I’m not going to lie, the first time I saw a trailer for Sinners, I thought, “Great. Another vampire movie.” I honestly thought it looked, at best, cheesy and, at worst, a rehash of at least a half-dozen blood-sucking films I’d already seen. But then I took note of the cast, followed by the director. By the time it dawned on my misinformed ass that Sinners was in all likelihood a gut-punch anti-racist political statement, Great Depression period piece (I’m always a sucker for a good period piece – and political statements), wrapped up in copious amounts of gore, and to top it off, sure to piss of moronic white folks, I was sold. The trailer might not have grabbed me, but the reality of Sinners did – and in increasingly surprising ways.
In many ways, Sinners director Ryan Coogler adopts the two-part structure used by Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino in their 1996 vampire flick From Dusk Till Dawn (the first half leads us to the dance while the second half transforms that dance into an all-out bloodbath), even down to using two brothers (Tarantino and George Clooney are replaced by Michael B. Jordan pulling double duty as twins Smoke and Stack) as the main drivers of the story. However, most of the comparisons – aside from the usual fanged ones – end there.
Where From Dusk Till Dawn is largely an unapologetic exploitation film, Sinners is a blunt weapon of not-so-subtle radical politics. Set in Mississippi in 1932, Coogler uses the extremes of Jim Crow to critique modern day versions of the same laws and attitudes. But more than that, he employs the entrepreneurial spirit of Smoke and Stack – a pair of WWI vets recently returned from Chicago where they claim to have faced just as much racism as in the South – to uplift and celebrate the success of Black and minority-owned businesses that thrive despite obvious racially-motivated hurdles.
Coogler’s “I’m sick of this shit” political stance (especially the final daytime massacre that serves as an extremely satisfying and cathartic “in case you misunderstood where I’m coming from” cherry on top) is enhanced by his brilliant emphasis on music and the importance it holds over culture and identity. This celebration of music, art, and generational connection is exemplified in a spectacular sequence that sees the spirits of struggling people throughout time converge and add power to a young bluesman’s (Miles Caton) performance.
This commemoration is such a beautiful mass of provocative and evocative imagery that I challenge all other directors this year to one-up it. I say this because I sincerely believe that if they don’t at least make the attempt, they might be kissing their chance at an Oscar goodbye.
To top things off, Sinners is also a damned good horror movie. At times, the vampire horde that has the film’s protagonists (including Wunmi Mosaku, Jayme Lawson, Hailee Steinfeld, Omar Miller, Li Jun Li, Yao, and Delroy Lindo) trapped inside an old factory-turned-juke-joint feels more like a zombie movie than a vampire one, but it’s this combination of genres and motifs that makes Sinners such an enjoyable ride.
Mixing things further is Remmick, the head vampire (an Irish immigrant played by Jack O’Connell), who behaves more like the dreaded Borg from Star Trek fame than any typical “master” I’ve ever seen before. All notions of romance and status are replaced by Remmick’s insistence that vampires exist as a classless and raceless society – that humans are inherently flawed creatures who will always fight and squabble among themselves. To this end, and like the Borg, assimilation is the answer. By joining the collective “we,” the protagonists can shed all their baggage and live as a truly free people. Or so he claims, anyway. It’s hard to trust someone who waxes philosophical while covered in buckets of fresh blood.
In the end, it matters very little whether it’s the politics, the music, or the blood and guts that get you through the door to see Sinners because once you’re there, you’ll be glued to your seat and asking for more.
James is a writer, skateboarder, record collector, wrestling nerd, and tabletop gamer living with his family in Asheville, North Carolina. He is a member of the Southeastern Film Critics Association, the North Carolina Film Critics Association, and contributes to The Daily Orca, Razorcake Magazine, Mountain Xpress, and Asheville Movies.