Period horror is fun, right? Well, Van Helsing wasn’t much fun. Nor Nosferatu … nor Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, nor Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Huh. Maybe period horror isn’t fun at all. Scratch that. Forget I said it. It’s all irrelevant anyway; Sinners was a fun ride.
We know this Mississippi town turns to Hell in the span of 24 hours because the first scene is of a seriously messed up Sammie (Miles Caton) stumbling into the church where his father is preaching on a Sunday morning in October of 1932. And while preachin’ pop and the rest of the (remaining) congregation try to sort out what was what, the film takes us back in time a mere day. And one day ago, everything seemed just ducky.
Michael B. Jordan immediately becomes the 170th person to play multi roles in a 2025 film. Unlike the rest, however, I think Jordan truly succeeded. (One reason for this is think Jordan accepted that the two roles as citified gangster twins were not dissimilar; of course twins are going to be alike. Why wouldn’t they be?) The plot is that the criminal twins “Smoke” and “Stack” have returned from their Chicago dalliance to bring dancin’, drinkin’, and debauchery to the local black community. The venue they purchase fron a racist redneck is just a giant barn, but these guys envision a hoppin’ juke joint to thrill and bleed the locals. The film warned us early on that some music is so powerful it attracts evil. Sammie is that good, unfortunately.
The first half of the film is all set-up. It’s a period piece with the twins making slick arrangements. In a way, they are as out-of-place in Clarksdale, Mississippi, as a white person in a 1930s rural jazz club. They are simply too city and too sharp for their own good. And they seem to have money to burn.
Ah, but just like quality story of black men doing well, it’s eventually spoiled by whitey, and Sinners is no exception. What started as a story of cool entrepreneurial adventure changes on a dime to a story of cool 
horror adventure. And cool is the word; Sinners never lacks for style, even when the blood-letting starts. For one thing, I love the vampiric approach here. The vamps in Sinners are like the Borg – their knowledge a collective, and ever assimilated. Hence, if one vampire could play the banjo as a human, suddenly, they all can play the banjo. It is a neat a creepy effect.
I see I’ve slightly underrated Sinners compared to my peers; I may re-visit that before the end of 2025. Sinners is definitely the kind of film I root for – unique, stylish, and unafraid to show either bad people making good decisions or good people making bad ones. I don’t know that Michael B. Jordan has developed a distinct acting style as yet, but between this and the Creed trilogy, he’s going to be employable for a long, long time.
Two criminals named Smoke and Stack
Purchase land beyond a forgotten track
Their desire, it seems
Is a roadhouse of dreams
But a nightmare has come to attack
Rated R, 137 Minutes
Director: Ryan Coogler
Writer: Ryan Coogler
Genre: Sharecroppin’ vamps
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Horror fans
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Pollyannas
