Sinners

Vampires aren’t just a guaranteed cinema filler, they’re also some of the most versatile creations. They may have their tropes and mythos, but they can be used in different genres and for different purposes.

Sinners is one of the most purely enjoyable vampire films ever made. It also uses them very differently to what’s come before.

This latest collaboration between Director Ryan Coogler and star Michael B. Jordan (here pulling double duty as twins Smoke and Stack) is all things to all people.

There’s horror, there’s vampires, there’s some true comedy moments, some startling music and a living and breathing depiction of the Mississippi Delta in the 1930’s with all that entails. It even features what could be the scariest Irish jig in cinema history.

That means it is quite the eclectic piece, but is so relentlessly keen to entertain you that it is easy to be swept up with it.

Despite the variety, there is such tangible personality and distinct tone to the film that it carries everything brilliantly.

It luxuriates in its setting and mood across the first two thirds. You can feel the heat, sense the history between characters and the hostility of the environment.

It doesn't hold your hand or give lots of exposition, instead dropping things that make for interesting further reading to lend worth to a second viewing like a cursory mention of Al Capone (which has consequence further into the story) and a great one shot as a Chinese-American character goes across a street from one segregated store to another (the history has been meticulously researched.)

The seemingly random introduction of its vampire antagonist as the story develops somehow just works and the horror stakes slowly escalate from there. Having said that, there’s a argument that it too quickly deviates in its climactic set piece to an all out bloodbath.

That’s resolved well in its epilogue (and subsequent mid-credits scene which you should definitely hang around for) but the ‘final showdown’ itself suffers a little from scattershot editing and is quite hard to follow given so much has been poured into these characters beforehand.

That sadly lets the film down somewhat, and probably takes what would in all likelihood be a fifth star down below away from it.

Everything else is just so gloriously vivid from the incredible cinematography on the biggest cameras available to the non-stop, foot tapping soundtrack. Music plays such an integral part in the film, whether played in scene or over top and the soundtrack could get a breakout moment.

It’s an easy film to love and another essential cinema experience.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️