play out. People dressed in 1980s tracksuits dance amongst those from the 1930s, those covered in African tribal dress are placed alongside contemporary dancers twerking. It’s a masterful, fantastic sequence that emphasizes this is a story about community. It’s also a “survive the night” movie about vampires.

What makes Sinners such an audacious movie, though, is how the director integrates a variety of influences, both cinematic and technical to create something so vibrant, so thrilling, so damn entertaining. Because of this lyrical mastery the story beats have a tendency to get muddled. But everyone is having such a damn good time watching, who really cares?

Set in 1932, Sinners follows the Smokestack Twins: Smoke and Stack (Michael B. Jordan) who have returned to their Mississippi home from Chicago to open a juke joint. They assemble a group of friends and confidantes, but when the club is set upon by vampires everyone will have to band together to stay alive.

The trailers hype Sinners as a solid horror feature, and while it is things take a bit of time to get going. Preacher boy Sammie is the first person we meet, covered in blood and clearly having endured a serious ordeal. From there the movie backtracks to the previous day and the return of the Smokestack twins. Michael B. Jordan plays dual roles and Jordan’s acting, alongside the script and the visual effects do a fantastic job of situating these two as individual characters. It’s impressive watching how Jordan moves when he’s Smoke vs. Stack.

Smoke is cold but holding an inner grief over the dissolution of his family life and a deep love for his abandoned wife, Annie (Wunmi Mosaku). Stack is gregarious, a womanizer and charmer who refuses to admit his love for the mixed race Mary (Hailee Steinfeld). Both men see a return to their hometown as a means of purging their demons. If only….

The first hour or so is about getting the band back together, so it’s a fair bit of introduction and exposition of all the characters we’ll come to know and care about. Everyone gets time to shine, though there are a few standouts. Mosaku’s Annie is utterly amazing, who takes on a leader position when things go bad. (It’s refreshing to see a movie where no one asks “what’s a vampire?”) But it’s truly Miles Caton who leaves an impression. Caton’s baby-face makes the audience believe this is a naive little boy, though one with an incredibly powerful musical voice. As things go on, he is forced to step into being an adult quickly.

Coogler has said he took inspiration for the film from Robert Rodriguez’s From Dusk Till Dawn and The Faculty, which is easy to see. The script has moments of levity organically placed throughout. And in a landscape where Gen Z has eschewed sex and sexiness on-screen, damn is it wonderful to see a movie that just oozes sex appeal. And I’m not saying that because there’s two Michael B. Jordans. There’s running discussion about oral sex, and essentially everyone is looking for it amongst the bloodflow. In a world where Jim Crow is running rampant and people are trying to find outlets, who wouldn’t just spend their time trying to get laid?

One could just as easily see him draw from the likes of Assault on Precinct 13 to Ernest Dickerson’s Demon Knight. That last one is a particularly apt comparison (and thanks to Chris Evangelista for pointing it out on social), particularly in Jack O’Connell’s step-dancing, Irish balladeer/vampire Remmick. Like Billy Zane’s Collector, Remmick is enigmatic and charming, but also does things that are so truly bizarre that it’s clear there’s some unknown backstory the audience isn’t privy to. It’s just ingrained in his personality.

Once the vampires make themselves know the film slams into horror territory and it’s where all that character development at the beginning works. A great horror movie is one where everyone may not be a saint, but they don’t deserve a horrid death. (The 1988 remake of The Blob is a great example.) Here, you don’t love every character, but you certainly mourn their passing. And this is a movie where everyone is a potential victim, there’s no preying on horror stereotypes of final girls and kindhearted virgins. This brings in an air of surprise where you never know what to expect.

Coogler’s script and direction set the tone but absolutely everything about this movie is impeccable. Cinematographer Autumn Durald Arkapaw continues to prove she’s the best DP around. The warm browns and candlelight gleam off her camera, and the tracking shots are expertly executed. No surprise, Ludwig Göransson’s score is breathtaking, a heady mix of jazz and electric guitars. There’s also some wonderful sequences where the movements of the actors play in rhythm with Göransson’s non-diegetic music. This is a movie that is just luscious!

Because everything is at a 9, the audience is willing to forgive some of the moments that come off as contrived, particularly the “why vampires” of it all. Remmick ends up stumbling on two character who just happen to have Klan associations. And the Klan happens to have something planned. The threads don’t get tied off cleanly but, honestly, by the time this is revealed the movie has provided so much entertainment you won’t care.

Sinners is a movie that isn’t afraid to go for broke. This is a movie that has so many singing performances it’s officially a musical. (Also, as I said online, this movie is a great proof of concept for a Ryan Coogler-directed adaptation of Hadestown.) It’s weird — it’s got an extended step-dancing scene — and it’s horny. It’s brash. It’s exciting. Sinners is everything!

Grade: B+

Sinners hits theaters April 18.