It’s a rare chance seeing a vampire movie that isn’t super predictable nowadays – at least for me.
I’ve seen everything from the classics to comics and even animated vampires or kids’ movies.
However, the newly released film “Sinners” kept my attention throughout its entirety and also reminded me of a few other blood-sucking flicks from the past.
Sinners felt like it was equal parts “From Dusk Til Dawn” (1996), “Interview with the Vampire” (1994), “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil” (1997), and “Road to Perdition” (2002) while remaining its own unique experience.
When I tell you that I loved every part of this movie from beginning to end, I mean it!
It’s beautifully shot with fairly period-accurate wardrobe choices, the best sort of moody lighting, and has an amazing cast.
Honestly, what I enjoyed best of all was the way the soundtrack and Blues music kept the story flowing and added to the overall atmosphere.
Sinners is an American Southern Gothic horror film written, directed, and produced by Ryan Coogler.
The film features Michael B. Jordan, Hailee Steinfeld, Miles Caton, Jack O’Connell, Wunmi Mosaku, Jayme Lawson, Omar Miller, Buddy Guy, Delroy Lindo, David Maldonado, Saul Williams, Yao, and Li Jun Li.
It’s rated R for strong bloody violence, sexual content, and language, and clocks in at 138 minutes long.
In 1932, identical twins and World War I veterans Elijah (“Smoke”) and Elias (“Stack”) Moore (Jordan) return to the Mississippi Delta after years in Chicago working for Al Capone.
Using money they stole from gangsters, they purchase a saw mill from racist landowner Hogwood (Maldonado) to start a juke joint for the local black community.
Their aspiring guitarist cousin Sammie (Caton) joins them despite opposition from his pastor father Jedidiah (Williams), who warns that blues music is supernatural and dangerous.
The twins spend the majority of the morning recruiting other staff to open their juke joint that night.
Those including pianist Delta Slim (Lindo) and singer Pearline (Lawson) as performers, Smoke’s estranged wife Annie (Mosaku) as cook, local Chinese shopkeepers Grace (Li) and Bo Chow (Yao) as suppliers, and field worker Cornbread (Miller) as bouncer.
Meanwhile, Stack accidentally runs into his ex-girlfriend Mary (Steinfeld), who passes for white; Mary resents Stack abandoning her when he left for Chicago roughly seven years ago.
Smoke and Annie argue over her belief in the occult as Annie insists her practices kept Smoke and, by extension, his brother Stack safe.
However, Smoke bitterly reminds her that their infant daughter still died despite her “root” workings.
Elsewhere, Irish-immigrant vampire Remmick (O’Connell) flees from several Choctaw vampire hunters and turns a pair of local Klansmen into vampires.
At the joint’s opening night, Sammie’s music is transcendent, and he unknowingly summons spirits of both past and future to join the entranced crowd.
The performance draws Remmick’s attention, and he arrives with his new minions, offering money and music for entry into the juke.
Suspicious, the twins hesitate and tell the trio to head back to town to play at any of the other white establishments instead.
Still, everything starts to snowball downhill pretty quickly once the twins reveal they don’t have the funds they need to keep their juke club afloat.
I can’t endorse this film any more than I have already, but I will caution you to stay through all of the credits to catch the extra tidbits at the end.
